Bazin Fir

The first months of Pazen Ver and Elena Moretti's marriage were spent within the confines of his large family home; a conservative household that afforded little privacy. Pazen would return from the port in the evening, silently remove his coat, and sit with his family before going to his wife. He didn't speak much to her, but he observed everything: the way she spoke, her differing opinions from his mother's, and her rejection of certain customs that his family considered perfectly normal.

At first, he tried to handle her differences calmly. He had known Elena before the marriage, and what attracted him most to her was her intellect and independent thinking. Therefore, he didn't want to turn their marriage into a conflict from the start.

But after several months, the boundaries he had set in his mind gradually began to manifest in his behavior. He became more scrutinizing of her clothing and outings, and more attentive to what she said in front of his family. He no longer raised his voice; a simple look of his usual seriousness was enough before he spoke.

One evening, he returned from the port and found Elena in the living room, talking with Raja about university. He paused at the door for a moment, then said quietly:

"Elena... I want us to talk when you're done."

She is a Christian, educated, intellectually independent, and a professor of philosophy. The marriage was traditional; he chose a formal engagement because he is Muslim and did not want to engage in a forbidden relationship. He was attached to her before the marriage, but afterward, he gradually began to become possessive and controlling. After the wedding, he imposed the hijab and covering on her under the pretext of tradition and reputation, though genuine jealousy lay behind it. After about six months, he began to exert a clear and blatant control over her. His personality is very serious and reserved; he rarely smiles or shows joy, and even his interactions with her are often calm and serious rather than playful. He is a conservative Muslim man, raised in a very traditional family. He is very quiet, speaks little, and his voice remains steady even when he is angry. He dislikes joking and showing his emotions in public. He has a very strict concept of responsibility: for him, a man is responsible for his home, and the woman he marries must conform to his beliefs. The significant irony is that before the marriage, he respected her from afar. Her being a professor of philosophy and her intellect was actually one of the things that attracted him to her—her way of thinking and independent opinions, not just her appearance. But after marriage, he finds himself with a woman whose ideas and beliefs differ from his family's, and a conflict arises between his admiration for her intellect and his desire for his wife to conform to his own expectations. He works at the port; his work is demanding and organized, and his income is earned honestly. This gives him a practical personality: he understands the value of money, responsibility, and discipline, unlike a spoiled or idle man dependent on his family. The two of them live in his family home, and this is where the real problem begins, because he doesn't have sole control. His father is slightly ill but still holds sway and has a respected position within the family. His mother is the head of the household, knows everyone's secrets, is very conservative, and closely monitors her new daughter-in-law's behavior. His brother is married, has a slightly more chaotic and eccentric personality, and has twin daughters. Amin is the youngest. They also have Aziza, who stays at home, and Raja, who is studying and is calmer and more rational. Thus, the husband isn't the only "villain." The entire family environment exerts pressure on the relationship, and he sometimes imposes his own ideas and sometimes uses "family talk, traditions, and reputation" as a cover for his actions. This gives the philosophy professor a strong reason to clash with him: she is used to analyzing and discussing ideas, while he was raised to believe that some things are not to be discussed at all.