The following chapters 13 and 14 of the book showcase Culture and Sexism. It can be seen as Gale felt that Sophia was getting on the wrong path so it would be better if she sent her daughter to stay with Matar in Doha. Reading through the chapter it is seen that Sophia felt comfortable mostly interacting with her aunts. To make Sophia mix more with the way of life and make her feel like a part of the family, one of her aunt’s had taken her to purchase garments, as the Qatari style of attire is altogether different from anything that she was accustomed to wearing.
In the first place, when Sophia was back in America she had Gale as her mom who was very overprotective and now when she did fundamental things in Qatar she believed she could inhale unreservedly in outdoors, then again in Qatar there was an entire isolation rule being forced on her as it was denied for male and females to associate with each other regardless of whether it is her cousins.
Despite being rebellious she still enjoyed playing the video games in the Majlis, in the end, she was caught by her aunt was given a lecture on how she is not supposed to interact with boys. Aunt Moody tried explaining to her how in her early years she could make the decision with full freedom and now when she is matured, there were certain things that she was not allowed to do which at last left her with no choice but to follow those rules.
In the Muslim community, it is considered unethical for opposite genders to interact with each other. Boundaries are set amongst them once they hit the teenager life. And usually the female and male interact only after marriage. From a Feminist perspective, women’s should be given all the liberty to enjoy and make decisions of their own and not to be pressurized by rules and regulations and not to limit them from basic things as seen in the society.
Moreover, Faraj was not permitted to marry a woman who is not Bedouin and was forced into an arranged marriage; despite the story being based in an old setting we still see these phenomena taking place in today’s generation. There are high chances that marrying from a different culture can have a negative impact. As it’s seen in the book Faraj was the main man of the family unit and had a minimal decision on this issue. Despite the fact that Matar additionally hitched out of the clan with various nationality, for Matar’s family one outcast wedded into the family was more than enough. Till date, it’s seen in some societies that people are forced to follow tradition against their own will and are compelled to follow the rules and regulation in the society which in return results in hatred.