In the Kabul scenes, the home no longer acting as a safeguard for the body, both become exposed to various kinds of violence. On the one hand, violence in Homebody/Kabul is hardly ever physically acted out on stage. On one occasion Priscilla takes off her burqa on the streets of Kabul and Khwaja, her future guide, is beaten when he protects her against an angry member of the religious police. Another violent moment occurs in the penultimate scene, when a border guard almost shoots Mahala, the woman whom Priscilla and her father, Milton, are taking out of Afghanistan. But even though violent acts are rarely represented on stage, violence is in fact omnipresent in the play. From the Homebody’s retelling of the history of Afghanistan (full of …show more content…
Thus, the audience watches Priscilla forced, like all women in the Afghanistan under the Taliban, to wear a burqa in public, struggling with it in her wanderings through the streets of Kabul and thereby demonstrating the severe physical limitations it sets on the body. The obligation for women to wear the burqa is exposed as a discriminatory practice that severely limits women’s movement and semiotically marks them off as un-identified Other, thus functioning as a constraint that is both real and symbolic. In this way, the burqa combines traits of systemic and symbolic violence because it simultaneously enacts and represents the Taliban’s permanent subjugation of women’s bodies. This subjugation also works in cultural terms, limiting the women’s scope of perception via the burqa’s grille, which lets the wearer only see a small fraction of the outside reality (a limitation of perception that is otherwise reflected in the Taliban’s aversion against girls’ attending school). Thus, as long as Priscilla keeps wearing the burqa, complying with the denigrating rules imposed on Afghan women and, thereby, staying within the restrictive cultural parameters these rules encode, she cannot help but remain blind to the world that surrounds her. This is emphasized when she takes the burqa off and can now, for the first time, fully contemplate the sight. She exclaims in surprise: “Oh, beautiful” (Kushner, Homebody 55). Quite in coherence with the interrelation between symbolic, systemic and subjective violence as explained above, Priscilla’s attempt to take the burqa off (disrupting the norm imposed by symbolic and systemic violence), almost has serious repercussions on her body since a member of the religious police is on the point of beating her with a rubber hose, an instance of subjective violence which is eventually directed at Khwaja, who intervenes on
Chapter 4 starts off by describing how Kabul looks after being attacked by the Taliban’s. The author, khandra
Rumors spread to Najmah that “woman wearing henna on their fingertips had their fingers chopped off”(Staples 12). When Najmah heard the clink of bangles under a woman’s burqa and the click of her heels on the pavement, the sound created an unsettling sensation within her. Suddenly, Najmah recalled how the “Taliban would whip women whose shoes made a sound on paving stones (Staples 180).” She wanted to warn the woman, for her mother had told her that “women risk their lives by hiding their jewelry” (Staples 180). As for Nusrat, notwithstanding the fact that she just moved to Pakistan not long ago, she was extremely vigilant and prudent when the Taliban was around. One time, a servant of Nusrat’s disappeared. Nusrat sent someone to search for her and discovered that “she had been badly beaten and was held without charges” (Staples 99). From this incident, the unfair treatment towards women helped Nusrat to learn more about the Taliban’s rules in Pakistan. Given the facts above, it is very apparent that Taliban’s cruelty toward women is depicted precisely and vividly through the different stories of two
“Mariam had never before worn a burqa...The padded headpiece felt tight and heavy on her skull, and it was strange seeing the world through a mesh screen.” (pg 72). The burqa in this book is a symbol of how Mariam, Laila were forced against their will to wear a piece of cloth that stole their identity from them. Burqas are a way to hide women so that husbands are reassured that their wife is not looked at by other men. It is a way for men to control their wives and become dominant. This is not always true for all women, but for the women in this book it is.
Martha Nussbaum main argument tries to convince her audience on The Stone, a philosophical blog that includes mostly educated and philosophical people like herself, by presenting evidence that introduces topics about religion and the first amendment. Nussbaum opposition says that by being covered there is a risk that people might see it as threat. Nussbaum disapproves this by talking about how “...many beloved and trusted professionals cover their faces all year round: surgeon, football players, dentists,skiers, and skaters…”(Nussbaum). Nussbaum uses this to make people understand that others discover their face and don’t face the same discrimination as other people do just because they are Muslim. Nussbaum also tries to defend the burqa from the criticism that it is oppressive, harmful, and used to try to put down women. Nussbaum explains in her article “...society is suffused with symbols of male supremacy that treat women as objects. Sex magazines, nude photos, tight jeans- all of these products arguably, treat women as objects…”(Nussbaum). Nussbaum explores the hypocrisy of the argument made against her by showing that women are still oppressed with or without the
Governments often claim that they are helping women gain equality when they invade and impress their values on other cultures. In “Feminism as Imperialism”, Katharine Viner states that “Bush cut off funding to international family planning organizations [and then claimed he] bombed Afghanistan to liberate the women from the burkas” (1). However, the problem with wars claiming to “save” women is that the majority of the time women are just becoming victims of western misogyny as opposed to eastern misogyny (Viner, 2). Just because some women choose to wear head coverings doesn’t make them repressed, “liberation for [Afghani women] does not encompass destroying their identity, religion, or culture and many of them want to retain the veil” (Viner, 2). Therefore, using women to justify war is counterproductive because it still represses women and ignores what the women actually
One of Sultana Yusufali’s strongest arguments in “My body is my own business” is her scrutinization of the exploitation of female sexuality. Initially Yusufali writes about the injudicious individuals that assume she is oppressed by her hijab. Thereafter, she describes them as “brave individuals who have mustered the courage to ask me about the way I dress”. Moreover, Yusufali’s word choice is intriguing as she utilizes the word “brave” when laymen hear this word they habitually associate the aforementioned with heroic, valiant and courageous. Consequently, Yusufali ensues to comprise her opinions on the hijab and how it carries a number of negative connotations in western society. Furthermore, Yusufali proceeds to strike on the importance
The discomfort the girl feels in the burqa “upsets” her, linking her physical distress to emotional distress. The girl gets “a really bad feeling” when she wears a burqa, showing that the physical effects of the burqa can be negative.
Suddenly, the Taliban, who have taken over that part of Afghanistan, burst the door down of their one room home and take the family father into custody! On page 30, the Taliban soldiers say to the father,”’Why did you go to England for your education?’ The soldiers yelled at Father. ‘Afghanistan doesn't need your foreign ideas!’ They yanked him toward the door.”
Lila Abu-Lughod’s article titled, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” takes a closer look at the problematic ethnocentric approach many have when trying to gain an understanding of another culture that may be foreign to that individual. In this analytical paper, Lughod looks at women in Islam, specifically the treatment of women and how it might be utilized as a justification for invading into a country and liberating its people. The country Lughod refers to in her article is Afghanistan, and Lughod points out the misunderstanding from the people to the Bush administration like First Lady Laura Bush who believed that intervention was necessary to free women from the captivity of their own homes. It is important to consider the role that different lenses play into all of this, especially when one’s lenses are being shaped by the media. Depictions of covered women secluded from society leave a permanent image in the minds of many, who would then later support the idea of liberation. This paper will discuss that the practice of using propaganda when referring to the lifestyle in the Middle East is not exclusive to the U.S; rather it has been utilized throughout history. Additionally, we will take a closer look on the importance of symbols, such as veils in this case; help to further emphasize the cause to liberate. Finally, we will analyze Lughod’s plea towards cultural relativism and away from liberal imperialism.
Major part was covered in Kabul. The setting creates a unique effect on reader and give a vast understanding of situation of Afghanistan. Novel covers about four decade of time period. HERAT: - It as the hoe to of Maia. Though she didt lie popely i the town.
The Web. 11 Feb 2014. Mondloch, Chris. A. “Bacha Bazi: An Afghan Tragedy.” Foreign Policy.
In his novel “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, Khaled Hosseini skillfully illustrates many aspects of Afghan culture to the reader. The novel explores the struggles that have plagued Afghanistan, and how they have affected the lives of its people. Through the story’s two narrators, Mariam and Laila, the reader is presented with examples of how the nation’s culture has changed over time. Through “A Thousand Splendid Suns” Khaled Hosseini emphasizes the struggle in the area between traditional beliefs and progressive changes, specifically as they relate to women’s rights. Throughout history it has been shown these that progressive reforms are unable to coincide with strict Islamic beliefs.
Afghanistan since its beginning has been a place of conflict, despair, and at times lost hope. It has been taken advantage of and lost its sense of identity, which has had a direct effect on its people, and there own sense of what justice truly is.
The women of Afghanistan have been through every hardship imaginable. Khaled Hosseini uses his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns to show his readers how women’s rights changed through out the last half of the 20th century and how the different governments affected the women differently.
Afghanistan; Taliban controlled, discrimination and love everywhere yet nowhere at the same time. It’s a nation where culture and tradition are of immense importance, especially to the older generation. Over 53% of Afghan population is below the poverty line, making the country one of the Earth’s poorest. Life would be lived on a day to day basis, not knowing if it’s safe to be outside, when...