Woman suffering & Identity Crisis: With reference to the Princess

(A true story of life inside Saudi Arabia's Royal Family)

By Jean Sasson

A review by Amir Taheri

Women are more prone to identity crisis and frustration than men. Literary writings on women, for women and of women, many times incite a rebellion against the patriarchal norms of society. They draw distinct lines among the main elements that go into the composition of a feminist psyche and identity. Often women rise from the embers of tragedy to make a name and place for themselves. In literature of different lands and from different cultures, we still find women searching for answers and finding their true identities and the reason for their suffering and frustration. There is crisis in understanding of these identities.

Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the hidden emotions of an Arab female through the Princess, a critical writing of Jean Sasson, a well known American writer.

Jean Sasson writes mainly on women in the Middle East. As a child, she was fascinated by stories of different cultures around the world. Sasson's curiosity, as a matter of fact, continued into her adult years, propelling her to find work in a foreign country.  In 1978, she took a job as an administrative coordinator at the King Faisal Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she met with 'Sultana,' the major character of her story Princess. While in Saudi Arabia, Sasson developed a strong network of friendship with a number of Saudi women. Through them, she began to understand the day-to-day reality of being a female in a male-dominated society like Saudi Arabia. From Sultana, Sasson learned of the inequalities in Saudi society, even more about the harsh truth of life behind the veil endured by Sultana, her sisters, and her friends, many of them members of the royal family. Based on a mutual agreement, Sasson made up her mind to reveal the hidden life of Sultana (a Saudi Princess), as well as the issues affecting the lives of women living in the kingdom, albeit the information had to remain anonymous for her safety. The book Princess has been divided into twenty chapters, focusing on the life, family, marriage, polygamy of the Sultana's royal family in particular, and on the women's (Saudis) deprived status in general.

In chapter one, Jean Sasson tells the cruel and unjust ways of the male society in Saudi Arabia. Women in Saudi Arabia are given no identity, starting with their birth and ending with their death. Both accounts are neither recorded nor written down.

"Neither our births nor our deaths are made official in any public record. Although births of the male children are documented in family or tribal records, none are maintained anywhere for females."

 The chapter then continues with the childhood of Sultana, through whom the author describes a number of horrible incidents such as Sultana's fight with Ali (her brother) over an apple and that how their fight leads to their father's crucial judgment finally resulting in Sultana's punishment, as a sign of a clear discrimination between son and daughter. This can be regarded as the first experience faced by Sultana, which shows the differences between male and female.

Needless to say that until recently, education was strictly forbidden for women in Saudi Arabia. No woman even could imagine of having education. The only thing which was entangled with their tradition was reciting Koran. Thus, in chapter two of the book, the author describes the efforts of how to break this tradition by Iffat (King Faisal’s wife) who encouraged the education of girls of royal family despite the resistance. Nevertheless, the royal girls were not allowed to go to school, and so their classes were organized in the residents of some royal relatives, where Sultana and her sisters enjoyed such times. Due to severe restrictions, such events like private education have always been regarded as a way of recreation for Sultana.

The social institutions of this traditional Arab society such as polygamy and 'arranged marriage' have been regarded as the two major issues of women's rights violation. In this respect, the book explains that the Arabs of Saudi Arabia do not respect their wives according to the Islamic tradition and that they misinterpret the words of the Prophet Mohammad. The married life of Sultana’s father, who married to more than one woman, can be taken as an example. The book, particularly in chapters three and eleven, tells us about Sara’s (Sultana’s sister) arranged marriage and that of Sultana, respectively. According to the author, if a woman finds a situation to contact with her future husband, it is a miracle. However this happens with Sultana. Sultana’s father found a suitable guy for his daughter (Sultana) and arranges the time of marriage ceremony. He just informed Sultana that she should get ready for her marriage, without asking her whether she likes the man or not.

In chapters six, eight, and nine, the author narrates the typical treatment of women by men in Arab society. How they treat the women for the sake of their pleasure and how they behave to foreign girls or those who come to Saudi Arabia for the purpose of better jobs. The incident of raping a young girl at the apartment in Cairo by Hadi (a friend of Ali, Sultana's brother and a student at the Religious Institute) and Ali (Sultana's brother) can be a prime example to the fact.

“Hadi was raping a young girl, no more than eight years old, and Ali was holding her. Blood was everywhere and our brother and Hadi were laughing,” as told by Sultana in the story. The author cites another shocking incident. When Nadia and Wafa (Sultana's friends) while in bazaar felt their driver is not in time to pick them up, they approached another stranger to take them home. Unfortunately they were arrested by the members of the self-proclaimed Public Morality Committee who roam the streets of Riyadh in an effort to apprehend people in acts prohibited by the Koran.  Anyway, after three months of bleak imprisonment, owing to the lack of hard evidence of sexual activity the Committee released Wafa and Nadia to their respective fathers. Wafa’s father arranged a hasty marriage for his daughter with a Mutauua (a Morale Police of Islam) Bedouin from a small village. But, Nadia was sentenced to death by drowning in family's swimming-pool, by her father. On this account, a number of other stories are referred by the author on rape of foreign girls.

Circumcision is another barbaric custom of women’s miserable life, which they encounter in Saudi Arabia. They actually believe in this tradition and follow the practice. For example, chapter eleven tells us about Nura (Sultana's eldest sister) who experienced this barbaric practice in her early life and the grave consequences to her health and sexual life.

The book in chapter twelve tells the reader about Sultan's marriage life. She sees a ray of hope in her future life and vows to reform the women in Arab society by the help of her children. In this chapter, Sultana feels happier as a result of her relationship with Karim (her husband), although such relationship does not last for long, as is explained in chapter thirteen of the book.  This chapter tells us about Sultana's mother in law, who expected her bride (Sultana) to follow the usual Arabic tradition. Karim’s mother (Noorah) wanted Sultana to work for her like a servant, but since she herself was one of the daughters of the royal families, she could not bear such instructions and began to fight. The issue of serving Noorah with a tea by Sultana which was ignored by her (Sultana) can be taken as an example. In fact, from the moment of their marriage, Noorah thought of Sultana as her competitor and not as a member of their family.

The book also discusses about the marital relationship between Sultana and Karim (Sultana's husband) such as their physical encounter, quarrels, Noorah's devilish middling's etc. Such development leads Karim to ignore Sultana and, on the other hand, makes Sultana to think of divorce irrespective of Karim's will. Sultana’s pregnancy stops their hostility.

The book indicates how Sultana faces various problems and how she deals with them. The first struggle of Sultana against her tradition was not to allow Karim to treat her like millions of Arab males. There are two most important things about women in Arab societies: first, using them to produce male children and the second is to use them as sexual objects. A woman should be fortunate if she gives birth to a son. Otherwise she will be deserted by the husband or she must live with the second wife of her husband even in her early marriage life, as was about to happen to Sultana, but it fails.

Chapter fourteen focuses on the importance of male children. When Karim comes to know that his infant is a male, he rewards the entire medical team with gold and 5000 English Pound each, as well as, an expensive automobile (Jaguar) along with 50,000 English Pounds to the chief doctor. This clearly shows the importance of male infants, and huge existing differences between man and woman in Saudi Arabia, as no such incident can be possible with the female infants.

 In chapter fifteen, the reader comes across a horrible event, demonstrating that girls and women have no right to defend themselves. In the incident, Amal, a thirteen years old girl was raped by several drugged boys who pleaded ‘not guilty’ in the court. Amal failed to prove her innocence and finally was sentenced to death by stoning. Surprisingly, her father supported her sentence as saying "She must be punished for shaming his name. The boys had done only what any male would do under the circumstances.”

Chapter sixteen is about King Faisal's death who was admired by many Arabs, including Sultana, because King Faisal, along with Iffat (his wife) was regarded as the man who worked a lot to reform the traditional society of Saudi Arabia. The same chapter explores the typical ideas of Saudi men who do consider women as third class citizens. In this respect, there are debates on the relation between men and women among the Sultana’s family members. Ali’s thinking over the girls and women of America shows that all of them are whore; however Karim’s reply is in contrast with Ali's idea. Another concern is the insistence of Arab (Saudi Arabia) men who believe that their wives at the time of marriage must be virgin. This is also favored by Sultana. However, they (men, family members of Sultana) can sexually try other girls and women and there is no problem with this.

'Woman’s Room' is the title, with which the author starts her seventeenth chapter. There is another horrible incident which shows the difficult situation of women in Saudi Arabia, a kind of punishment, confined to a room of darkness, a gradual death. The incident is of Tahani's (sister of Sultana) best friend Sameera, who falls in love with a Westerner. Although many Saudi men marry women of other faiths without repercussions, the Saudi women must pay the supreme price for their association with a non-Muslim. Sameera was not successful in her love with Larry and more crucial was the death of her open-minded father, who sent Sameera to London for higher education. Later on, as a result of her father's death, Sameera could not find any one to support her financially and was forced to return to Saudi Arabia. At the very moment of her arrival, her uncle confines Sameera in her room till he finds a groom for his niece. Since Sameera was not virgin anymore, because of her relation to Larry, this could be a tragic life for her. Finally, Sameera got married to a man, holding three other wives but because of Sameera’s quarrel, her husband without ceremony divorced her and returned her at her uncle's door and reveals her ‘impurity’. In a bottomless black rage, the uncle sought guidance through the pages of the Koran. He soon found verses that cemented his decision to shut away the one who had shamed his family name.  Therefore, Sameera was sentenced to 'the woman's room', a particularly cruel punishment, a gradual death.  Woman's Room in the Princess is a situation, where the windows are closed with cement blocks. Insulation is installed so that the cries of one imprisoned cannot be heard. A special door is hung, with a bottom panel adjusted to serve as an entry for food. A hole in the floor is built for the disposal of body wastes.

Sultana, later in her marriage life, faces the common practice of polygamy in 'Second Wife', the eighteenth chapter of Princess. During a routine examination at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in the city, Sultana had been diagnosed as having breast cancer. But the doctors were certain that now she was clean of the killer cells, but she had lost one breast. Further, Sultana was also warned not to become pregnant. Karim informed her that he wants to wed another woman and his reason was to have more children. This arouses anger in Sultana and she began to fight. At last, she wanted Karim to divorce her, but Karim refuses, saying if she gives up the children to his second wife then only it is possible. The only way for Sultana was to escape. This decision was one of the most dangerous acts by a woman in Saudi Arabia. If arrested, death penalty would be the only option. But, since she is a princess and believes in her own power, she is not humiliated. Therefore, the author describes her escape in chapter nineteen. In this chapter, Sultana calls her favorite pilot and tells him that she wants to go to Jeddah. She does not inform any one for her own safety. When she meets the pilot she tells him that the plan has changed because of the illness of her child.   "I have to go to Dubai."

When Sultana reaches Dubai and meets her children who are already there, she goes to London with the first flight. Finally, from there she would be able to force Karim to comply with her own rules such as not to marry another woman, etc., and Karim agrees accordingly.

And, the last chapter of the book shows women’s struggle against the government. They do not obey the laws and begin driving cars up and down the streets; they are women of the middle class, women who are teachers of other women or students. As a result of their bravery, their lives are devastated by their actions, passports taken, jobs lost, and some had been killed by their own families.

In sum, Princess tells us that apart from the society, a female from the very beginning faces discrimination at home. Even, women from royal family are not exceptional. Although a number of royal women fight against discrimination, their efforts cannot undermine the male dominant society of Saudi Arabia.

The book suggests that the way women want to lead their lives is unacceptable to the traditional Arabs, simply because this may threaten men’s dominated role. The major obstacle against women’s emancipation is traditionally rooted doctrines of Islamic fundamentalism, which have not been changed. But, forces of modernity have succeeded a bit to push back the traditional minded Arabs, as it is evident in Sultana’s relationship with Karim, her husband. This indicates that in such a traditional society there can be moderate minded people like Karim, however, whose numbers are insignificant to project the cause of women.  

To conclude, Sultana and the women of her time have been facing a major problem, which is their identity crisis. Many of them still do not know about their actual roles: Are they mere sexual objects for man's pleasure? Are they tools for sexual reproduction? Or are they mothers? Or are they marriage partners? Unfortunately, matters such as discrimination against women, and violation of their rights in Saudi Arabia have remained the same. They do not enjoy their basic or natural rights. In the end of Princess, Sultana concludes in her own words  by saying“Thirty years had passed yet nothing had changed. My life had come full circle. Father and Ali, Karim and Abdullah (Sultana’s son), yesterday, today and tomorrow, immoral practices passed, leaving a legacy of shame in their treatment of women.”