Stone Of Slaughter Gender Roles

Throughout the course of history, there have been several novels which have been written about gender roles and what it means to be either masculine or feminine. This subject becomes the central theme of the novels and drives the plot to go in the direction that it does. An example of such a novel is Hoda Barakat’s The Stone of Laughter. Through the course of the novel, the main character, Khalil, transforms from a clean and gentle homosexual man into a violent and apathetic person which people around him call being a man. The affiliation of masculinity with being violent and apathetic, along with the affiliation of femininity with cleaning and being gentle, are both prevalent through the entire novel from start to finish.
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At this time, he is obsessed with another character in the novel named Naji. This is when his homosexual tendencies are illustrated. Khalil spends a considerable part of the opening of the novel saying stuff like, “His skin is so white–Khalil thinks–even in this dim light that the window up there on the wall opposite is letting in… his hair is jet black, gleaming, chaotic, like his eyes…” (Barakat 5). He goes on and on describing Naji’s physical and personal traits and how much he’s attracted to them. This obsession is not reciprocated, however, and Naji only sees their relationship as one of friendship. In addition to this homosexual obsession with Naji, Khalil also obsesses over things which can be considered feminine, such as cleanliness. This is shown when it is said, “Whenever a battle draws to an end, Khalil feels the need for order and cleanliness and the feeling grows, spreads until it becomes almost an obsession” (9). This is quite out of place and in stark contrast to what is going on around him, as the city of Beirut is constantly being bombed and destroyed. His feminine qualities seem to be a way for him to escape all the violence, and is a trait which is shared between all the female characters in the novel. They tend to avoid discussing the war or the politics surrounding it. Khalil, despite not being a woman, uses this as a tool to refuse to give in to the
They include the two people who seemed most dear to Khalil, Naji and Youssef. Despite this, the only person who avoids getting involved in the violence is Khalil himself. The only thing which shields him from joining everyone else is his femininity. Something else which is every so often shed light on is the fact that Khalil suffers from an ulcer in his stomach. In the context of the novel, his ulcer can be seen as his femininity and homosexuality. As the novel progresses, the pain in Khalil’s ulcer begins to get worse and worse, until finally, he goes to the hospital and has it removed. This is as if he has cut his feminine and homosexual tendencies out of himself. When he comes back from the hospital, he is a changed person. He meets The Brother, who shows a clear interest in him, something which Khalil has never experienced before. The Brother’s interest is shown when it says, “He opened it, took a wad of dollars from a wallet inside, put them next to Khalil’s glass and said: take what you want. His eyes bored lecherously into Khalil” (Barakat 189). However, Khalil does not reciprocate this interest despite finally having someone who is like him and wants him like he used to want Naji and Youssef. This is the first clue which we are given which hints that Khalil is not the same. More hints are dropped when Khalil finally takes part in the violence around him through his