56 pages • 1-hour read
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
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Themes
The Complexity of Family
Content Warning: This section discusses death and murder, childhood sexual assault and rape, mistreatment of sex workers, human trafficking, and gendered violence and abuse.
One of the central themes of Elif Shafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World is the complexity of family. The novel explores the limits of the traditional definition of family, particularly how family is not necessarily defined through blood relations. The novel deals largely with Leila’s disillusionment with her own family and her formation of a family made up of friends in Istanbul. In the face of rejection, her unconventional group of companions forms a makeshift family that Leila calls “the five.” Throughout Part 1 of the novel, Shafak explores the complexities of what goes into the formation of a family, their unbreakable bonds, and the significance of finding love and acceptance.
The concept of the chosen family is one of the larger ideas that the novel attempts to grapple with. After moving to Istanbul and leaving behind her biological family, Leila finds love and support from her friends. This group is diverse, made up of individuals from a variety of different backgrounds; they are brought together by their shared marginalization within society. They share a deep, vibrant connection that is exemplified by the fierce loyalty and dedication they show upon learning of the news of Leila’s passing and her unjust burial in the Cemetery of the Companionless. The friends provide an emotional refuge for each other and instill a sense of belonging in each other that their biological families failed to inspire. At the end of the novel, the remaining five friends decide to live together in Leila’s old apartment; the narrative states, “They were more vulnerable on their own; together, they were stronger,” to portray the extent to which they draw support and comfort from each other’s presences (306). Shafak explains that sometimes those who are not biologically related can become cherished members of a family.
Shafak shows that family is more than shared genetics by juxtaposing the memories Leila shared with her biological family and those made with the five in Istanbul. The memories of her biological family that Leila retells are memories filled with sadness, confusion, and secrecy. Each memory with her biological family leaves her wistful and solemn as she reflects on how the abuses she experienced shaped part of her adulthood. She points to several moments with her biological family that led to her eventual death. For example, upon learning the truth about her mother and her aunt, she claims that she “had come to understand that feelings of tenderness must always be hidden…This was the only form of affection she had learned from grown-ups, and the teaching would come with dire consequences” (44), alluding to both the sexual abuse and rape she experienced at the hands of her uncle and her eventual life and death as a sex worker. While Leila reminisces about her chosen family, she uses a tone filled with fondness and nostalgia; they serve to depict how Leila felt truly at home with those friends. Through their shared bond, each of the characters is able to remain resilient and grow beyond the problems that once defined them; Leila claims that “[s]he had never told her friends this, not in so many words, but they were her safety net” (63). Shafak showcases the way that strength is able to rise past adversity and that the true meaning of family is a sanctuary in which one can seek shelter and receive support.
The novel also converses with the idea that family is something that extends beyond death. Even after Leila’s death, she continues to reflect on both her biological family and her chosen one. Through the depiction of these memories and the ways in which Leila interacts with them, Shafak displays that family is something that persists within one’s memory and does not end with death; family persists within the legacy and impact that a person has made on their loved ones. Family is not simply a physical presence but an emotional connection that extends beyond life and death.
Traditionalism Versus Modernism
The theme of traditionalism versus modernism is an essential part of Shafak’s novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. She explores the conflicting ideologies and the way their conflict impacts daily life through her characters and the story’s unfolding narrative. Her exploration of this theme invites readers to question the increasing impact of modernization on both cultural heritage and societal progression.
Leila is a character who has deep roots and connections to a traditional landscape in the novel. Leila’s hometown of Van, Turkey, is one that is steeped in traditional Turkish culture and holds more seemingly conservative values than other areas explored in the novel. Leila’s deeply religious father and her traditional family dynamic that holds fast to customs and values serve to juxtapose against the modernization of Istanbul and the progressivism that runs through the city. As a sex worker in Istanbul, Leila often encounters this conflict between ideological elements in society. As her profession challenges conventional social norms, it exposes the hypocrisy that lives among those who lean too far into traditionalism or modernism as they harbor double standards.
Throughout the novel, one of the main pillars of traditionalism is religion. Shafak explores how religious beliefs are deeply ingrained within Turkish culture and are a crucial part of the traditional values seen within the novel. Through Leila’s experience with the shift in her father’s religious beliefs from standard to increasingly radical and conservative, and the way that it impacts her relationship with her father, Shafak highlights how holding onto strict, conservative religious values can hinder personal freedom and stall social progress. After Leila is trafficked and sexually exploited, she attempts to call her family, missing them deeply. Upon his discovery of Leila’s desire for contact, her father states, “We don’t have a daughter called Leyla. Leyla Afife Kamile: you don’t deserve those names,” and Leila states, “A pain throbbed somewhere inside her body, in a place she was unable to locate” (115), depicting the way that these strict traditional beliefs physically harm Leila and encourage her family to disown her.
Modernization, represented through the exciting city of Istanbul, is depicted as the embracing of “cosmopolitan” ideas and rapid city development. The stark discrepancy between the city’s blossoming landscape and the struggles of those within it, namely Leila and the other sex workers, illustrates the heightened tension between these two battling ideologies and the consequences people who live between them face. Shafak, through the use of Leila’s non-linear memories, carefully examines the impacts of both traditionalism and modernization, revealing both of their faults and how they have drastic effects on identity and societal unity.
Additionally, Shafak challenges the limits of modernity in its current state through character interaction and conflict. She disrupts traditional gender expectations and definitions by exploring sex work in Istanbul through the eyes of sex workers of different backgrounds. As a sex worker, Leila challenges current definitions of femininity and sexual liberation to show that even in modernized settings, society still has a long way to go when it comes to social acceptance and progression. Leila, in a moment of sobering honesty, claims that her “room was on the second floor, the first on the right. ‘The best location in the house,’ everyone said. Not because it offered any luxuries or a view of the Bosphorus but because, if anything were to go wrong, she could easily be heard from downstairs” (51), illustrating the dangers that sex workers continue to face daily even within a more progressive environment. Nostalgia Nalan, as a transgender sex worker, shows readers that even in a modernized setting, discrimination and social exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals remain major issues. Shafak challenges modernism to advocate for individual freedom and self-expression through her characters’ conflicts and their determination in the face of an unjust and discriminatory modernist society.
Shafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World examines the conflicting ideologies of traditionalism and modernism within contemporary Turkish society through Leila’s memories and the interactions that occur between characters. Through their journeys, Shafak exposes the flaws and limitations of both traditional extremism and modernistic social exclusion by reflecting on the way they impact individual freedom and self-expression. Offering a new and thorough exploration of an individual's experience with both traditionalism and modernism, the novel questions and reevaluates perspectives on the importance of finding a balance between tradition and modernity.
Violence Against Women
The novel also discusses the important theme of violence against women by shedding light on the struggles that women from various backgrounds continue to face in contemporary society. Through the stories of Leila and four out of five of her friends, the novel explores the multifaceted aspects of violence that women within society endure daily.
From the very beginning of the novel, when Leila explains that she has been murdered and her body has been disposed of in a waste bin, violence is set to play a critical role in the events that transpire throughout; Leila’s death functions as a catalyst for Shafak to address the constant violence that women face. Leila’s murder is not random violence but an emblematic depiction of the systematic mistreatment and objectification of women and, more specifically, sex workers. Leila’s story reveals the realities of the violence regularly faced by women and sex workers, highlighting the way that violence can be both physical and intangible.
Physical violence is portrayed in this novel through both Leila’s murder and the discussion of the tradition of honor killings within Turkish culture. The brutal act of Leila’s murder and the subsequent disposal of her body in a waste bin represent the way that women are viewed as disposable and less important than men within patriarchal societies. Hollywood Humeyra is afraid of becoming a victim of an honor killing, a form of femicide in which women are killed for reasons relating to violating their perceived roles in society and bringing dishonor to their families. According to Humeyra, “Women accused of indecency weren’t always killed, she knew; sometimes they were just persuaded to kill themselves. […] In Batman, not far from where she was born, suicide was the leading cause of mortality in young women” (159), highlighting the scope of violence that women face and the extent to which the violence impacts them. The practice of honor killings against women further elaborates the scope to which violence against women is relevant within this society.
Physical violence, however, is not the only form of violence that women endure. Shafak also explores the emotional, psychological, and sexual violence that women face daily. Leila’s experience growing up in an emotionally and sexually abusive home shapes some of her decision-making throughout the novel, portraying the ways in which the pain and damage caused by these intangible forms of violence have lasting impacts on women's lives. The novel also explores the intersectionality between the violence that women face and different social issues like immigration, sex work, and poverty. Leila’s experience as a sex worker, Zaynab122’s medical condition, Hollywood Humerya’s mental illness, Jameelah’s immigration, and Nostalgic Nalan’s status as a trans woman work to showcase the vulnerability and marginalization of women whose experiences and suffering are often dismissed. Shafak emphasizes the social structures that perpetuate the various types of violence against women to showcase the disparities that these women face when attempting to receive protection or justice against violent acts.
Shafak uses the theme of violence against women to showcase the horrifying reality of violence against disenfranchised women and raise awareness for and promote advocacy of women’s rights around the world. Through her narrative, Shafak confronts the realities of violence against women and creates a platform for discussion about women’s rights.
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