The Red Tent Literary Analysis

The Red Tent is a novel which tells the story of the Biblical figure Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob. Dinah shares a close relationship with the women of her family, growing up among eleven brothers, Dinah spend most of her time with her mother. Because she was the only girl, she was allowed to enter the red tent every month with her mothers as they begin their menstrual cycle and celebrate the moon. With the influence of Rachel, Dinah became a midwife. Rachel’s midwife apperentice was called into Shechem to deliver the son of the King’s concubine. Where Dinah meets prince Shalem and instantly falls in love, ended up in bed together and got married. A few days later two of Dinah brothers, Simon and Levi murder her husband, believing that he treated their sister badly. After this, Dinah flees to Egypt with her mother in law, Re-nefer. Where she gives birth to her son, Re-mose, who is brought up as Re-nefer’s son. She then remarries with Benia, a master carpenter. Only after the death of her father does she visit her family again, finding that only her female relatives have truly missed her. In the end, Dinah spends her life with

The red tent is portrayed as a private and spiritually world for women, a place of birth and maturity. Dinah’s family memebers were born in the red tent, and this is the place where each girl becomes a woman, celebrating their menstrual cycle. In the red tent, women would spoil themselves for several days each month, take a time out from their daily duties as mothers and wives to with eat cakes and rest on straw. It is in the tent they would build broken relationships with one another, which Leah and Rachel did and take breaks from their husbands and motherly duties and spoil themselves. Outside of the tent, men rule society and the families. But inside the tent there are only women, and therefore women make the rules. They share special songs only the sisters of the tent would