Year of the Elephant: Revised Edition

by Leila Abouzeid

Book Overview

The novella and eight short stories that constitute Year of the Elephant--an allusion to a battle described in the Qur'an--serve as an eloquent representation of life in the wake of Morocco's successful struggle for independence from French occupation. In the titular novella the protagonist, Zahra, has just returned to her hometown after being divorced by her husband for being too traditional and unable to keep up with his modern way of life. Having...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292721722
• ISBN13: 9780292721722
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Ctr for Middle Eastern Studies Ut-Austin
• Length: 125 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Delightful Tale of Female Independence

This is a delightful tale of female independence. The mainstream typically views Arab Women as oppressed, and this tale demonstrates that many of them had a significant role in many of the independent movements. It is a short read.

Very helpful

If you want some personal history and perspective of what it was like to be a Moroccan woman during the years of the author's live, this is an excellent introduction.

I Will Survive!

Set against the background of the Moroccan War of Independence, "Year of the Elephant" tells of one woman's rebirth and her sustaining faith. The title is symbolic of a battle in Islamic history where foreign tribes were defeated in their attempts to ovethrow the Muslims. The protagonist, Zahra, must find her way back to feeling that she is a worthy human being and not the worthless person she feels like after being discarded by her husband. We learn her story through past and present events that intertwine to give us a complete picture of her struggles with life, her faith and herself. With the aid of the fiqah, her spiritual guide, Zahra is able to realize that her life has meaning and she has made a great contribution to the fight for freedom. She comes to realize that her faith has been a guiding force throughout her life, and that faith is what willcontinue to guide her as she embarks on a new phase of her life - as an independent woman capable of surviving on her own. The novella takes us through the highs and lows of Zahra's life as a key player in the fight for freedom and her struggle to re-claim herself. I enjoyed this novella because of the strength of Zahara's character and the theme that women can and should take charge of their lives. This theme is a universal one that appears in novels written by women, and it transcends race, culture, and economic backgrounds. I was able to share in her triumph against obstacles she faced as she looked within and found her true self. I feel this will be appealing to all women who read this novella. The short stories that follw the novella are a mixture of plots and themes that depict the lives of different individuals. After the uplifting feeling of "Year of the Elephant", the short stories were a let down. The overall theme appears to be one of poverty, despair, and discontent as the characters go about their lives. They are men, women, adn children who seem to find little in life to be happy about adn to some degree seem to find their happiness in their discontent. I feel it would have been better to expand on the novella and to leave the short stories out, or they could have been published separately. However, the important factor in this translation is that the reader gets to experience the voice of a woman whose life and culture are completely different from that of Western society.

Year of the Elephant by Leila Abouzeid

Year of the Elephant proved to be a pretty enlightening novel, it is told from the point of view of Zahra, the protagonist who finds herself in a constant struggle for independence. Divorced from her husband and without any family support, she is left alone to fend for herself. What captured me most about this novel was Zahra's personal growth as she traces her steps towards independence. Moreover, this novel does an excellent job at clearly showing Zahra's transformation from beginning to the end. I also enjoyed this novel because it is easy to see and understand Zahra's pain; she allows us to enter her world and feel her many frustrations. Moreover, we can see that although this story revolves around Zahra's personal journey towards independence, the themes contained within the novel cover much more. Leila Abouzeid cleverly incorporates many other important themes such as the struggle against colonialism, the struggle against poverty and divorce, and most importantly she stresses the importance of faith. As Zahra reflects on her past, I realized how committed she was to overcome colonialism, Zahra fought against colonialism because she believed they would eventually reestablish traditional principals. However, soon after independence she realized that this was not the case, instead of reestablishing their traditional principles, they began to duplicate the form of government left behind by the French. Unfortunately for Zahra, this post colonial period brought her many problems, including her divorce. As Zahra's husband finds himself advancing through the ranks of government, he begins to see himself as being better than Zahra, more "high class" and therefore is no longer interested in a traditional wife. "I don't eat with a fork. I don't speak French. I don't sit with men. I don't go out to fancy dinners...their positions in society now call for modern women." In other words, he divorces Zahra because she no longer fits into his newly found ideals. Through reading this novel I learned the cultural significance of Zahra's divorce. "For our people, divorce is a catastrophe, an absolute disaster." As I continued reading, I found myself completely absorbed by her story. The way she described her situation, the state of poverty, and loneliness she found herself in, made me feel a sense of pity for her. "In my whole life I have never found myself in such a helpless situation." I thought to myself "how could a woman her age overcome this she rough situation? How will she survive?" What I find most admirable about Zahra is her ongoing display of faith. After her divorce she finds herself alone, with no family or friends to turn to. She is surrounded by poverty, she has nothing but the small room she inherited, and "whatever the law provides" from her husband, (which she makes clear is not much at all.) However despite everything she is going through she doesn't turn away from God, on the contrary, she uses her faith to give her the peace of min

In a world bound in chains

In a society where women's voices can not be heard, Leila made her voice clearly audiable for the whole world to hear her. The freedom to give her perspective and beliefs were evident, as she boldly used her autobiography, to speak on behalf of the Muslim Moroccan women and citizens. She corrected any misconceptions that are normally made about Islam and Muslim women throughout her intricate piece of literature. After reading this novel, I had a better understanding of Morocco's history as well as the Muslims who inhabited the country. As a Christian, it is no wonder that the Muslims do not have a good attitude towards many Christians, for look at the poor example the Nasaras (the Christian French colonists) displayed to the Moroccans, the injustice and cruelty they gave them, it disgusts me. Leila Abouzeid did a wonderful job in the providing the readers an opportunity to get into the mind and the emotions of a typical Moroccan that had to tolerate and endure through the hardships of unjust French colonialism. I completely agree with her perspective on the West and it's self-sufficient ways, for being full of self-interest is so against God's Word! The struggle for power is the main concern for the evil world, instead of the struggle for peace. We must work together to make this world a more righteous environment for our children to live in, wallah. Peace can begin with one person, so let us attempt to make harmony with our brothers and sisters, for the struggle for independence in our daily lives can be less painful if we make conscience effort, inshallah.