It is evident in Time I with the indirect speech of the women.[3] With the exception of when the narrator talks with Mounir, women's speech in Time I is related through paraphrasing rather than direct quotation. This paraphrasing has the effect of alienating women by not relating their speech yet including them as the sum of what they say is still related. In hand with this is the portrayal of women as being nothing more than accessories for the “modern” Lebanese man*.