READING LOG

(A HOUSE OF FLESH)

GIST OF THE SHORT STORY

This story is evolving around a widow, her three daughters and a blind muqri (a person

who recited verses of Quran). After the bread winner in the family has passed away a ritual of

reciting the Quran has been done in the house by a young but blind muqri. He keeps on

coming to the house to recite verses of Quran, performing his duty without any complaints,

complements or certain responses by the widow what more by her three daughters. However,

one day the muqri has stopped coming to their house and bitter silence has shrouded their

house. Then suddenly a silly idea has popped out from the three daughters, asking and forcing

their mother to get married to the blind muqri as to feel secure by having a man in the house

and also in hoping more men are coming to their house to ask for their hands. Have I

mentioned that the daughters are unattractive or to put it in a nicer way, not much to look at.

After the mother gets married to the blind muqri the atmosphere of the house has

changed from austere ambient to become an ecstatic, cheerful and loud. Then the eerie part

comes to sojourn. Out of the sudden the muqri spotted an awkward ambience in his house.

Silence has once more visited them and this time periodically. Starting from the mother then

the middle daughter, the eldest and the last is the youngest. He has started to question why the

ring that he has given to his wife as a wedding dowry keep on fluctuating from a plump finger

to thin and vice versa. He also has seemed to decry divergent of his intimate intercourse

experience with his wife as at a time she is ‘worn out, exhausted like swampy water’ and at

one point as ‘fresh as the morning dew’.

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 Withal, he actually manages to find out answer to his baffling intercourse with his

wife. He seems to believe that besides sleeping with his wife he is also actually sleeping with

his step daughters.

POINT OF VIEW

ANALOGY

After reading the short story thoroughly I have begin to think that having a man in the

house seems to be a must in certain community as it shows that a man can bring happiness

towards a dull house as well as providing sense of attraction towards other men to the house

as based on this short story the daughters are desperately in need of husbands and due to

physically repugnant have brought bad charm to the girls to get married, this has been well

said in the short story, ‘What man would dare to knock on the door of poor unattractive girls,

particularly if they happened to be fatherless?’. Here I can conclude that it seems the women

are relying too much on the men to provide them happiness and to fulfil their needs. They in

my inclination seem to be an independent women in which the mother does not really needed

a man to support her and her three daughters as she is being said to work at rich people’s

home, ‘Her mornings were spend washing clothes in rich people’s homes...’ while the

husband just goes reciting Quran and maybe being paid a little as stated in the short story, ‘ …

and their income grew just a little bit more’. To such a degree has made me thinking of why

does she need man in her life? And I started to think of the second thing that pop out from my

mind, maybe due to lust, as she is being stated as ‘The widow is tall, fair-skinned, willowy,

about thirty-five’. Here we can see that she is still young and not yet really worn out and she

also has the look if we compare to her daughters that take over their father physical, and these

seem to be the only justification based on the statement provided by the author.

INTERPRETATION
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 Lust in my opinion is the main issue that the story trying to delve into. As being born

as a Muslim I manage to put myself in the situation in which talking and involving in

forbidden sexual intercourse is considered taboo and people will not even dare to converse

about it publically what more to print it. Nonetheless, lust is a human natural needs, where

people even willing to undergone severe punishment as to fulfil their lustrous need. Here in

‘A House of Flesh’ we have several candidates or shall I say sinners that willing to commit

into adultery just for the sake of 15 minutes pleasure. The girls willing to put their morals as

Muslim aside just to fulfil their needs for sex, here distinct choice of dictions have been used.

The word ‘hungry’ and ‘food’ have been twisted to give an ambiguous meaning as reading

between the line are necessary in understanding them. ‘Hungry’ here to me is depicting the

hunger of lust, ‘...the girls are hungry. The food is forbidden...’, while the ‘food’ representing

sexual intercourse.

I incline that lust is one of Allah gifts to human being as to channel happiness, passion,

love and even to release certain affliction through miracle works of hormones in one body.

Howbeit, if we look this matter in the characters point of view, they are seemed to be badly in

need of their ‘food’ as they are normal human beings which do have needs that are demanded

to be fulfilled, but looking at their badly condition of unluckily to have suitors has made

matter worst. Here it seems that the author is trying to implementing polygamy concept that

has been practiced by most Muslim practiser, which man is allowed to have more than one

wife. But, without regarding to this concept and regulation Yussef Idriss has entwined the

concept by making the step daughters performing incest with their disable step father. Here

Electra complex has been portrayed vividly, apart from that the girls are not having grudge

towards their mother, but maybe a bit of jealous towards their mother contentment.

Being driven by lust the mother and the three daughters have indulged themselves to

sinful situation in which all three parties (mother, three daughters and the muqri) are willingly
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committing it. This can be proven when the author writes the mother as well as the three

daughter are amenable to rotate in having their lust to be fulfilled, ‘The ring lies beside the

lamp and silence sets in and ears become blind, and in silence the finger whose turn comes

gropes stealthily for the ring and turns off the light.’

As for the muqri he at first questioning the situation but then he seems to take it as

way it is and by my surprise he even trying to put the blame on the women in his house and

even his disable ability for this ‘fortune’ incident, ‘…but the most he can know is doubt,

doubt that can be removed only through the blessing of sight’. Here I tend to question the

sincerity and loyalty of the muqri towards his wife and his responsibility towards his step

daughters. In a way, I am reckoned he is actually enjoying sleeping with varies women

without even having the guilt of perpetrating incest with his step daughters, thus because he

has not say any word of rejecting the whole sinful process yet he simply put the blame to

those who have sights of still enacting the incest.

EVALUATION/RECOGNITION OF FICTION

This short story has enlightened me about Middle East Muslim in which I have taken

as being closest heir of Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. and they are supposed to be pious and

piety as that is what a stereotype Muslim should be. However, when I tend to comprehend this

story from a normal human being point of view, it does make sense that all human makes

mistake and what important they want their lust to be fulfilled no matter how it supposed to be

accomplished. Nevertheless, to me there are many ways to avoid this incest and sickening

event, for instance, the mother can find another blind men to become the suitors of her three

daughters as the blind can even see and judge their physical repugnant. Besides than that, the

mother can also find suitors that as unattractive as her daughters thus nobody will get hurt or

being blame as being hideous. Despite all my suggestions I also doubt they can be

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implemented in real life situation as what been mentioned in the short story, the daughters are

desperately in need of men and they have waited for quite a long time. Patient and waiting

have limitation and theirs are just at the edge of the line.

Regardless of commotion that has been created in this short story, I sincerely like the

short story as it has somehow educate me not to be over generalised about people and their

values, as being human we are born to commit sin, have doubt and trying to put the blame on

other people or on our own weaknesses, thus a big applause should be given to Yussef Idriss

of brilliantly producing a master piece that I reckon has become an eye opener to reader.