Against the Loveless World, an Excellent Case Study
I recently finished reading Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa, a 2019 novel about a Palestinian woman who ends up in an Israeli prison for acts of terrorism. This is not the sort of book I would normally choose on my own. One of my book clubs had a long energetic conversation about the novel, although, of about eight readers, I think I was the most ardent fan of the story. The reviews were mixed: a couple found it so distasteful they couldn’t finish the book, a couple finished but didn’t much care for it, and some liked it but wouldn’t say they loved it.
A big part of the reason I loved the story so much is because of what a compelling case study the protagonist Nahr was for the Right Hand of Long-Term Happiness. Nahr’s parents are driven from Palestine when she is young. They land in Kuwait where Palestinians are treated like they don’t belong (social, esteem). At home, Nahr has a difficult relationship with a grandmother who is verbally abusive (esteem). Due to these knocks to her self-esteem, when her friends target a Palestinian visitor as a desirable man, Nahr makes it her mission to seduce him into marriage. She succeeds, but he makes it clear almost immediately that he’s pining for a past love (esteem). After a few months, he leaves her (esteem).
Nahr makes an acquaintance with a madam who compels her into service as a prostitute. As one would expect, she encounters a number of frightening situations (safety), a couple of which end with bodily harm (physiological). She is happy to be making good money, but because of the shame (esteem) associated with the work, she has to get creative about hiding the source of the money from her family (social).
When Kuwaitis return after Hussain’s invasion and occupation, the Palestinians are targeted as collaborators, and Nahr’s family is again driven out of their home, this time finding refuge in Jordan. But again the dislocation affects their safety and esteem needs, and Nahr seems unmoored to the point where her growth needs suffer.
It’s only when she returns to Palestine to finally seek a divorce from her husband that Nahr finds the path to fully filling her Six Needs, and that’s through falling in love with one of the resistance fighters and joining his cause. He and his friends give her purpose (growth), make her feel needed and appreciated (esteem, social), and make her feel as safe as possible while at war. Their activities do end up costing her all of this (as acts of violence generally do), but for a time Nahr is blissfully, beautifully happy.
Ultimately, Against the Loveless World is about autonomy because at so many times Nahr feels the frustration of powerlessness: being a daughter, being a woman in a society in which men hold all the power, being a Palestinian in countries where Palestinians are barely tolerated, and finally being a prisoner. And yet throughout she does her best to exercise what choice she does have, fighting against her restraints in little ways and in big ways.
“I made myself free in chains and held that courtroom captive to my freedom.”
Have you read Against the Loveless World? If so, what were your thoughts about the story? I haven’t given away any spoilers, so if you haven’t read it, I highly encourage you to do so and look for other ways in which Nahr’s Six Needs were affected.