Hylas–
This is an eloquent and thoughtful piece. Extremely well presented and gives a fascinating perspective on a culture. I hope to see more from you.
Leila
Ironic the way the son scrolls through the pictures of “veiled women” and eventually picks one out. “They’re all the same,” says his father. They certainly are. And later the husband wants to change his wife’s look so she becomes “different.” She interprets that look as “not Somali,” but she obeys her husband. She’s changed on the outside, for sure. Kind of a horror story, in my opinion, the husband pays the doctor to create his Frankenstein monsterette. Good 1.
Hi Hylas,
I enjoyed this.
The tone and phrasing was interesting.
I liked that a few parts were very understated in a sort of polite and awkward way.
The title and the MC referring to himself as the ‘The Handicapped Man’ at first seems to be absolute and clear cut. He states to his father that it was him who handicapped him. That is maybe a slight at his own culture which he has every right to comment on. However as the story goes on, it is clear that he has many handicaps and all of them are his!
The inclusion on the issue of FGM and how it wasn’t mentioned, again, this could be a comment on the culture and could be looked at as either acceptance or ridicule of the barbaric procedure.
Any stories about any cultures can be written without any consideration about non-acceptance or acceptance, you give us so much to consider from ourselves.
This is a very clever and well thought out piece of work.
Hugh
Thank you so much for this story. I am Somali man, late twenties, almost done with master’s degree and unmarried. I felt sorry for the handicapped man and the poor girl from Somalia. The desire to fit in and at the same time conform to cultural expectations is what most young somali men and women struggle with. I was talking to my uncle a few weeks ago about marriage. He said that one of his biggest regrets was marrying late and having kids in his late 50s. I always considered him as a more “liberal” guy since he seemed to be open minded about a lot of things. I didn’t know him that much but spending more time with him few weeks ago changed my view about him. He looked more like the handicapped father whenever he talked about social expectations. He advised me to avoid career women as all they do is “compete with you and abandon your children”. “If you are worried about money, God will provide for you. Your wife can look after your babies.” He also said, ” Get a submissive Somali girl. Women of other races and cultures are not family oriented and will alienate you from your own people.” I have a feeling he knows that I am still with my non-Somali woman and he wants to talk about it but I haven’t brought her up knowing how that conversation would go.
literally stories 
Hylas–
This is an eloquent and thoughtful piece. Extremely well presented and gives a fascinating perspective on a culture. I hope to see more from you.
Leila
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Leila
Glad that everyone enjoyed it. I’ll submit another soon. People should check out the novella in my bio link if they like quirky cultural pieces.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ironic the way the son scrolls through the pictures of “veiled women” and eventually picks one out. “They’re all the same,” says his father. They certainly are. And later the husband wants to change his wife’s look so she becomes “different.” She interprets that look as “not Somali,” but she obeys her husband. She’s changed on the outside, for sure. Kind of a horror story, in my opinion, the husband pays the doctor to create his Frankenstein monsterette. Good 1.
LikeLiked by 2 people
He wants to be like everyone else.
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Hi Hylas,
I enjoyed this.
The tone and phrasing was interesting.
I liked that a few parts were very understated in a sort of polite and awkward way.
The title and the MC referring to himself as the ‘The Handicapped Man’ at first seems to be absolute and clear cut. He states to his father that it was him who handicapped him. That is maybe a slight at his own culture which he has every right to comment on. However as the story goes on, it is clear that he has many handicaps and all of them are his!
The inclusion on the issue of FGM and how it wasn’t mentioned, again, this could be a comment on the culture and could be looked at as either acceptance or ridicule of the barbaric procedure.
Any stories about any cultures can be written without any consideration about non-acceptance or acceptance, you give us so much to consider from ourselves.
This is a very clever and well thought out piece of work.
Hugh
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was curious about how people would receive a story in this format. I’m glad you enjoyed this.
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Thank you so much for this story. I am Somali man, late twenties, almost done with master’s degree and unmarried. I felt sorry for the handicapped man and the poor girl from Somalia. The desire to fit in and at the same time conform to cultural expectations is what most young somali men and women struggle with. I was talking to my uncle a few weeks ago about marriage. He said that one of his biggest regrets was marrying late and having kids in his late 50s. I always considered him as a more “liberal” guy since he seemed to be open minded about a lot of things. I didn’t know him that much but spending more time with him few weeks ago changed my view about him. He looked more like the handicapped father whenever he talked about social expectations. He advised me to avoid career women as all they do is “compete with you and abandon your children”. “If you are worried about money, God will provide for you. Your wife can look after your babies.” He also said, ” Get a submissive Somali girl. Women of other races and cultures are not family oriented and will alienate you from your own people.” I have a feeling he knows that I am still with my non-Somali woman and he wants to talk about it but I haven’t brought her up knowing how that conversation would go.
LikeLiked by 1 person