Chapters 58-64 Summary

Early next morning, the district shaykh declares that Ahmad must open his store and the menfolk return to work or school. It is a relief after the terrible, scandal-ridden night of Zaynab telling the story and demanding revenge. She sleeps in the parlor and demands to leave the tyrannical house. Ahmad wants her to overlook the mistake or at least consider taking Yasin back, repentant, at a later time. Zaynab has been telling her mother everything and trying to be patient, but this is the last straw. The night before, Ahmad had stormed to the roof to confront Yasin, using silence and then insults as weapons, calling him a disgrace, a defiler of his home. Ahmad fails to recall his own actions or allow others the liberties he allows himself. In order not to admit that Yasin disobeys him, Ahmad invents...