Amina, the mother and wife in Palace Walk, is an entirely tragic character. She is pious, quiet, and obedient. She is almost completely content with her cloistered life. She loves her view from her screnned balony, where she can peek out a little hole in the screen to feel contected with the greater world. And she loves her kitchen, where she is queen. Page 14 describes how she rules the kitchen: "The fate of the coal and wood, piled in a corner, rested on a word from her".
Amina accepts her husband's decisions about how she will spend her days for the majority of her life, until the one time she does not follow his decrees. That one time, of course, she does not to go off and cavort like he does- she goes to worship. Through absolutely no fault of her own, she gets hurt and her husband learns about her minor transgression. Of course, he thinks her choice to venture outside of the home and go to the mosque is an earth-shattering event and sends her form the home as punishment. The irony of punishing someone for leaving the house by kicking her out of the house is not lost on the reader. Amina's sole sin earns her exile. She may rule her kitchen, but she cannot control any other aspect of her life except for her attitude towards it. She lives contentedly until her piety causes the end of her isolated time in her home.
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