How is "gold" used as a symbol in the novel, A Woman Is No Man?

Gold on the bodies of both Isra and Deya serves to connect them through time, and confines them both to their gender roles. The gold serves to remind the reader of the power of tradition, and how challenging it can be to defy, no matter the circumstances. When Isra marries Adam, Fareeda puts gold jewelry all over her body so she is completely immobilized and weighed down. This symbolizes the weight of familial expectations now literally on her body. Later, Fareeda even thinks of how she wanted to show off Isra to her friends, “like a twenty-four-karat gold bangle” (120). This reference shows the complete transference of Isra’s body to a gold object. Later, when Deya prepares to meet her suitor Nasser, Fareeda makes her a heavily gold embroidered dress sewn. The embroidery wraps around her chest and sleeves, symbolizing chains around her wrists and heart. Like her mother, Deya is owned by Fareeda and Khaled. But unlike her mother, Deya chooses not to wear this outfit, proving that she knows she has choices in her life.