Question
Setting and Character Analysis:
“The Women’s Baths” gives us a look into Syrian culture and the importance of family dynamics and family traditions.
Prompt: Contrast how the grandmother is viewed at home versus at the baths. How does the granddaughter’s view of grandma change after her day at the baths? Cite evidence from the text to support your view. Please write a 3 paragraph essay that follows MLA guidelines.
“The Women’s Baths” gives us a look into Syrian culture and the importance of family dynamics and family traditions.
Prompt: Contrast how the grandmother is viewed at home versus at the baths. How does the granddaughter’s view of grandma change after her day at the baths? Cite evidence from the text to support your view. Please write a 3 paragraph essay that follows MLA guidelines.
Answers
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In "The Women's Baths," we are presented with the stark contrast between the grandmother's role in her own household versus her role at the baths. At home, the grandmother is seen as an authoritative figure who controls the household and makes decisions regarding the family's dynamics, values, and traditions. In this environment, the grandmother is a disciplinarian; she is stoic and distant in her interactions with her granddaughter. The author describes the grandmother's position at home through lines such as, "But in that house, there was a fiercer person even than the mother, and this was the grandmother" (Farshi 1). This statement emphasizes the power and authority that the grandmother possesses at home. The almost mythical status she maintains in the household is further reinforced through descriptions of her attire: "Her silver bracelets (...) and from her ears dangled earrings that were like mysterious moons in the shadows" (Farshi 1).
The baths, on the other hand, provide an entirely different environment for the grandmother. Here, she is in her element, indulging in a tradition that highlights her femininity, her social stature, and her command of the community of women. In this setting, the granddaughter witnesses a transformation in her grandmother's persona: "Grandmother held court in the baths among the women, as she did at home among her family" (Farshi 3). Her old world dignity is replaced by a joviality and her detachment replaced by camaraderie. Far from the fierce person who ruled in her house, we learn that, "When she was pleased, the grandmother sallied forth shining as a bride" (Farshi 3).
Through this contrast in settings and the contrasting behavior of the grandmother, the granddaughter's perception of her grandmother evolves, as she begins to understand the complexities of women's relationships and the dynamics of family life. In both settings, where the grandmother is a powerful presence, the granddaughter realizes the different facets of strength and authority that her grandmother represents. The transformation the baths bring about in the grandmother demonstrates to the girl that the feminine, nurturing side of women exists alongside the stern dispositions that are required to maintain harmony in family life. The granddaughter comes to view the baths as the one place where her grandmother shows vulnerability and warmth, as she remarks,"For that one day at the baths, the house became a place of rest" (Farshi 3), indicating an acceptance and identification with the bath's atmosphere and instilling in her the same importance of tradition and family dynamics as exhibited by her grandmother.
Works Cited:
Farshi, Fakhreeya. "The Women's Baths." Lines Journal, Florida State University, 2019.
The baths, on the other hand, provide an entirely different environment for the grandmother. Here, she is in her element, indulging in a tradition that highlights her femininity, her social stature, and her command of the community of women. In this setting, the granddaughter witnesses a transformation in her grandmother's persona: "Grandmother held court in the baths among the women, as she did at home among her family" (Farshi 3). Her old world dignity is replaced by a joviality and her detachment replaced by camaraderie. Far from the fierce person who ruled in her house, we learn that, "When she was pleased, the grandmother sallied forth shining as a bride" (Farshi 3).
Through this contrast in settings and the contrasting behavior of the grandmother, the granddaughter's perception of her grandmother evolves, as she begins to understand the complexities of women's relationships and the dynamics of family life. In both settings, where the grandmother is a powerful presence, the granddaughter realizes the different facets of strength and authority that her grandmother represents. The transformation the baths bring about in the grandmother demonstrates to the girl that the feminine, nurturing side of women exists alongside the stern dispositions that are required to maintain harmony in family life. The granddaughter comes to view the baths as the one place where her grandmother shows vulnerability and warmth, as she remarks,"For that one day at the baths, the house became a place of rest" (Farshi 3), indicating an acceptance and identification with the bath's atmosphere and instilling in her the same importance of tradition and family dynamics as exhibited by her grandmother.
Works Cited:
Farshi, Fakhreeya. "The Women's Baths." Lines Journal, Florida State University, 2019.