Despite the fact that Mustafa kills Jean Morris, the question of who really won the war between the two characters is debatable. For example, on one hand, Mustafa defeats Jean Morris because he eventually makes love to her, which is his goal throughout their relationship. He also defeats Jean because he ends her life by stabbing her with a knife and killing her. However, one could claim that Jean inevitably defeats Mustafa. Jean tortures Mustafa for the few years that they knew each other by playing mind games with him, or by physically or verbally abusing him. For example, she would “entice [Mustafa] to her, and when [he] ran after her she fled” (Salih 156). She “would break any crockery that came to hand and tear up books and papers. This was the most dangerous weapon she had and every battle would end with her ripping up an important book or burning some piece of research on which I had worked for weeks on end” (Salih 161). She also wants Mustafa to kill her, saying that “I thought you would never do this” (Salih164). Mustafa, on the other hand, is driven mad by Jean’s antics and turns into a murderer, even though he is “not the kind of man that kills” (Salih 159). The people of his town, who once respected him as an intelligent and scholarly man, think of him as a murderer, and he is exiled from the town. Despite the fact that Jean Morris physically dies, Mustafa himself says that “[t]he war invariably ended in my defeat” (Salih 160).

The relationship between Mustafa and Jean evolves into a constant power struggle, in that each tries to obtain a sense of control over the other. Jean Morris proposes a challenge to Mustafa; if he could "conquer" Jean Morris, she would become his greatest victory, and he would be fulfilling his self-identity as a colonizer to the highest degree. Likewise, if Jean Morris could conquer Mustafa, she would also be fulfilling her identity as a colonizer. As each character attempts to gain control, the other character inevitably loses control in the situation. Mustafa decides to lose some battles with Jean, such as allowing her to treat him poorly, in order to win the eventual war of her chastity. On the other hand, Jean uses h

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