Genre
Short fiction, feminism
Setting and Context
Somalia and America.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person omniscient narrator
Tone and Mood
Grotesque mood and sympathetic tone
Protagonist and Antagonist
Rahma is the protagonist, whereas her mother is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
Rahma’s resolution to relocate to America and deliver her firstborn there
Climax
The Kur festival
Foreshadowing
Rahma’s mother dreads that she would lose Rahma if Rahma goes to America. Besides, she dreads that Rahma’s childbearing would be problematic in America.
Understatement
The assertion that circumcision fosters hygiene belittles the long-term detriments of FGM.
Allusions
Herzi alludes to traditional Somali practices.
Imagery
Herzi bids grotesque imageries of circumcised women’s genitals and the pain they weather throughout their lifespans.
Paradox
Paradoxically, the US has "the best medical care," yet it is not furnished with amenities and personnel to help circumcised women deliver children safely, and American gynecologists are not adequately trained and informed on how to deal with victims of female genital mutilation.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Circumcision: “Female Genital Mutilation” (FGM).
Personification
N/A
