In this thesis I discuss the technical linguistic aspects of `Aliya Mamduḥ's Ḥabbat al-naftalin using postcolonial language theory, showing how these techniques contribute to Mamduḥ's literary goals. This is in contrast to much of English scholarship on Arab women authors, which has instead focused mainly on the social and political questions that Arab women's writing raises. Mamduḥ uses circular language and a child's narrative voice in order to portray her narrator growing up in 1950's Baghdad. The Arabic in the novel is a hybrid, mixed language with elements of classical language, colloquial language and Iraqi/Baghdadi dialect, and it facilitates the expression of women in the novel. Mamduḥ intertwines these language techniques with politics, fear and history to create a uniquely postcolonial work that explores women's words, women's stories, and women's agency.

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