Wedding of Zein response
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I drew this picture in response to the story, The Wedding of Zein. This story portrayed its characters very strangely and as though they were not real people. Zein is seen as this always happy good luck charm for women to get married, but the people in the story are not interested in how that affects him. The villagers also do not take care of its disabled people all that well, and Zein, this unrealistic character, is the only one to treat them as normal people would. I drew Zein (to the best of my not too good abilities) with his odd characteristics (no eyebrows or hair, two teeth, and no shoes), backed up by what seemed to be his only real friends. Together, they are a group of real people that other people don’t recognize.
Nima is also described strangely. She is described as one overall merciful attribute, rather than as a human. She is beautiful, and almost perfect, and has this pity and motherly concern for Zein. She feels it’s her duty to use her life not for pleasure but for some greater message. This reminded me of an angel rather than a normal young woman, so I drew her with wings, to invoke the imagery of a celestial being.
Nima and Zein connect and marry because of the way Nima sees herself. Nima wishes she had been named Rahma, to represent mercy, and enacts this in marrying her cousin. This word connects them in my drawing, as he can fall in love with anyone, and she thinks she is saving him by marrying him.