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Part 1, Chapter 10: Jameelah’s Story
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Marginalization and Belonging
Time, Memory, and Transition
Gender and Power
Tradition and Change
Religion, Political Conflict, and Identity
Summary
Analysis
Eight minutes into her death, Leila can smell sulfuric acid. One evening in March 1966, Bitter Ma calls Leila to the brothel’s lobby, introducing her to her next client—a man previously banned for his cruelty, as he’s notorious among the girls for his violent temper. Alone with the man, Leila can tell he is mentally unstable. Without warning, he retrieves a bottle of sulfuric acid from his jacket and hurls the liquid at her as she tries to flee. The acid burns her back, leaving behind a wound that never fully heals. It even burns a hole through the floorboards. After her attack, Leila becomes more popular with clients, now that she’s become a “prostitute with a story.”
Leila’s sulfuric acid attack leaves a physical scar on her body, but it leaves an emotional wound, too. The scar, the trauma, and the memory will always remain with her, a permanent mark of society’s judgment and disdain toward her as a sex worker. Ironically, the attack increases Leila’s popularity on the street of brothels, reflecting the contrasting worlds within Istanbul. In one world, she is elevated for her survival of a violent past, while in the other—particularly in the city’s religious circles—she is condemned for the very same.
Themes
Following her attack, Leila avoids most of the other women except for Zaynab, the brothel’s custodian. Zaynab goes by Zaynab122, referencing both the countless ways she spells her name—which varies, depending on her mood—and her height, in centimeters. Despite her small stature, Zaynab122 has a heart larger than most. A gifted fortune teller, she reads Leila’s coffee grounds one afternoon and predicts that she will fall in love, leave the brothel, and marry in a wedding dress with a train longer than 250 feet. Though Leila is reluctant to believe in this divination, Zaynab122’s optimism makes her feel hopeful.
Leila’s newfound friendship with Zaynab122 following her acid attack becomes a crucial source of support in the wake of her trauma. They are kindred spirits, both marginalized in their own way and searching for belonging. Though Zaynab122 isn’t a sex worker like Leila, her role as a custodian in a brothel, along with being a little person, compounds her sense of otherness. Zaynab has a tremendously positive impact on Leila’s life, helping her heal by giving her a future to look forward to.
Themes
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