The descriptions and lasting images of the conditions of life that were once true for Kuwaiti society from the period prior to the oil boom were conveyed to Thurayya for certain by her immediate family. A boom whose fates within the short stories are recognisable. Often that reality was observed and remembered by the same small girl that was Thurayya. It was in her life that this attrition of these two worlds: the worlds of tradition and modernity took place. In a series of short stories, especially those from the collections: Al-'araq al-aswad (The Black Sweat) and As-sidra (The Lotus Tree) there appears and disappears the reality of former Kuwaiti culture that was divided tribally: into poor and rich, urban and Bedouin, women and men. We find in the short stories almost the entire survey of former places and events crucial for this small yet varied society.

In the short story Ya al-mashmum (Musk) from the collection Al-'araq al-aswad (The Black Sweat) the action is played out at a market where people from various backgrounds meet, where deals are struck and which is a place of conflict and amusement. Thurayya describes the bazaar colourfully, something that has already disappeared from modern Kuwait along with its hot and spicy atmosphere. The youngest generation and their successors will learn of traditional forms of trade and the Arab bazaar from the short stories of Thurayya Al-Baqsami and Sulayman Ash-Shatti. In the short story Umm Adam (Adam's Mother) we are witnesses of the sad fate of a lonely old woman, who lived in the same district as father.