International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences

Vol-8, Issue-2; Mar-Apr, 2023

Journal Home Page Available: https://ijels.com/

Journal DOI: 10.22161/ijels

Postcolonial Dilemma in Laila Halaby’s Once in a

Promised Land
Ali Dakhil Naem

Ministry of High Education and Scientific Research, Summer University, Iraq

Received: 11 Mar 2023; Received in revised form: 14 Apr 2023; Accepted: 21 Apr 2023; Available online: 30 Apr 2023
©2023 The Author(s). Published by Infogain Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Abstract— In this paper, the researcher shows how Laila Halaby presents mainstream Americans’
perception of Arab Americans post 9/11 America in her novel Once in a Promised Land. Halaby narrates
how the mainstream Americans provided the Western gaze upon the Arab-American citizens. Halaby
symbolizes in the characters an America which is conspiratorial and submerged with religious passions.
After 9/11, Halaby’s mainstream American characters become increasingly fanatical and mistrustful of
Arabs, specifically, and Islamic religion, in general. Halaby, then, portrays intolerant and xenophobic
American characters overwrought with doubts and discloses a post 9/11 America that is prevalent with anti-
Arab racism. Halaby also propounds that the widespread American perception of a world patently divided
between East and West only arouses global crises such as drought, poverty and war. She also declares that
the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, were a direct result of these epidemics. Moreover, Halaby
offers a perspective of Americans who are ignorantly perceiving the United States as separated from crises
affecting all nations. For this reason, Halaby's novel functions as a cautionary tale decreeing Americans to
transcend a binary frame of reference to avoid further crises from escalating within or beyond American
borders.
Keywords— Orientalism, Eastern and Western cultures, Racism, Arab Americans

I. INTRODUCTION America. This text, Once in a Promised Land, by Halaby

Many Arab-American authors have published literary (2007) is undoubtedly applicable to the central theme in the
works since the attacks in New York on 11 September, portrayal of Arab-American characters in the novel. Before
2011. Some of these authors’ themes are how Arab the 9/11 attacks, Halaby’s protagonists, Jassim and Salwa
Americans struggled to keep their identity in the midst of Haddad, are residents in a rich suburb just outside of
the anti-Arab hatred. This 11 September event spurred Arab Tucson, Arizona. After the attacks, Jassim becomes the
Americans to get out of the invisible world into a "highly focus of an unsubstantiated FBI investigation, and Salwa
visible community that either directly or indirectly affects begins to experience longing for her homeland as she feels
America’s so-called culture wars, foreign policy, ostracized by the country in which she was born.
presidential elections, and legislative tradition" (Salaita, The post-9/11 finds Jassim and Salwa isolated
2011, p.110). Arab-American authors portray characters from the lifestyle to which they were once accustomed.
trying to come to terms with the complicated nature of both Eventually they become estranged from one another and
their ambivalent identity and fraught position in the United their marriage begins to fall apart. Although the challenges
States, finding themselves alienated from Arab and faced by the central characters are pivotal to the plot, Laila
American cultures alike. The Arab-American characters Halaby’s novel draws more attention to American
who cannot blend in into either Eastern or Western cultures individuals who react to her Arab-American protagonists
are common in many fictional accounts post 9/11 in rather than the ambivalent identity challenges facing the

IJELS-2023, 8(2), (ISSN: 2456-7620) (Int. J of Eng. Lit. and Soc. Sci.)
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.82.42 291
Gogoi Gender Oppression and the Consequent Madness in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea

protagonists themselves. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Halaby’s Arab-American characters realize that many Many scholars influenced by Edward Said’s seminal text,
Americans have adopted the hostile stance propagated by Orientalism have continued to probe and develop the study
the discourse of American politicians at the beginning of the under the postcolonial theoretical approach. Orientalism as
war on terror, which aggravated the American a discourse function as an example of the postcolonial
misunderstanding and mistrust of Arabic and Islamic predicament of Asians and Westerners alike. In Western
immigrants already in America prior to the tumultuous scholarly work the West has been either implicitly or
event. explicitly, but nevertheless often rather uncritically,
Once in a Promised Land is an especially accepted into a dichotomous relationship with “the Rest.”
compelling account of post 9/11 attack in America because The Western imagery of the Orient has been required to
Halaby projects the American stereotypical picture of Arab make the image of the Occident possible, and it has
countries thus displaying Western extremism and an produced a discourse that has evolved into a kind of
American society that is full of conspiracy hysteria and imagined binary ontology. This ontology has remained
religious fundamentalism. Halaby also proposes that the surprisingly strong, although at the same time it has become
pervasive American perception of a world starkly divided more obvious that the “two parts” are less distinguishable
the East and West and only exacerbates global crises such because of reasons such as globalization and its
as drought, poverty, and war. According to Halaby, the interconnecting phenomena of large labor movements,
attacks that took place on September 11, 2001 were a direct global markets, ethnic tensions, diseases, the mass media
result of these worldwide pestilences, which cannot, and so forth (James,1992).
ultimately, be contained within the Third World. Halaby's As previously mentioned, there is also a direct
novel, therefore, works as a cautionary tale, directing connection between Laila Halaby’s Once in a Promised
Americans to avoid the binary discourses to avert further Land and Leslie Marmon Silko’s 1977 work, Ceremony.
crises from spiraling either within or beyond American Both Halaby and Silko texture traditional stories with their
border. Halaby emphasizes that the U.S. is as susceptible to own narratives. In addition, Halaby’s conclusion that
crises as nations currently perceived as the Third World. universal disasters unite all citizens worldwide in a common
She draws attention to class inequalities, environmental fate is reminiscent of Silko’s cautionary tale that the
disasters, and a troubled population that exist within U.S likelihood of nuclear annihilation affects all cultures,
and offers to the American public and mainstream media to regardless of position. Consequently, both authors
not overlook and underestimate the epidemics taking place encourage cooperation between the East and the West states
within U.S. own boundary. and state that it is essential for all civilizations to transcend
Halaby’s judgment of the 9/11 attacks as a countrywide boundaries and cultural partitions in order to
significant worldwide concern is again proved in her solve universal crises.
application of techniques and imagery used by Leslie Abdallah (2016) conducted a comparative study on
Marmon Silko in her groundbreaking 1977 work, the portrayal of the Arab- Muslim character in Laila Halaby
Ceremony. Silko merges traditional Native American Once in a Promised Land. He claims that it clarifies and
folklore with contemporary poetry to assert her theme of explains the issues being examined from varying
growing transnational conflict. Similarly, Halaby compares perceptions, through numerous cultural perceptions,
Arabic mythology and Western fairy stories to expose endeavoring to mark the “demarcation between the
causes of the struggle between Eastern and Western discourse which spreads stereotypical images of Arab
countries that, according to Halaby, are imperceptible to Americans, and the alternative which illustrates the inherent
many Americans and Arabs alike. Halaby focuses much of human principles of the portrayed characters” (p.2).
her novel on the growing universal water unavailability, Consequently, the writer utilizes Orientalism as the lens in
concentrating on regions in the Middle East and the the analysis of the aforementioned novel analysed from the
southwestern United States. Her implication that the Arab and Western perspectives.
potential for worldwide disasters unites all universal
Laila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land, as a
inhabitants in a common fate is a recollection of Silko’s
diverse of secession politics, is major to her work. In the
warning that the possibility of nuclear extermination affects
novel, whereas some of her Arab-American character’s
all cultures irrespective of location.
practice Arab culture and conventions, Jassim and Salwa are
infrequently portrayed as doing so. They are, in fact,
enthusiastic contributors to the American consumer culture,
and their home is representative of a prosperous American

IJELS-2023, 8(2), (ISSN: 2456-7620) (Int. J of Eng. Lit. and Soc. Sci.)
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.82.42 292
Gogoi Gender Oppression and the Consequent Madness in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea

couple having achieved the American dream, lacking and … the coffee boiled away thousands of miles of
almost any indication that they once exist in another part of homesickness. (pp. 283-4)
the world as the description of the setting below indicates: Banita (2012) infers that both characters, Jassim
That afternoon, driving up and Salwa, are faced by “citizens spurred by Bush’s
recently repaved asphalt to his invitation to work as the spies of USA government” and
nestled-in-the hills home, Jassim emphasises that Halaby’s intention is to cast Arab
pulled up his glinty Mercedes Americans as “one step behind other social outsiders” in the
next to one of many identical eyes of the Americans they encounter (p. 246). Tancke
expectant mailboxes, each (2009) in his article “Uses and Abuses of Trauma in Post-
painted a muted rusty brown … 9/11 Fiction a Contemporary Culture,” suggests that Salwa
in the coolness of his house, and Jassim bear the shock of the 9/11 attacks. However, he
Jassim removed a gleaming fails to consider the American racism that directly resulted
glass from a glossy maple from the attacks and its impact on their lives. As Banita
cabinet and filled it with the (2012) states:
purest spring water money could It is not the repercussions
buy … [h]e pulled the trashcan from 9/11 as such that causes
out from under the right side of Salwa and Jassim’s life to
the sink (the spot where 92 disintegrate. … Once in a
percent of Americans keep their Promised Land critically and
kitchen trashcans, he self-consciously explores the
remembered hearing contemporary fascination
somewhere, though he doubted with trauma: we tend to
the statistic) so that he could sweepingly apply ubiquitous
reach the recycling basket, into and simplistic categories such
which he deposited a handful of as “9/11,” while the
direct mail and ads (except for traumatizing potential of
Salwa’s overpriced-underwear- violence and guilt inherent in
catalogue …) Salwa’s two human relationships are
magazines (one … with a impossible to predict. (Banita,
photograph of someone’s 2012)
pristine white living room)
Gikandi (2005) presents a didactic view to Halaby’s work.
found themselves on top of the
In his essay “Globalization and the Claims of Post-
underwear catalogue. (Halaby,
coloniality,” he refers to the tendency of colonized countries
2009: p.23-24)
to come back to other time frames to re-formulate their
Halaby places her novel on both sides of the critical history from an opinion which precedes the reach of the
discussion outlined by El Said and Aboul-Ela. She depicts colonizers (p. 615). So, colonized countries create a few
some Arab-American characters exercising Arabic local histories that depict their community in a style that
conventions and customs, yet in some segments of text, “the West would not discriminate them” (p. 615). Colonized
Halaby portrays Jassim and Salwa as culturally non- countries can re-establish their true identity and refuse the
practicing compared to her other Arab-American identity that the colonizer has coerced upon them. (Simon,
characters. Halaby refers to this as their endeavoring to 2005)
achieve the American dream and to be as American as
Both aspects of the critical writing relating to
possible. Halaby portrays Salwa’s friend, Randa, for
Arab- American writers in a post 9/11 timeframe makes
instance, as more satisfied with her existence in America
Gikandi’s theory especially pertinent to Laila Halaby's
than Salwa because of her devotion to Arabic culture and
novel which is situated between the two arguments. El Said
customs which Salwa does not practice. When Salwa’s
(2008) proposes that Arab American authors almost always
marriage starts to disintegrate, she feels homesick and
concentrate their interest on affairs of family life to keep
endeavors to find solace in Randa’s companionship. As
their hybrid identities and Self (p. 201). Aboul-Ela (2008),
Randa prepares Arabic coffee for the two women she feels
however, refutes the view of El Said. This can also be
that she is flying “across the continental United States,
considered as an application for Gikandi’s theory to Arab-
stretched her arm across the Atlantic until she found Beirut,
American writers, alternatively requiring Arab-American

IJELS-2023, 8(2), (ISSN: 2456-7620) (Int. J of Eng. Lit. and Soc. Sci.)
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.82.42 293
Gogoi Gender Oppression and the Consequent Madness in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea

writers to create “little histories” to regain their identity their less financially successful Arab Americans who are
which is forced upon them by colonizing nations. initially invisible to even Jassim and Salwa, are suggested
by Halaby to be able to maintain cultural hybridity is
directly related to class structures. On the one hand, they
III. CRITICAL DISCUSSIONS
sometimes cook distinct foods from their homeland and
Despite little published criticism of Halaby’s novel to date establish friendships with other Arab American families. On
of this day, an analysis of her novel Once in a Promised the other hand, they eagerly adopt the American lifestyles
Land is especially germane to the critical writer surrounding by engaging in American consumer culture of surrounding
post 9/11 Arab-American literature. Many scholars themselves with luxuries such as expensive cars, silk
suggested that the events caused writers such as Evelyn pajamas and towels larger than sheets. Nevertheless, after
Alsultany, Nadine Naber, and Steven Salaita (2007), to feel the 9/11 attacks, Jassim and Salwa find it increasingly
that those who were once perhaps the most invisible difficult to be assimilated into the American mainstream
members of U.S. society, has fallen into the realm of society. Their Arab-American identity becomes all the more
“hypervisibility.” Naber points out, nonetheless, that in the tenuous as their interactions with other Americans become
months following the attacks, in spite of the progressively more strained.
“hypervisibility” that Arab Americans encountered, the
Whereas El Said emphasises on the issue of Arab
starting of state-sponsored attacks against Arab Americans,
American identity in post-9/11, Hosam Aboul-Ela calls for
such as the “PATRIOT Act, special registration, and FBI
Arab American novelists to suggest an openly political
investigations” received little attention (Naber, 2000, p. 23).
response to anti-Arab discrimination. In his article "Edward
Instead, most mass media outlets concentrated Said’s Out of Place: Criticism, Polemic, and Arab American
their coverage on "individual hate crimes that took place in Identity," Aboul-Ela notes, "The post-September 11
the public sphere while downplaying attacks against those moment in Arab-American history has seen an acceleration
targeted by state violence at detention centers, airports, of interest in [a] ‘multicultural’ view of Arabs in the United
immigration and naturalization service centers, and the States" one that "treat[s] the Arab American experience as
workplace" (Arab Americans 3, 2). The traditional U.S. a set of specific anthropological details related to cuisine,
media overlooked the reality that Arab Americans who courtship, religion, language, and various social practices"
hadn't have any relationship with the attacks were under (Aboul-Ela, 2008, p.16). Aboul-Ela believes that this
attack themselves. Halaby’s novel pays specific attitude is possibly hindering, and therefore argues that "a
consideration to the very examples of state-sponsored dissident relationship to United States foreign policy in the
violence that Naber (2008) mentions. She opens her novel Middle East is foundational to the experience of many Arab
with a scene exposing the treatment of Arab Americans at Americans and to a potential sense of Arab American
U.S. airports, as one of her central characters, Jassim, community" (p.15). Aboul-Ela (2008) maintains that Arab
becomes the suspect of an FBI investigation due to American literature since 9/11 is often written from a
unconfirmed suspicion over his work as a hydrologist. “multicultural” and sometimes counterproductive
Most critics relate Arab American literature in a perspective.
post- 9/11 milieu to the build off of Edward Said’s seminal Aboul-Ela’s representation could be applied to
1978 work, Orientalism. For example, Maha El Said, in her Halaby’s novel as a diversity of dissident politics is central
article "The Face of the Enemy: Arab-American Writing to her work. Furthermore, while some of her Arab-
Post- 9/11," points to the fact that, since 9/11 "Arab- American characters practice Arab traditions and cultures,
Americans, who are a mélange of Arab and American, Jassim and Salwa are seldom depicted as doing so. They are
become trapped in an attempt to redefine their identity, and avid participants in American consumer culture, and their
reconstruct a hybridity that seems impossible in a world that home is typical of a wealthy American couple, lacking
is divided into ‘we’ and ‘them’ (El Said ,2008. p.201). almost any indication that they once resided in another part
While Maha El Said concentrates on Arab American poets of the world. Although Salwa and Jassim are theist
attempting to represent their identity on their own terms, her consumers, one still might expect them to preserve their
description of Arab Americans can also be applied to dedication to Islam. However, they seldom practice their
Halaby’s protagonists, Jassim and Salwa Haddad. Naber religious obligations. Jassim, in fact, is depicted as not
(2008) and Salaita (2011) rightly propose that Arab mainly spiritual.
Americans were inseparable members of the American
Laila Halaby portrays some Arab-American
society before the attacks. So, the characters Jassim and
characters as being involved in Arabic traditions. However,
Salwa are able to keep an identity that is both Arab and
she depicts Jassim and Salwa as nearly de-cultured
American through this timeframe with ease. By comparison

IJELS-2023, 8(2), (ISSN: 2456-7620) (Int. J of Eng. Lit. and Soc. Sci.)
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.82.42 294
Gogoi Gender Oppression and the Consequent Madness in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea

compared to other Arab-American characters. Laila Halaby The division of the world into good and evil as proposed
indicates that the alienation Jassim and Salwa experience by the Bush
after the attacks is heightened because of their pursuance of administration in the days leading up to the invasion of
an American way of life and the quest of the American Afghanistan and
dream. Halaby imagines Salwa’s friend, Randa, for
the start of the war on terror culminated in what may be
example, as more content with her life in America more than
called moral
Salwa due to her devotion to Arabic customs which Salwa
does not practice. When Salwa’s marriage begins to racialization, that is, the articulation of a racially
untangle she becomes nostalgic of her homeland and seeks suspicious enemy figure
solace in Randa’s company. propagated through the visual media and intended to
As well as offering a unique contiguity of Arab- imbibe and redirect
American characters’ commitment to habits with her as much public resentment as possible. (p: 245)
protagonists who are less traditional, Laila Halaby also
Banita presumes that Jassim and Salwa are
engages in the political oration that Aboul-Ela questions.
confronted by “citizens galvanized by Bush’s call to act as
For example, she portrays short-sighted American
the eyes and ears of the government” and emphases that
characters laying flags on their cars alternatively coming to
Halaby’s intent is to cast Arab Americans as “one step
a comprehending of the actual crisis at hand. One of Salwa’s
behind other social outsiders” in the eyes of the Americans
colleagues in the work even offers her an American flag
they encounter (p. 246). In the article "Uses and Abuses of
marker in an effort to face the racism she is sure Salwa is
Trauma in Post-9/11 Fiction a Contemporary Culture,"
bound to face. As she says, "You should put one on your
Ulrike Tancke suggests that the upheaval Salwa and Jassim
car, on the back window. You never know what people are
afford has little to do with 9/11. Nevertheless, he neglects to
thinking, and having this will let them know where you
consider the state-sponsored racism that directly resulted
stand"(p. 55):
from the attacks and its effect on their lives. As Tancke
Each time the president spoke about the War on Terror (2010) states:
[Penny] was
It is not the repercussions from 9/11 as such that causes
outraged, sickened that there were people so sinister that Salwa and
they would want
Jassim’s life to disintegrate. The traumatizing events in
to harm innocent Americans … As the president said, the novel are the
Americans were
result of coincidence and only vaguely connected events,
bringing democracy to places that knew only tyranny and and of the
terror, that
propensity of human beings to … inflict pain on each
didn’t have freedom to choose. (Halaby, 2009, p. 280) other. Hence, Once
Whereas Halaby’s Arab-American characters are not in a Promised Land critically and self-consciously
openly political Halaby’s novel itself is acutely political. By explores the
depicting the recurrence of American characters'
contemporary fascination with trauma: we tend to
xenophobic and split oration put forward by U.S. media
sweepingly apply
outlets and politicians, Halaby is practicing an objection to
American foreign politics that Aboul-Ela calls for. ubiquitous and simplistic categories such as “9/11,” while
the traumatizing
Although the George Bush administration and
American mass media were not exclusively in charge of potential of violence and guilt inherent in human
racializing the post-9/11 moment, Laila Halaby deliberates relationships areimpossible to predict. (p: 85)
on these two particular channels of communication in her Whereas Tancke is right to point out that the 9/11 attacks
novel. In her article “Race, Risk, and Fiction in the War on should not be considered as the motivation for all of Salwa
Terror: Laila Halaby, Gayle Brandeis, and Michael and Jassim’s marital problems, there is much evidence in
Cunningham,” Banita (2012) examines what she refers to as the novel to refer that the events following 9/11 contribute
the “second wave” of post-9/11 literature where authors to their divided relationship. Tancke overlooks the suffering
choose to concentrate on the implications of the war on the two characters directly encounter resulting from the post
terror rather than on the days directly following the attacks. 9/11 American impression of Arabic culture propagated by
As Banita (2012) explains: the government-sponsored racism. After all, Laila Halaby
opens her novel with the observation that "Salwa and Jassim

IJELS-2023, 8(2), (ISSN: 2456-7620) (Int. J of Eng. Lit. and Soc. Sci.)
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.82.42 295
Gogoi Gender Oppression and the Consequent Madness in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea

are both Arabs. Both Muslims. But of course, they have crushing ignorance of Islamic culture shortly before the
nothing to do with what happened to the World Trade attacks occur. Jack meets Jassim at the fitness center, and is
Center. Nothing and everything" (Tancke ,2010. p: viii). distrustful of him instantly solely based upon his
Banita would also argue with Tancke ’s position, "Certainly appearance. When Jack begins to probe into Jassim’s
the attacks have a powerful impact on the couple’s lives" background, Jassim discloses that he is from Jordan, to
(Tancke ,2010. p:246). which Jack responds, “I went to Jordan once … followed
Salwa and Jassim’s meeting after the attacks my daughter there. She married a Jordanian. Not one like
become increasingly intolerant and distrustful. Even the you, though. This one was from the sticks—or the sand, as
American characters, which Laila Halaby portrays as the case was … [s]he’s converted. She’s an Arab now”
initially accepting and open-minded earlier in the novel (p.6).
begin to either distrust Jassim and Salwa or engage in anti- Unlike Jack and Marcus, Penny has faith in Jassim, but
Arab racism as a result of the actions of the American Laila Halaby finds out that Penny does not extend the same
government. For instance, Jassim’s boss, Marcus, who at sympathy to Arabic cultures as a whole. Through a
first defends his friend of fifteen years at the onset of an FBI conversation she has with her mate, Penny reveals the firm
investigation, starts to question Jassim’s innocence through reaction to Arabs she forms after the attacks on the World
a conversation with his wife: Trade Center, “Jassim is a good guy, he’s not like them,
Something had been different in Jassim lately, something shouldn’t be judged like them. But those people over there,
Jassim was not they oppress women and kill each other. They’re the ones
who should be bombed" (Halaby, 2009. p:281). Laila
talking to him about. It could be anything, he had told
Halaby narrates that Penny does not include Jassim in her
himself over and
sweeping classification of “them” because of his wealth. By
over. It could be medical, or something in his marriage … depicting American characters using such racially charged
Not for the first language, Laila Halaby, instead of focusing wholly on the
time, his wife had brought to the surface the very thing that integration struggles of her Arab American characters, also
was nagging at chooses to portray Americans viewing the world from an
‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality. This binary divides both the
him, harvested that vague doubt that had been lodged way
East from the West and rich from poor alike. Laila Halaby’s
back in his
point is that, unless Americans are able to consider
brain, undercutting the faith he had in others. (Halaby, themselves as universal citizens, Eastern and Western
2007.p.237) cultures will remain isolated and estranged, perpetuating the
Marcus’s distrust of Jassim grows after he learns of the FBI current crises of drought, poverty, and war occurring in all
investigation, and Jassim’s otherness subsequently becomes corners of the globe.
all the clearer to him. Given the attention Laila Halaby pays in
Moreover, after the attacks one of the employees pestilences all over the world as well as Edward Said’s
at the mall named Amber, who is a sales clerk at the mall, Orientalism and postcolonialism in general, it is particularly
follows Jassim and calls a security guard on him. Salwa valuable to apply globalization theory to Halaby’s novel.
appears angry at Amber and she said: "Excuse me, young Simon Gikandi (2005) offers a perspective instructive in
lady … Why did you call that security guard on my particular to Halaby’s work. In his article "Globalization
husband?" (p. 29). Amber answers, "He just scared me … and the Claims of Post-coloniality," Gikandi points to the
He just stood there and stared for a really long time, like he tendency of colonized countries to revert to other
was high or something. And then I remembered all the stuff timeframes in order to refashion their history from a point
that’s been going on" (p:30). When Mandy, Amber's of view that preceded the arrival of the occupation, so
manager, asks Amber about the actions and he said: "You colonized countries create “little” or “local” histories that
told us to report anything suspicious, and I just thought he portray their society in a way that the West would not mark
looked suspicious" (p.31). Amber’s misplaced distrust is them (p:615). Colonized nations are then able to both re-
based simply on Jassim’s non- Western appearance, and for establish their true identity and reject the identity that the
the first time since the attacks, Salwa comes into contact colonizer has forced upon them.
with anti-Arab racism meted out in the form of suspicion. Parties of both the critical debate on the role of
Other American characters in the novel are only able Arab-American authors in a period after 9/11 adhere to
to see Jassim and Salwa as non-Western others even before Gikandi’s position. This position causes Gikandi’s theory
the events of 9/11. Jack Franks, for example, reveals his particularly pertinent to Once in a Promised Land, a novel

IJELS-2023, 8(2), (ISSN: 2456-7620) (Int. J of Eng. Lit. and Soc. Sci.)
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.82.42 296
Gogoi Gender Oppression and the Consequent Madness in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea

of Halaby that is situated between the two arguments. El is different from other literary works by Arab-American
Said (2008), on the one hand, proposes that Arab-American authors which follows 9/11 due to her ability to link the
writers often focus their attention on affairs of family and attacks to a theme of persistent global crises through the war
domesticity to maintain their ambivalent identities and on terror and discourses surrounding it. However, Halaby’s
sense of “Self” (p. 201). Aboul-Ela, while seeming to accusation of American biasness seems to stand the test of
disagree with El Said, can also be viewed as applying time. For instance, the reaction to the “ground-zero
Gikandi’s theory to Arab-American authors. Instead of mosque” stands as a witness to the fact that many
requesting Arab-American authors to create "little histories" Americans still see all Arabs and Muslims as “the enemy”.
to restore an accurate identity that has not been imposed Also, Pastor Terry Jones’s intention to burn the Koran on
upon them by colonizing nations, he asks them to engage in the anniversary of 9/11 and the recent Koran burning carried
dissent in order to participate in and reconnect with a shared out by U.S. troops in Afghanistan serve as further proof of
identity, thus separating themselves from an often- American Islamophobia. All these tendencies of some
overwhelming Western culture (Aboul-Ela, 2008, p.15). Americans to fear all Middle Eastern peoples because of the
The opening scene of Halaby's novel lays the acts of a few extremists proves that the American misplaced
foundation to the theme of the novel. This scene is in a reaction to terrorism is not likely to change in the immediate
Washington airport when an Arab-American passenger is future. And this will be further evidence of the lack of
put under the questioned. The airport security guard asks the change in American sentiment toward Arab Americans.
passenger to place personal possessions in a recycle bin.
Instead of responding to the security guard’s information REFERENCES
and questions, the passenger takes on the role of a narrator,
[1] Aboul-Ela, H. (2008). "Edward Said’s Out of Place:
asking readers of the story that is about to follow to place
Criticism, Polemic, and Arab American Identity." MELUS
preconceptions into a small box: 31.4 (2006): 15-32. MLA International Bibliography.
And for good measure, why don’t you throw in those [2] Banita, G. (2012). "Race, Risk, and Fiction in the War on
hateful names as Terror: Laila Halaby, Gayle Brandeis, and Michael
Cunningham." Literary Interpretation Theory 21 (2010): 242-
well, ones you might never even utter: Sand Nigger, Rag 268. MLA International Bibliography.
Head, and [3] Gikandi, S. (2005). "Globalization and the Claims of Post-
Camel Jockey. You don’t need them for this story, and you coloniality." Post-colonialisms. Eds. Gaurav Desai and
might find Suprya Nair. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, Print.
[4] Halaby, L. (2007). Once in a Promised Land. Boston: Beacon
they get in the way, like a small child who’s just had a Press, Print.
candy bar and a can [5] Halaby, L. (2009). "Re: Once in a Promised Land." Message
soda and has to attend a funeral … I don’t need to lock the to the author. Email.
[6] James, C. G. (1992): Occidentalism. The World Turned
box, for it
Upside-down. American Ethnologist.
has a power of its own and will stay closed for the duration [7] Naber, N. (2000). "Ambiguous Insiders: An Investigation of
of our story? Arab American Invisibility." Ethnic and Racial Studies. Print.
[8] Naber, N. (2008). "Arab Americans and U.S. Racial
Do you feel lighter now, relieved of your excess baggage?
Formations." Race and Arab Americans Before and After
(Halaby, 2009)
9/11. Eds. Amaney Jamal and Nadine Naber. Syracuse UP,
The narrator is given the perspective of the novel’s security Print.
guard and he asked the readers to apply any stereotypes into [9] Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.
the box before their journey. During this detour, Halaby Print.
deploys yet another reflection and sets the tone for the rest [10] Simon, G. (2005). “Globalization and the Claims of
Postcoloniality.” Postcolonialisms. Eds. Gaurav Desai and
of her narrative.
Suprya Nair. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2005. Print
[11] El Said, M. (2008). "The Face of the Enemy: Arab-American
IV. CONCLUSION Writing Post 9-11." Studies in the Humanities 30.1-2 (2003):
200-216. MLA International Bibliography.
Halaby’s novel Once in a Promised Land remains as [12] Salaita, S. (2007). Arab American Literary Fictions,
relevant as it did when it was first published in 2007, eleven Cultures, and Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, Print.
years after the events of September 11, 2001. The [13] Salaita, S. (2011). Modern Arab American Fiction: A
significance is due not only to Halaby’s not shying away Reader’s Guide. Syracuse: Syracuse UP. Print.
from broaching controversial subjects, but also to the [14] Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. New York: Penguin
cruelty of American bigotry and prejudice. Halaby’s novel Books, 1977. Print.

IJELS-2023, 8(2), (ISSN: 2456-7620) (Int. J of Eng. Lit. and Soc. Sci.)
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.82.42 297
Gogoi Gender Oppression and the Consequent Madness in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea

[15] Tancke, U. (2010). "Uses and Abuses of Trauma in Post-9/11

Fiction and Contemporary Culture." From Solidarity to
Schisms: 9/11 and after in Fiction and Film from Outside the
US. 75-92. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi, 2009. MLA
International Bibliography.

IJELS-2023, 8(2), (ISSN: 2456-7620) (Int. J of Eng. Lit. and Soc. Sci.)
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.82.42 298