The Book of Longings

For Ana, the soul expresses itself most honestly and profoundly not in what it is but in what it longs to be. Ana is at once shaped, defined, and compelled by what she terms her longings. Her heart is restless, not just for love, although that is a crucial element of her longings, but for the opportunity to realize her fullest self as a writer and ultimately her longing to have her own defining and particular voice matter. She longs to move beyond the claustrophobic place assigned her by her culture. Her father initially indulges her love of study, her fascination with the music of language, and her need to write stories, but only until he understands it is time for his daughter to accept less, to stop longing for anything beyond the conventional limits of women. Ana, however, refuses. She is not content with the limits she perceives both her family and her culture impress upon her. She dares to yearn and in turn to let those longings urge her forward. When Yaltha presents young Ana with the incantation bowl, she tells her, “A man’s holy of holies contains God’s laws, but inside a woman’s there are only longings” (8).