Bin Ghanem. 2 Name: Abdulrahman Bin Ghanem Professor: Clay Course: English 142 Date: 5/27/20 Girls of Riyadh Literary Work Analysis Draft 1 For long, women have been hindered to do a lot of things due to their gender. Women have been forbidden by their culture to share same privileges as men because they are perceived as the lesser gender and the challenge is that they have suffered severe consequences because of their gender. This is the same scenario being depicted in the book Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea who narrates the story of four different young women living in Saudi Arabia and they are all looking for love. However, all of them are in different life situations but one common thing is that they have different limitations as a result of their female gender and on the other hand, they have enormous demands. From the story, it is evident that gender has made a lot of women to go through life challenges and this essay shall focus on proving how using the four women captured in the story namely Gamrah, Sadeem, Michelle, and Lamees. Gamrah is put under an arranged marriage that she can refuse since culture demands that her parents seek for a suitable suitor for her. Together with her husband, they relocate to US where her studies for his PhD and she discovers her husband is having an affair with a Japanese woman (Ṣāniʻ, Rajāʼ, 20). She only comes to learn that her husband does not love her and that he is in the arranged marriage due to culture and traditions of his family. The main challenge is that the Saudi culture does not allow a married woman to have an affair with another man while as this is allowed to men. For this reason, she is compelled to return to Riyadh with her child where she goes through shame and ridicule. The fact that in Saudi girls will children and not married are not respected, she is shunned away by the society. Sadeem also fall victim of her Saudi culture when she falls in love with Walid her soon to be husband. However, shortly before their marriage, Sadeem and Walid gets intimate where Sadeem loses her virginity and this makes Walid to put an end to their relationship since it is mandatory for a Saudi boy to marry a virgin (Ṣāniʻ, Rajāʼ, 22). Sadeem tries to do to different locations for instance Riyadh and London to try and cope with her situation since she has lost chance in getting married and she decides to first focus on herself and loving herself once again. Michelle on her part falls in love with Faisal and he also loves her in return. Unfortunately, she is half Saudi and half American while as Faisal is a Saudi from Riyadh. According to Saudi culture, a man cannot marry a girl from another culture and the fact that Michelle is mixed race makes her to be considered not good enough to marry Faisal (Ṣāniʻ, Rajāʼ, 24). To make matters worse, Faisal opts to follow his mother’s warning and end the relation forcing Michelle to relocate to Dubai where she remains Lamees come later in the stor.

1. Bin Ghanem. 2
Name: Abdulrahman Bin Ghanem
Professor: Clay
Course: English 142
Date: 5/27/20
Girls of Riyadh Literary Work Analysis Draft 1
For long, women have been hindered to do a lot of things due to
their gender. Women have been forbidden by their culture to
share same privileges as men because they are perceived as the
lesser gender and the challenge is that they have suffered severe
consequences because of their gender. This is the same scenario
being depicted in the book Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
who narrates the story of four different young women living in
Saudi Arabia and they are all looking for love. However, all of
them are in different life situations but one common thing is
that they have different limitations as a result of their female
gender and on the other hand, they have enormous demands.
From the story, it is evident that gender has made a lot of
women to go through life challenges and this essay shall focus
on proving how using the four women captured in the story
namely Gamrah, Sadeem, Michelle, and Lamees.
Gamrah is put under an arranged marriage that she can refuse
since culture demands that her parents seek for a suitable suitor
for her. Together with her husband, they relocate to US where
her studies for his PhD and she discovers her husband is having
an affair with a Japanese woman (Ṣāniʻ, Rajāʼ, 20). She only
comes to learn that her husband does not love her and that he is
in the arranged marriage due to culture and traditions of his
family. The main challenge is that the Saudi culture does not
allow a married woman to have an affair with another man
while as this is allowed to men. For this reason, she is
compelled to return to Riyadh with her child where she goes
through shame and ridicule. The fact that in Saudi girls will

2. children and not married are not respected, she is shunned away
by the society.
Sadeem also fall victim of her Saudi culture when she falls in
love with Walid her soon to be husband. However, shortly
before their marriage, Sadeem and Walid gets intimate where
Sadeem loses her virginity and this makes Walid to put an end
to their relationship since it is mandatory for a Saudi boy to
marry a virgin (Ṣāniʻ, Rajāʼ, 22). Sadeem tries to do to different
locations for instance Riyadh and London to try and cope with
her situation since she has lost chance in getting married and
she decides to first focus on herself and loving herself once
again.
Michelle on her part falls in love with Faisal and he also loves
her in return. Unfortunately, she is half Saudi and half
American while as Faisal is a Saudi from Riyadh. According to
Saudi culture, a man cannot marry a girl from another culture
and the fact that Michelle is mixed race makes her to be
considered not good enough to marry Faisal (Ṣāniʻ, Rajāʼ, 24).
To make matters worse, Faisal opts to follow his mother’s
warning and end the relation forcing Michelle to relocate to
Dubai where she remains
Lamees come later in the story and she has been pursuing her
medial course. She gets engaged with her love a Shiite Muslim
boy but due to knowledge she had gathered about her culture,
she restrains herself thereby abiding with the Saudi culture. In
the process, she is able to realize how relationships are complex
and hence takes precaution leading to her happy ending.
From the story of the four Riyadh girls, the narrator has proven
that gender is one of the things that make a person either
advantaged or disadvantaged in the society. The female gender
has a higher amount of restrictions that makes it hard for them
to enjoy life as compared to men. Also, in the case of a single
mistake, the culture seems to judge and deal with women
harshly as it does with men.
Works cited
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3. Top of Form
Ṣāniʻ, Rajāʼ A. A. The Girls of Riyadh. New York: Putnam,
2007. Print.
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Bottom of Form