THE PROLOGUE
The story begins with showing us how Jamila, AKA Lattouf's Mother, is in denial, and also goes on to describe her exceptional beauty.
Jamila had reached 40 and lingered there.
Years go by and she stands there, unmoving, and whenever asked of her age, her eye breaks and she answers: around forty. Those who do not know her would think her to be her daughter-in-law's sister, not mother-in-law. The pens of the years had not drawn a single boor line onto the page of that face, for there were none but lines so fine like the sword's edge. Lattouf's mother was a rarity of her time: attractive beauty, a tall, straight stature, neither fat nor delicate, almond-like eyes that verified the news of Harut and Marut [two angels who were sent down to Babylon to test the people's faith by performing deeds of magic], that kept in them the glitter of youth until they were extinguished. Those who looked closely would see that she was of no small nose, but its greatness was lost in that vast valley.
It then goes on to detail how she was quite the commanding woman:
She was great and stubborn, a ruler by her order, in control of her husband and cousins, no order of hers denied, and consulted in dilemmas, a word of hers would ignite the village,... If she were in a place other than the narrow space of the village, she would have been of great social standing.
It seems she was quite carefree, except for when she thought of her son's potential marriage:
The fop would walk around as if she were a 15-year-old.... Her mind was only occupied when she thought of her son's marriage.
A MOTHER'S EGO, A SON'S SPINSTERHOOD, AND A HUSBAND'S SUBMISSION
However, it seems that her arrogance, attitude, and general disdain of others were what kept potential spouses from her son:
She attempted to marry him to large houses, but did not succeed. Her son was a handsome young man of able mind, but people's daughters feared his mother's arrogance and attitude, and therefore would steer clear of her house.
Lattouf's mother would not keep her tongue off of people's daughters, as every time her son suggested one to her, she would mock him and deny him by saying: "I thought you understood. Tasteless boy. Lowlife." This girl's mother is this, and that girl's father is that, and so the days went on, and Lattouf reached the age of thirty-five, still unmarried, and his mother could not find a fitting daughter as she claimed.
Lattouf's mother was putting her own image ahead of her son's marriage and the continuation of her family.
Lattouf's mother was not inclined towards getting her son married. She refused to become a mother-in-law, and her being would shiver and shudder at the idea of becoming a grandmother, being called "Nana."
Eventually, Lattouf's male spinsterhood began looming dangerously near (he had just turned 35). This was not a culture or time where he could just take the red pill and go self-improvement/MGTOW/PUA for several more years, as this is set in a Lebanese village sometime in the beginning of the 20th century. He therefore decided to just get married already:
Eventually, Lattouf grew tired. His coming old age warned him by drum and horn. One day, he came back home to his mother with the girl he had chosen. [At some point, they have a kid together, which will be mentioned later.]
With Jamila for a mother, things inevitably ended poorly:
She accordingly welcomed him with her footwear on his face and nape [back of neck]. His father attempted to intervene, so she brushed him off with the standard "shut up and sit down somewhere." He would shake his head and fall silent.
He was a man run by his woman, more obedient than a ring on the finger. For this docility his son was attributed to his mother [Lattouf took her name rather than his father's.]
And so she kept nagging her son to return his wife, but he held resolute:
"Lattouf's mother insisted that his wife be returned, but he retorted: "We have been married, mother. Do not tire yourself. What God has done, no human can undo."
She even goes to wish death upon her own son:
"May God take you away, you've become a philosopher, fool!"
THE AFTERMATH
Since her orders were not obeyed, she had a breakdown and fainted. She even tried to attack a reverend:
And she would scream, and whistle, and go green, and go red, and shake as she was afflicted with both fever and cold. Finally, she fainted. The coma went for long and pulse disappeared, and so the reverend was called. She later woke and so saw the reverend waiting near her, and tried to snatch him by the beard, and so he ran, and heard her saying: "If my eye meets his, we have a bone to pick. He marries my son and does not ask of me, his beard must be cut."
Her daughter-in-law kept treating her well, but Lattouf's mother repaid the kindness by treating her progressively worse. Eventually, things came to a boil:
And so as the days went on, she calmed down, but her life detoriated. Her daughter-in-law would do her well, and she would only get more distant and disgusted: if she saw her she criticized her, and she would talk behind her back, and rarely would she eat her food. All of this and the daughter-in-law was patient with her, complimenting her and doing her well, and she would only become more cruel, until eventually, the scales balanced, and so the battle heated, and it was ferocious.
She could not handle the lack of attention that age and her drying well of beauty wrought upon her, so she invested heavily in cosmetics and traveled to Beirut to buy dresses.
...and returned to the village like a newlywed. She abandoned the headscarf and instead covered her head with a pink veil, as if she were competing with her daughter-in-law and one-upping her. However, she got no attention from the people; the yellow [disingenuous] smiles mixed with bitter mockery were killing her, and so she only went deeper into ruction.
She felt betrayed and thought everyone was against her. One day, she walked into the author's house:
She walked in on me one day with her grandson. She sat down and seated him next to her. No manners and no greeting. She seemed concealed as if she wanted to say nothing, or as if she knew not where she was. I did not approach her lest she make a scene, but when the wait became too long, I said to her, smiling: "It seems you have swallowed your tongue. God be with you."
She answered with a coldness mixed with repulsion: "May God not be with you, and may peace not be upon you. You're all against me. The forsaken has no friends." She said this as she pulled a little pastry out of her inventory, a remainder of what she had gotten from Beirut, and handed it to the boy, saying: "Know why I like this boy?"
He shrugged his shoulder in the negative.
"Because tomorrow he will take my revenge."
A long argument happens where she complains about how everyone betrayed her, with the author repeating to her multiple times: "Life is turns. Your turn is up." As she ran off, he tells her: "Your son is dying, oh Lattouf's mother, he has become ripped apart."
It all ended in battle between her and her daughter-in-law:
It was a decisive battle between the mother and her daughter-in-law, and Lattouf aimed his gun to his head threateningly, so his mother screamed and grabbed his hand, and the gun went off and pierced the womb that had held him nine months, and such the tale ended: The mother in the grave, the son died in prison, and his wife went to another man.
LESSONS TO BE LEARNED
Don't involve yourself with such a domineering, egotistical specimen of woman, and if you do, keep her in check. Such marriages can only take one of three paths:
1. YOU ARE OF EQUAL OR NEAR EQUAL DOMINANCE ON THE ALPHA SCALE
and you and your wife are stuck in an eternal battle of who can "out-alpha" the other. That's not a happy way to live. Alternatively, you may end up in a state of sub-optimal, but acceptable, happiness, but I wouldn't count on it.
2. YOU ARE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE DOMINANT THAN HER
and she submits. This is your best option as your quality of life will remain high.
3. SHE IS SIGNIFICANTLY MORE DOMINANT THAN YOU
and you end up the stereotypical pussy-whipped husband with negative ballsack volume. This is a sad specimen of man whose wife will subjugate him and make him miserable. She will also cheat on him.
Don't be like Lattouf's father, and don't marry Lattouf's mother. It will end up in no good for anyone involved, and will make the very angels weep.
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