Abstract:
This research deals with the condition of Moroccan women as represented in The Sand Child (1985) and The Sacred Night (1987). In The Sand Child, the storyteller narrates the life of a girl named Ahmed, whose father, humiliated not to have a male heir, decided to raise her as a boy due to issues of honour and inheritance. Ahmed goes through this difficult journey by confronting the insensitivity of his family and the prohibitions of society. In The Sacred Night, the continuation of The Sand Child, Ahmed becomes Zara, thus, reclaiming his/her identity. Combining the imaginary with reality, the two books offer a dark portrait of Arab society, revealing the misogyny, the injustices committed against those marginalised by society such as women, the poor and the disadvantaged. These two texts represent Tahar Ben Jelloun’s literary attack on the patriarchal nature of Moroccan society. This study aims to identify and analyse the strategies of struggle and resistance against this status quo as portrayed in these two novels.
