| Chapter : | Introduction |
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This is evident in the detailed philosophical and psychological discussions that dominate the latter part of the novel. By writing novels to communicate what are predominantly academic and philosophical ideas, Mansour’s mission may be to educate those women who are in Mimi’s predicament: housewives for whom the only option out of the parental home is marriage and who, lacking in education, are not capable of securing work and becoming financially independent. In this light, it is particularly significant to consider that at the close of the narrative, Mimi decides to go to university and is struggling but is also persevering to educate herself.
Finally, one question of great interest to me, which begins to be answered in this novel, is what happens to the lesbian in countries of this degree of repression? What sort of relationships is she permitted to have or capable of having? How might she experience her sexuality in a world where such a sexuality is a great taboo? Siham is undoubtedly a tortured individual, and the narrative does not permit us to see much of her happier days when she lives with Claire in Paris, nor does it allow us to see what sort of adjusted individual she would become post the years of confusion and desperation depicted throughout the text. As such, I Am You is a dim and gloomy novel as far as Siham is concerned, set in the midst of a dim and gloomy civil war. And yet, despite Siham’s tortured nature and our ability to sympathise with her and occasionally feel the pain in which she lives, she nevertheless remains difficult to like. Perhaps because of her obsession with, and aggressive pursuit of, Layal; perhaps because she did not for a moment consider Claire’s suggestion of confronting her mother about the true nature of her relationship with Claire; or perhaps because she is willing to enter into a relationship with a woman, she feels virtually nothing for in order to fill the void left by her unrequited love for Layal.