Women Without Men, Sultana’s Dream, and Brick Lane depict women who free themselves from their restricting home lives and societal pressures in favor of living without men. They are initially controlled by patriarchal traditions and expectations placed upon them. The protagonists in these novels are women who are initially restricted by patriarchal limits and societal expectations. The attempt to break free of those restrictions marks the strength to gain freedom from their respective situations. What does it mean to be “free?” The female protagonists in Women Without Men, Sultana’s Dream, and Brick Lane fight against the societal restrictions placed upon them through asserting their own power and gaining agency over their lives to become “free”
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The similarity among them is their eventual settling at a house away from men. Apart from the gardener, they are left to run the house by themselves and in doing so, gain freedom. The empowerment they achieve derives from education. Munis is the prime example of empowerment through education. She begins the novel as a woman who is sheltered and controlled by her brother. After her “death,” she finds a book that explains sexuality and women’s bodies. “She saw the external world in a different light. She felt she had undergone a process of growth and maturation” (Parsipur, 28). The way one views their body is the easiest way to control and manipulate the person. In keeping Munis in the dark about her own body, she could be …show more content…
The idea of women’s sexuality and the presence of female desire goes against the nearly universal idea of Muslim women being timid and shy. It is not often discussed and Parsipur’s inclusion of it is this novel reveals the truth of women in a culture that seems to ignore or dismiss women’s sexuality. Munis’s dismissal of the importance of virginity, compared with Fa’iza’s distraught, is directly referencing society’s obsession with women’s virginity and women’s bodies. Controlling their sexuality is another way to control
The similarity among them is their eventual settling at a house away from men. Apart from the gardener, they are left to run the house by themselves and in doing so, gain freedom. The empowerment they achieve derives from education. Munis is the prime example of empowerment through education. She begins the novel as a woman who is sheltered and controlled by her brother. After her “death,” she finds a book that explains sexuality and women’s bodies. “She saw the external world in a different light. She felt she had undergone a process of growth and maturation” (Parsipur, 28). The way one views their body is the easiest way to control and manipulate the person. In keeping Munis in the dark about her own body, she could be …show more content…
The idea of women’s sexuality and the presence of female desire goes against the nearly universal idea of Muslim women being timid and shy. It is not often discussed and Parsipur’s inclusion of it is this novel reveals the truth of women in a culture that seems to ignore or dismiss women’s sexuality. Munis’s dismissal of the importance of virginity, compared with Fa’iza’s distraught, is directly referencing society’s obsession with women’s virginity and women’s bodies. Controlling their sexuality is another way to control