Veiled Women · Chapter
VI explained
Barakah navigates her new life in the harem, receiving visits from Mrs.
What happens
Barakah navigates her new life in the harem, receiving visits from Mrs. Cameron who reproaches her for assimilating, and from a mysterious old woman who attempts to lead her to Yûsuf but is intercepted by eunuchs. Gulbeyzah explains the incident as a plot by Fitnah. Barakah engages in conversations about the philosophy of seclusion, participates in trousseau preparations, and learns about Gulbeyzah's secret romantic fantasy with a man on a distant roof. The chapter explores Barakah's growing entanglement in harem customs and her internal conflict between her English upbringing and her new reality.
Themes in this chapter
Cultural Clash and Identity
Barakah is caught between Mrs. Cameron's reproach for abandoning English ways and the harem's expectations, reflecting her internal struggle with assimilation and identity.
Female Friendship and Solidarity
Gulbeyzah becomes Barakah's close confidante, sharing secrets and offering emotional support, while the harem ladies collectively engage in trousseau preparations.
Gender Roles and Patriarchy
The chapter explores the justification of female seclusion as a sacred duty, the lack of autonomy for women like Gulbeyzah, and the underlying threat of violence (e.g., the plot to lure Barakah).
Characters to notice
- Barakah
Struggles with her identity after Mrs. Cameron's visit, feels reckless, and begins to engage with harem life, including trousseau preparations and confidences with Gulbeyzah.
- Mrs. Cameron
Visits Barakah as the Consul's envoy, expresses disappointment and reproach for Barakah's adoption of local customs, and reminds her of their 'compact.'
- Gulbeyzah
Acts as Barakah's confidante and interpreter, explains harem politics, reveals her own secret romantic fantasy, and discusses her status as a Circassian slave.
- Fitnah Khânum
Suspected by Gulbeyzah of plotting against Barakah by sending the old woman; remains aloof and averted during trousseau preparations.
- Murjânah Khânum
Oversees Barakah's activities, gives consent for visits, and hosts trousseau business in her rooms.
- Leylah Khânum
The Pasha's widowed sister, hosts Barakah for a day, discusses love and marriage, and shocks Barakah with her frank views.
Key passages
“You’re quite at home with them, I see. It sounds unkind, but I must say I wish you weren’t. It is a fall for any woman bred as you were. How can you put that kohl round your eyes? … Goodbye, my dear, and don’t forget our compact.”
Mrs. Cameron criticizes Barakah for adapting to local customs, viewing it as a degradation, and reminds her of their prior agreement.
Highlights the cultural clash and Mrs. Cameron's disapproval of Barakah's assimilation.
“We secluded women of the East are the guardians of the mysteries of God Most High—the verities of life and death, of birth and growth and of decay—of all those things which come directly from the hand of God.”
An older lady defends the harem system as a sacred role, claiming women preserve the fundamental truths of life away from worldly turmoil.
Illustrates the ideological justification for female seclusion within the Islamic context.
“It is my fancy, there! Morality is not our business. We are strictly guarded. One gets a conscience—what you call a soul—when one has children.”
Gulbeyzah dismisses Barakah's moral concerns about her secret romantic fantasy, asserting that morality is irrelevant for guarded women and only develops with motherhood.
Reveals the different moral framework within the harem and the role of motherhood in shaping identity.
