Meaning of the Work

I have finally finished The Red Tent, and I am thankful for this opportunity to share my thoughts with you.

First of all, I'm not sure how easily you have been able to follow along with the plot of The Red Tent through my analyses, but here is a brief summary of the ending: Dinah moves in with her midwife friend, Meryt. She gets married to Benia and is enjoying life until her son Re-mose returns to ask her to provide service to the vizier Zafenat Paneh-ah, who (spoiler alert) ends up being her long-lost brother, Joseph. Joseph takes Dinah back to her homeland because their father Jacob is dying. Dinah lives happily with Benia until she dies of presumably old age.

The Red Tent is home to many different literary themes: the meaning of childbirth, gender inequality, etc. I've decided to focus on a theme that doesn't get much attention: the impact of family on one's character and individuality.

From the very beginning of the novel, Dinah says that her story has been lost, that she is merely a "brief detour between the well-known history of my father, Jacob, and the celebrated chronicle of Joseph, my brother" (Diamant, 1). Of course, this also fits the topic of gender inequality, but I believe that it demonstrates just how much a family can overshadow an individual.

Dinah is a different person when she's with her mothers than when she is not. This part of the puzzle is also where the water motif truly comes into play. As a young girl, Dinah relies on her mothers for everything--how to think, act, feel, and remember: "I am not certain whether my earliest memories are truly mine, because when I bring them to mind, I feel my mothers' breath on every word" (Diamant, 75). Dinah also first encounters water in her childhood.

To be honest, I wasn't sure where I was going with discussing water in my style post, but now I understand its importance in the novel. I see the presence of water as a guide in Dinah's journey of self. When water first appears, we see her how it helps her break away from her mother and explore individuality: "My mother, Leah, would have said that I smelled the rotting grasses of the marsh and the mingled presence of so many animals and men, but I recognized the scent of this water the way I knew the perfume of my mother's body" (Diamant, 110-111).

And even though Dinah has chosen to cast her family away, she can't help but remember them. When she does, she also thinks of water. This is seen in a song she sings at many different times in the novel:

"Fear not, the earth is beneath you 

Fear not, we have water and salt 

Fear not, little mother 

Fear not, mother of us all"

Dinah eventually becomes a midwife, subconsciously inspired by her mother Rachel, who smelled of water. This is the song of the midwives, and it just so happens to mention water. So for Dinah, water is not stagnant. It flows from her past, which is why it is so often associated with her family, and it flows into her future, helping her to grow into her own person.

Dinah recognizes this when she tells her second husband Benia that "'the water soothes my heart and settles my thoughts, and it is true that I feel at home by the water, but I found my joy in dry hills, where the fountain is distant and the dust is thick'" (Diamant, 307). The dry hills of Egypt represent her new life and the woman she has become.

Although you may not see how (given how much this post is flooded ;) with water) this is supposed to be about the meaning of the work as a whole. I merely see water as an agent in helping get the theme of family versus individuality across to the readers. Perhaps it would make more sense if I compared this theme with a similar theme in Song of Solomon. 

Milkman's personal growth was hindered by his family's belief system and terrible greed. It wasn't until he dug deep into his family's history that he finally understood who he needed to become. Dinah isn't much different. Dinah was lucky because even though she was outnumbered by men in her family, she was still greatly loved and cared for. But, like Milkman, some of her family's beliefs and actions (remember her brothers decimating an entire kingdom) prevented her from discovering herself. I think this is a reason why Dinah originally says she is forgotten by history, but then contradicts herself by saying, "the story of Dinah was too terrible to be forgotten. As long as the memory of Jacob lived, my name would be remembered" (Diamant, 317).

Lastly, this theme contributes to the novel's relevance because it comments on other written works, including the Bible, and how, perhaps, one must be careful in creating a belief system on the words of someone else. The Red Tent is certainly an example of the danger of the single story, which, if you don't know what that is, watch this Ted Talk.

Anyways, thank you for keeping up with my ramblings, but today is not the end. I will be back with one final blog post in March!