Summary

Chapter 3 opens by describing Fatima’s steady increase in discomfort and even shame at her husband’s lack of high status, though her own status had helped his business to prosper in the way that it did. After the fire, Midhat searched the house for evidence that the “evil eye” was put on him—an old Arabic superstition about a curse borne of jealousy or hatred. He did not find anything, but he reflected on a letter he had received from his half-brother, Musbah, essentially apologizing for their father’s will and attempting to reestablish a relationship. Midhat had thrown the letter in the fireplace. He decided to tell Fatima about the possibility of a curse, and she encouraged him to go check his old house at the foot of Mount Gerizim. She was visibly shaken by the idea of the evil eye...