From Sleep Unbound Literary Elements

From Sleep Unbound Literary Elements

Genre

Novel

Setting and Context

Set in 1983 and written in the context of despair, hope, and rebirth

Narrator and Point of View

Third-person narrative

Tone and Mood

Tense, sorrowful, pitiful, and disheartening

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist is Samya.

Major Conflict

There is a conflict between Samya and society, believing that women are men's property. Samya is married off at fifteen, and she leads a miserable life.

Climax

The climax comes when Samya gets the courage to face her brutal husband and shoots him to gain her freedom.

Foreshadowing

Patriarchal attitudes and Egyptian cultural beliefs foreshadow the suffering of women who are considered properties for men.

Understatement

The suffering of women under forced and arranged marriages is understated.

Allusions

The story alludes to the suffering of women due to cultural beliefs that favor men in Egyptian society.

Imagery

The imagery of gender roles in Egyptian society is depicted when Samya is forcefully married at fifteen. Samya’s father wants to exchange her daughter for financial gain. Similarly, Samya’s husband uses her as his property, mistreating her as he wishes.

Paradox

The main paradox is that women are brainwashed to believe that they are men’s properties. Instead of condemning the act of marrying off Samya at a young age, women welcome her with gifts and shower her with praises for getting married.

Parallelism

There is parallelism between the toleration of the oppressive culture by women and the patriarchal attitudes.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

N/A

Update this section!

You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this section.

Update this section

After you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.