The Year of the Elephant, Chapter 4 Summary and Analysis

Zahra went to market, and spent much of her funds purchasing implements for wool spinning, in a bid to start earning her living with wool. She felt empowered and hopeful.

Her thoughts returned to her husband, and his imprisonment. She learned one night from a stranger arriving at her door, Rachid, that her husband was discovered as a nationalist sympathizer and imprisoned at a place called Al-Adir. Zahra, accompanied by Roukia, made the long bus and walking trip to this prison, and it was quite an ordeal to reach. With guards watching, Zahra greeted husband Mohammed. They could not talk politics because of the guards. Mohammed told Zahra of a man named Walter, a German guard, who would house them for the night. Walter and his Moroccan wife greeted the two...