The Red Tent

The strength and influence of bonds between women pervade The Red Tent. Networks of women are formed away from the public eye and world of men. These bonds are powerful, nurturing and sustaining. However, they can also be fraught with competition. In the opening chapters, bonds between women are introduced as stories passed on from woman to woman. These stories of women’s experiences hold little value for men and are thus unrecorded by history. They are, instead, oral narratives that convey specific wisdom for younger women. Feasts, like that between Jacob and Esau’s families and that in Mamre, provide opportunities for preserving cultural histories. Bilhah’s legend of Uttu and Enhenduanna serves an additional, practical function, by helping Dinah learn spinning—an important part of domestic labor. The sense of being protected by goddesses helps the female characters feel safe in their separate world, one symbolized by the red tent—the color of blood, sacrifice, and passion.

Blood does not always indicate strong or loving relationships. Leah and Rachel’s jealousy demonstrates the competition that can result when women vie for status and influence within a household. Dinah describes them as achieving an uneasy peace: “They did not work together or consult with each other.