# Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood

Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood (1994) by Fatema Mernissi Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood is a novel by Fatima Mernissi; the UK title has been The Harem Within: Tales of a Moroccan Girlhood. It describes her fictionalised youth in a Moroccan harem during the 1940s and explores the themes of Islamic feminism, Arab nationalism, French colonialism and the clash between the traditional and the modern. It is a fictional work, although this fact is only noted in the French version, not the English. The book centers around the harem experiences of a girl named Fatima. The women around her experience restricting patriarchal rules restricting their lives. They challenge such rules as un-Islamic and Fatima's mother ensures that Fatima gets an education. The book has been seen as challenging Orientalist stereotypes of Muslim women, and being an example of Islamic feminist literature

## Quotes

* Pessimism is the luxury of the powerful.
* But when your situation is hopeless, all you can do is turn the world upside down, transform it according to your wishes, and create anew
* Mothers should tell little girls and boys about the importance of dreams,' Aunt Habiba said. 'They give a sense direction. It is not enough to reject this courtyard--you need to have a vision of the meadows with which you want to replace it.' But how, I asked Aunt Habiba, could you distinguish among all the wishes, all the cravings which besieged you, and find the one on which you ought to focus, the important dream that gave you vision? She said that little children had to be patient, the key dream would emerge and bloom within, and then, from the intense pleasure it gave you, you would know that that it was the genuine little treasure which would give you direction and light. ** page 214
* There are many ways to be beautiful. Fighting, swearing, and ignoring tradition could make a women irresistible
* She would take him to faraway lands to observe foreign ways, so he could get closer to the strangeness within himself
* I asked Mina how would I know on which side I stood. Her answer was quick, short, and very clear - If you can't get out, you are on the powerless side.
* To make babies, the bride and groom had to dress up nicely, put flowers in their hair and lie down together on a very big bed. The next thing you knew, many mornings later, there was a little baby crawling between them"
** (Chapter 4, page. 33.)
* Sometimes, she said that to be stuck in a harem simply meant that a woman had lost her freedom of movement. Other times, she said that a harem meant misfortune because a woman had to share her husband with many others"
** (Chapter 4, page. 34.)
* The French do not imprison their wives behind walls, my dear mother-in-law,' she would say. 'They let them run wild in the local souk (market), and everyone had fun, and sill the work gets done'"
** (Chapter 5, page. 42.)
* But since then, looking for the frontier has become my life’s occupation. Anxiety eats at me whenever I cannot situate the geometric line organizing my powerlessness.”
** (Chapter 1, Page 3)
* But it was the radio incident that taught me an important lesson. It was then that Mother told me about the need to chew my words before letting them out. ‘Turn each word around your tongue seven times, with your lips tightly shut, before uttering a sentence,’ she said. ‘Because once your words are out, you might lose a lot.’”
** (Chapter 1, Page 10)

## External links

* goodreads
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* supersummary