How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #1
Nevertheless, the act of conscience was Father's, and it was he rather than Mother who would have had the satisfaction of knowing that he had done what he believed he had had to do. (22)
With the passage of time, Ahmed is able to see her mother in a clearer light. No longer does she reserve all positive thoughts for her father. At this point, she understands a pivotal moment in her family's history more clearly. While her father's career is destroyed by his opposition to Nasser's pet project (the Aswan High Dam), he gets the benefit of a clear conscience, and to some, he earns the title of everyday hero.
But her mother's support of her father's actions receives zero recognition, and Ahmed appreciates the enormity of her sacrifice. Mom is left to shoulder the realities of her husband's decisions—including loss of income and the early loss of her husband. And she still has to deal with Ahmed's contempt since her daughter has a hard time accepting that things could be so bad for her when they still held Ain Shams.
Quote #2
[...] those who have studied Rachel Carson, Barbara McClintock, and other women pioneers of Western scientific thought have suggested that the originality of these women sprang in part from their rootedness in a different cultural ethos—a women's ethos of connectedness—different from the ethos of competitiveness and individualism of the men of their culture. (35)
Ahmed is interested in the difference of perspective—in the different ways of thinking and interacting with the world—between men and women. Though she discusses this mostly in terms of religion (men's Islam versus women's Islam), she sees a similar principle governing other parts of women's lives: that personal identity, a connection to community and family, forms their consciousnesses.
Ahmed uses the "maleness" of competition and individualism to oppose this ideal, but she doesn't limit these traits to men alone. She speaks of them as traditionally male qualities that can be taken up by anyone. In a similar way, she speaks of "women's Islam" as not exclusively belonging to women. It is an oral tradition, part of folk culture as opposed to the official, textual, and totally male world of "men's Islam."
Quote #3
Looking back [...] I do not see someone blindly and stupidly obeying the laws of her society. Rather, I see a mother terrified for her daughter and probably also feeling guilty that, out of her own neglect in allowing me to play with boys, she had failed to protect me and that I had in consequence perhaps been harmed in a way that could be very costly to me in this society. For this was the reality in that society—loss of virginity could indeed be enormously costly. (82)
Ahmed tells the story of her mother's truly frightening reaction to the news that the neighbor boy tried to molest Ahmed. While Ahmed is justifiably terrified and resentful of her mom's response, the distance of years helps her to understand why her mother freaked out. She knew the reality of a society obsessed with female purity and family honor.
And yet, there is a part of Ahmed that wants to blame the women of her family for being acquiescent to such realities. Why would her mother have killed them both rather than taken some other action to protect her? Ahmed will continue to struggle with her perception of past injustices and her present understanding of social realities throughout the narrative.