Perspective

As Elizabeth Fernea states in her introduction, author Leila Abouzeid was born a few years before Moroccan independence was formally achieved in 1956. Her father was a resistance fighter, and so, like the protagonist Zahra, Abouzeid was deeply affected by the resistance effort, and believed strongly in the values of self-governance and nationalism. Abouzeid's strong nationalist tendencies were also demonstrated in her choice to write in Arabic rather than English or French. She believed language was a strong cultural determinant, and her choice of Arabic showed a degree of solidarity with her native Moroccans, rather than the members of the Western world.

Abouzeid was a feminist, and much of Year of the Elephant was devoted to pointing out the injustice of divorce in contemporary Morocco. Abouzeid, through Zahra, expressed outrage that a woman's entire life hinged on a state of marriage that could be so easily dissolved. The entire...