Here are some questions about Laila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land. Like always, you’re welcome to respond to anything in the book that interested you:
- What do you make of the fairy tale frame in the “Before” and “After” sections? What about the story of Nus Nsays and the ghula? Why do you think Halaby includes these? Do you think they’re effective? Did you notice other folk tale allusions in the novel?
- How does Halaby characterize differences between Jordan and Arizona? What do the characters miss about home? What do they like or dislike about their new lives in America? Do you think Halaby manages to explore cultural differences without being essentialist?
- Discuss the role of American consumerism in the novel.
- Discuss the recurring motif of water.
- Why do you think Halaby gives both Jassim and Salwa their own personal traumas (the miscarriage and the car accident) in the wake of the national trauma of 9/11?
- Choose a particular character–Salwa, Jassim, Hassan, Jake, Penny, Marcus, perhaps–and explore his or her role in the novel. What’s interesting about the character? What function does he or she seem to serve? Do you buy the character? (Is he or she believable?)
- Why such an ambiguous ending? What did you think happened?
- Many 9/11 novels explore failing domestic relationships. Why do you think so many writers choose this focus rather than portraying a larger, more politicized world? Or do you think that the domestic and the political merge in this novel?
Once in a Promised Land is actually my favorite novel so far, among all the books on wars we have been exposed to in this amazing course. This is the one of the only books that doesn’t have any combat action scenes, yet I finished it in one sitting, staying up way past midnight. I think it has to do with the genuine compassion the author, Laila Halaby was able to provide in her characterization – compassion deepens understanding, which makes everything so much more interesting.
I read a Q&A section in the back of the book, in which Halaby talked about some of her literary influences, and said “I learned that you can create nontraditional American characters without apologies and explanations.” She certainly carried that out with confidence throughout the book. It is an authentic immigrants’ story in its theme, characterization, structure, even down to word choices and voice. The phrase “This is the American….” or “in America it is…” appeared so often in the thoughts of the main characters, a reader was constantly reminded of that misplaced feeling, which shifts from curiosity, admiration, detachment, confusion, frustration to hostility depending on the character’s mood – as an immigrant myself, I thought Halaby did a great job capturing this inside voice.
I also admire how Halaby chose not to tackle the bigger issues – Islamophobia, bigotry, misogyny and the marginalization of immigrants in general with big words and big plots. She took the pain to reveal all of this through the development of nuanced interpersonal relationships: small interactions between coworkers, lovers, friends, or even with a traffic cop. In my mind this is the only way to do it right – what forms our bigger feelings about a place is the accumulation of small personal relations, and racism often manifest itself in the microaggressions of every life. Going for drama is often counterproductive. It misses the point.
A completely personal comment: Penny is my favorite character in the story! It kills me not knowing what happened to her and Jassim in the end, although the writer part of me appreciates the tasteful choice of open ending…
I find the structure of the before and after sections a beautiful addition to the narrative that adds to Halaby’s complexity of storytelling. The repetition of the fairy tale structure and frame is a fitting beginning and ending to the novel. The translation of the opening lines and the line of “They say there was or there wasn’t in olden times” – the repetition of these lines speak to the importance of sharing this story. I am intrigued by Halaby’s use of italics and structure particularly in these opening sections. In the before section, Halaby’s use of italics is interesting in the conversation with the airport employee and the narrative of the response. The narrator requests that the reader “open the box and place in it any notions and preconceptions, any stereotypes with regard to Arabs and Muslims [that are] … tucked … forgotten … tidied away … rolled up … saved” be put away for the duration of the story (VIII). The frustration in the response of the narrator is noted in their reactions such as “No turbans, burqas, or violent culture” (VIII). The characterization of Salwa and Jassim being Arab Americans and this detail being revealed to the reader in the same line regarding the attackers of the World Trade Center speaks to the necessity of the reader to dispel any racial stereotypes they may possess.
Water has many appearances in the novel, but the overarching theme I find is power and life. Whoever has control over it wins. To start, Salwa described Jassim’s ritual of swimming every morning as a form of prayer. He used water to find balance before his day started and it also relaxed him. Next, we find he is a hydrologist that works with the conservation and management of water systems as his career. He has a longstanding, deep-rooted affinity for water going back to his childhood. Living in Jordan, we find from his flashback that water equaled wealth. When his uncle found water on his property and he professed he would be rich. Contrarily, water insecurities are a source of anxiety and contention.
As a hydrologist, water is an important source that is valuable enough to secure with quality sensors, detectors, and requires 24 hours a day monitoring. One of the problems he aims at correcting is creating a way to make saltwater drinkable.
Salwa uses water to cleanse away the remnants of her miscarriage and traces of her infidelity which makes water cleansing.
Water is a lifeline. Many civilizations have settled near water sources; the world is made up of 80% water and people are made up of between 50 and 75% water. Lack of water can be a detriment to any community.
On another note, water can cause damage when there is an overabundance of it like in floods. And restaurants charge more for water than soda which makes water a commodity.
Jessica, I like your focus on the presence and importance of water in the narrative. I also found its function in the story interesting and to be a poignant aspect to the overall text. By inverting the Western gaze onto the Arab world, Halaby brings forth light on the globally destructive ideological underpinnings of American culture, especially post 9/11, when paranoia and xenophobia were pervasively rampant. The inclusion of water in the story, from the characters’ personal experiences to the more extensive climate considerations regarding it, functions to highlight how the Westernized frame-of-thought (i.e. binary and nationalistic ideologies) can be harmful across borders and cultures on even a global scale. Halaby’s use of water, whether in regard to instances of its power/destruction, serves as a neutralizing force amidst all the conflicting cultural and ideological noise within the narrative; water as an absolute among all the chaos of conflicting and changing human constructs.
I thought the Halaby did a nice job of making super unexpected decisions in the novel and going against stereotype at times. For example, she sets the novel across the country from New York even though the “logical” thing would’ve been to set the novel closer to the tragic location that spurs all of the discrimination. Then, Salwa’s the one in the relationship to engage in a full-fledged affair with Jake, when I think we’re more accustomed to the man in the relationship having affairs. (Jassim did have penny though). And rather than making Jake the worst, which he kinda is, Halaby redeems him slightly when he does kind things for Salwa like offer her the candy-coated shumur that he knew would remind her of the home she was longing for. Finally, I was totally surprised that Jassim visited the victim in the hospital. I just really appreciated the novel for how it always surprised me and strayed away from my expectations.