Literary Analysis: The Red Tent
The author and her times
Anita Diamant, author of the historic fiction novel, The Red Tent, is a devout Jewish-American living in Newtonville, Massachusetts with her husband and daughter, Emilia. She has written five books about contemporary Jewish life, The Red Tent being her first novel.
Diamant may have been influenced by the recent resurgence of creating Midrashim, or stories that attempt to explain the Torah by examining its subtexts. Modern women have taken a keen interest in this practice, hoping to expand on the minute biblical mentions of women like Dinah.
Form, structure and plot
The Red Tent is organized in a seemingly complicated yet beautifully simple way. There are three main sections; Dinah’s mothers’ story, her childhood, and her life in Egypt. Each is further divided into chapters.
Although the story is divided into sections, the plot progresses intact. The exposition consists of Jacob’s arrival and subsequent marriages to Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah. Twelve of thirteen children are born, including Dinah, narrator and only daughter. Dinah grows up helping her aunt/mother Rachel, who brings her to the city of Shechem.
The initial incident occurs when Simon and Levi, two of Dinah’s oldest brothers, enter the city of Shechem and murder all of the resident men, including Dinah’s beloved husband, Shalem. Cursing her entire family, a pregnant Dinah is taken to Egypt by Shalem’s mother, Re-nefer.
In the rising action the child is born, a boy who Re-nefer names Re-mose and raises as her own. He becomes a superior Egyptian scribe, and is eventually assigned to the king’s right-hand-man.
In a climactic irony, Re-mose’s employer turns out to be Joseph, Dinah’s youngest brother. The truth about Shalem’s murder is revealed to Re-mose, who in turn vows to avenge his father’s death on Joseph’s head. He is thwarted by Dinah, who convinces him to remove to the north. Joseph and Dinah attend the death of Jacob in the falling action, both forgiving the wrongs committed against them in their father’s name. The story concludes with Dinah’s death.
Point of View
Diamant has Dinah effectively tell her story from three different narrative perspectives. The bulk of the novel is related by Dinah in first person, providing a private look at growing up and personal tragedy: "It seemed that I was the last person alive in the world" (Diamant 203). Dinah tells the story that she says was mangled in the bible.
Understandably, Dinah’s relation of her mothers’ stories is done in third person narrative, since she herself was not yet born. Dinah exhibits a deep understanding of the feelings of her mother and aunts, giving her a definite omniscient quality and demonstrating the closeness the women shared: "She began to nurse dark fears about the future" (Diamant 24). The feelings of her mothers toward Jacob are described, as well as their thoughts on motherhood, faith and various other aspects of life.
Second person narrative is used in the prologue and at the conclusion of the novel, both parts being separate from the story itself. Dinah charms the reader with sweet-spoken phrases such as "You crave words to fill the great silence that swallowed me, and my mothers, and my grandmothers before them." (Diamant 3) and "Wherever you walk, I go with you" (Diamant 321). Spoken in the present tense, the reader nearly feels Dinah’s presence as the pages are turned.
The Red Tent is primarily Dinah’s reminiscence about her life and the stories told to her by her mothers. With the exception of the second person narratives, which are spoken in present tense, the story is told in the past tense.
For the most part, Diamant tells a story accurate to the Book of Genesis.Dinah and Shalem’s love story, however, is based completely on opinion. In an interview with New Jewish Family Living, a popular Jewish Internet magazine, she tells journalist Marlena Thompson, "I never thought it was a rape because of the way Shalem treated Dinah afterwards. He obviously loved her. He had his tribe circumcised. That is not the behavior of a rapist." Whether or not the daughter of Jacob was raped is one of the most controversial aspects of Genesis, Diamant’s interpretation being one of many.
Character
Dinah, being the most prominent character, experiences all the changes that a lifetime has to offer. She is the archetype of the round character; the reader sees her morals and personality traits develop and reveal themselves in every line. The influence of her mothers is implicit in her opinions: "I am not certain whether my earliest memories are truly mine, because when I bring them to mind, I feel my mothers’ breath on every word" (Diamant 75).This, however, by no means shadows her individuality. She shares her musings with the reader, expressing her beliefs and loyalties as well as disdain and even wrath.
Dinah’s story begins before she is even born; it begins with the story of her mothers. As she says in the prologue, "If you want to understand any woman you must first ask about her mother and then listen carefully" (Diamant 2). Her entire life, as well as how she came into being, is covered in the novel. She is born the only daughter in a family of eleven sons (the twelfth son, Benjamin, is born after Dinah is gone). She has four female role models in childhood; her biological mother, Leah, and her aunt/mothers Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah.
Dinah can be described as resilient for coping with the tragedies she faces, naïve for her approach to all kinds of love, and compassionate for her devotion to midwifery. The only physical description of Dinah is quite vague: "‘…the dark eyed girl with the curly hair and the fine hands…’" (Diamant 189). She was a mid-eastern girl, but little else is said of her appearance.
Dinah’s character is essential to the novel, as it is a chronicle of her life. She is the heart and soul of the story. Through her the reader experiences one of the oldest stories of all time, Genesis, through the eyes of someone who was painfully obscure for thousands of years.
A simple description of her own name best describes Dinah’s character: "Maybe you heard it in the music of my name: the first vowel high and clear, as when a mother calls to her child at dusk; the second sound soft, for whispering secrets on pillows" (Diamant 1). Even so early in the novel, before the actual story begins, Diamant establishes a maternal element in Dinah. "Whispering secrets" proves to be an important element in Dinah’s life, as the secrets of women are passed from mother to daughter in a never-ending cycle of life and love.
In concordance with the importance placed on mothers in The Red Tent, Dinah’s most prominent mother figures, Leah and Rachel, are instrumental to the plot. When the story begins (i.e. when Jacob arrives), the sisters are fourteen and twelve. They are followed to their deaths, which, although unsaid, would be thought to be in their forties or fifties.
Leah is the fertile mother, bearing seven of the sons of Jacob and his only daughter, Dinah. She is described as a "giantess", being "…half a head taller than most of the men she had ever seen, and she dismissed them all because of it" (Diamant 12). This, and the fact that her eyes were different colors made her an unlikely choice for a bride. She was, however, a productive, intelligent and strong woman who had promising hips and strong legs. Jacob is drawn to her, immediately recognizing her merit as a matriarch even after being entranced by Rachel’s beauty.
Leah’s main concern is with her work. Her respect for the traditions of her mothers is unquestionable and gains favor in the eyes of the reader. Leah is a flat character; the only aspects of her personality that are revealed to the reader are the dedicated wife and the pious worshipper, and neither wavers for an instant. Both come together in the following quotation, where Leah speaks of offering sacrifice in hopes of being loved by Jacob: "…I broke off a piece of dough, kissed it, and offered it to the fire as an offering of hope that the man would claim me" (Diamant 17). This dependence on men is not unusual for any of the women of the text, all in care of a husband, brother or father.
Rachel is the beautiful second wife who is first in Jacob’s heart. Her famed first meeting with Jacob by a well occurs when she is only twelve years old, a pre-pubescent child too young for marriage. Her story ends when, after giving birth to Jacob’s last son, Benjamin, she dies on the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Rachel immediately characterizes herself as an impetuous and lazy, yet highly spirited woman. She acts on her every impulse, excusing herself from the household duties of a conventional wife. Her primary concern is conceiving children, thereby cementing herself in Jacob’s heart as his favored companion. Her womb, however, remains barren except for her two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. The latter costs Rachel her life.
Rachel’s beauty is renowned by all characters in the novel. Dinah describes this beauty most effectively: "…brown hair shaded to bronze, and her skin was golden, honeyed, perfect. In that amber setting, her eyes were surprisingly dark, not merely dark brown but black as polished obsidian or the depth of a well" (Diamant 8-9). Rachel’s flat character revolves around her beauty and the confidence that stems from it. She, being the favored child, expects everything to go her way, and when it does not she reverts to childish behavior: "Rachel wept and carried on like a baby" (Diamant 23). Rachel maintains her spoiled countenance her whole life.
Although not as important to Dinah herself as her mothers, Jacob is extremely important to the unfolding of the story. He is the antagonist, however unintentional it may be. It is the desire for his blessing that prompts Simon and Levi to commit their bloody deed in Shechem, and his oblivion to the feminine customs practiced by his wives that provides the backdrop of the story.
Jacob is presented in The Red Tent as an ordinary person, a radical concept never considered in most biblical writings because of his spiritual encounters with God. He arrives in Padam Aram, home of Laban, as a man of marriageable age, approximately 30 years old. His death occurs near the end of the novel, and is recorded in the bible at the age of 147 (Genesis 47:28). He is repeatedly described as being pretty and smooth-faced, further detail being left to the imagination of the reader.
Jacob’s character borders flat, but is round nonetheless. He is a picture of spirituality and husbandry, but exhibits emotions beyond that of a holy shepherd. His great love for Rachel, an unfailing pride in his sons and his passion for fairness are described by Dinah, who experienced a single personal encounter with her father: " ‘Dinah,’ he said. It was the first time I remember hearing my name in his mouth" (Diamant 92). She knows nothing of her father, and he knows nothing about her.
Setting
Dinah’s story is set in the middle east, beginning in the Mesopotamian city of Padam Aram, moving to Canaan and Shechem, and ending in The Valley of the Kings. Being based around the characters of chapters 12-50 in the Book of Genesis, the time is extremely early in civilization.
All of the places Dinah lives in, with the exception of the dry and dead Valley of the Kings, are fertile agricultural regions. Her family provides for themselves with hard labor, from herding goats to weaving fabric. The worlds of men and women are separated by secret traditions, such as the red menstrual tent.
The Red Tent expands on the biblical story of Dinah’s rape by the prince of Shechem. It attempts to remove the cloud of obscurity from her life by giving her a voice and a more meaningful presence in the Book of Genesis between the celebrated spiritual accounts of Jacob and Joseph. Dinah herself symbolizes the women who remain unknown in the holy texts of Judaism and Christianity: "The chain connecting mother to daughter was broken and the word passed to the keeping of men, who had no way of knowing" (Diamant 1). With this novel, Diamant attempts to make her readers see that even biblical characters had lives and personalities beyond the impersonal relation of their stories in texts such as the Torah and the Bible.
A separated atmosphere is created, as the lives of men and women revolve around gender traditions. Most notable are the menstrual rituals practiced by Jacob’s wives, particularly the red tent. Men had no idea what women did during that time: " ‘I don’t think even the subtlest among them realizes what we know and do among ourselves…’" (Diamant 64). When Dinah enters the world of womanhood, Jacob is enraged by the ceremony enacted by his women: "Men knew nothing of the red tent or its ceremonies and sacrifices. Jacob was not pleased to learn of them" (Diamant 174). Division of this kind is even present among the women, as the foreign wives of Simon and Levi are disgusted by this celebration of fertility.