Season of Migration to the North

by

Tayeb Salih

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Season of Migration to the North makes teaching easy.

Hosna bint Mahmoud Character Analysis

Hosna bint Mahmoud is the second wife of Mustafa Sa’eed. She is a young, beautiful Sudanese woman from the small village of Wad Hamid, located along the banks of the Nile river in northern Sudan. Like all the other villagers, Hosna knows nothing of her husband’s previous life, including his time in England and his murder of his first wife, Jean Morris. She has two sons with Sa’eed, but she is left a widow when her husband drowns—possibly by suicide. Her marriage to Sa’eed seems to change her in some mysterious way. She resists pressure by her family to marry Wad Rayyes, the much older villager who becomes obsessed with marrying her after Sa’eed’s death. The narrator himself, who is designated as her guardian after Sa’eed’s death, develops deep feelings for her. In spite of her resistance, her father forces her to marry Wad Rayyes against her will, even though she seeks the narrator’s help in avoiding the marriage. The marriage culminates in tragedy when, resisting rape by Wad Rayyes, Hosna murders him and kills herself shortly after their wedding. Hosna’s murder-suicide is condemned by the villagers, and only the narrator—who is devastated by the tragedy—comes to her defense. Hosna’s violent murder-suicide reveals the devastating costs of standing up for herself and defending her rights in the small, patriarchal village community.

Hosna bint Mahmoud Quotes in Season of Migration to the North

The Season of Migration to the North quotes below are all either spoken by Hosna bint Mahmoud or refer to Hosna bint Mahmoud. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Gender and Violence Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

“You know how life is run here,” [Mahjoub] interrupted me. “Women belong to men, and a man’s a man even if he’s decrepit.”

Related Characters: Mahjoub (speaker), The Narrator, Hosna bint Mahmoud, Wad Rayyes
Page Number: Book Page 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“A week or ten days after you went away [Hosna’s] father said he had given Wad Rayyes a promise—and they married her off to him. Her father swore at her and beat her; he told her she’d marry him whether she liked it or not.”

Related Characters: Mahjoub (speaker), The Narrator, Hosna bint Mahmoud, Wad Rayyes
Page Number: Book Page 101
Explanation and Analysis:

“The red straw mat was swimming in blood. I raised the lamp and saw that every inch of Bint Mahmoud’s body was covered in bites and scratches…Wad Rayyes had been stabbed more than ten times—in his stomach, chest, face, and between his thighs”

Related Characters: Bint Majzoub (speaker), The Narrator, Hosna bint Mahmoud, Wad Rayyes
Page Number: Book Page 104-5
Explanation and Analysis:
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Hosna bint Mahmoud Quotes in Season of Migration to the North

The Season of Migration to the North quotes below are all either spoken by Hosna bint Mahmoud or refer to Hosna bint Mahmoud. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Gender and Violence Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

“You know how life is run here,” [Mahjoub] interrupted me. “Women belong to men, and a man’s a man even if he’s decrepit.”

Related Characters: Mahjoub (speaker), The Narrator, Hosna bint Mahmoud, Wad Rayyes
Page Number: Book Page 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“A week or ten days after you went away [Hosna’s] father said he had given Wad Rayyes a promise—and they married her off to him. Her father swore at her and beat her; he told her she’d marry him whether she liked it or not.”

Related Characters: Mahjoub (speaker), The Narrator, Hosna bint Mahmoud, Wad Rayyes
Page Number: Book Page 101
Explanation and Analysis:

“The red straw mat was swimming in blood. I raised the lamp and saw that every inch of Bint Mahmoud’s body was covered in bites and scratches…Wad Rayyes had been stabbed more than ten times—in his stomach, chest, face, and between his thighs”

Related Characters: Bint Majzoub (speaker), The Narrator, Hosna bint Mahmoud, Wad Rayyes
Page Number: Book Page 104-5
Explanation and Analysis: