The Use of Personal Relationships to represent Cultural Oppression of Women In The Story of Zahra by Hannah al-Shaykh and So Long a Letter by Mariama B

In the bracings The storey of Zhara by Hanan al-Shaykh and So grand a garner by Mariama Bâ, soulfulnessal kindreds be use to suck up the subjection of women in various endings. Relationships, in from separately integrity novel, interpret young-bearing(prenominal) conquest in polar cultures, how burdensomeness is fought and how it is arrest step upd. some(prenominal) novels visualise the endorser the globe of effeminate heaviness and its effects on women?s spiriteds. victimisation relationships between characters is an effective mode to achieve this percentaged beginning of female heaviness in all(prenominal) novel. some(prenominal) al-Shaykh and Bâ make the referee unlike cultures and how women are laden by its usances. The jointure of Zahra?s parents, Fatmé and Ibrahim, is use in The tosh of Zahra in put to represent the lecturer the horrors of patriarchy in Lebanese culture. The couple personifys a traditionalistic Lebanese spousal relationship: Ibrahim being the head of the d rise uping house maculation Fatmé the housewife. Ibrahim is depict in the novel as ??al elbow rooms brutal. His cast seemed to express his character: a fr giveing face, a Hitler- analogous essentialache? He had a stubborn individual(prenominal)isedity. He saw look in black and white? (The while of Zahra by Hanan al-Shaykh. knave 24). Ibrahim is depicted as a symbolization of the standard decrepit make in Lebanon: cruel and ignorant. A scene created by al-Shaykh is depict on page 15 of her novel: ?My aim was sprawled on the kitchen floor as my father, in his khaki suit, his leather eruption in one hap was beating her. In the different hand he held a Qur?an? (The explanation of Zahra by Hanan al-Shaykh. tantalize 15). This quote shows the ratifier the merchant domaindor of patriarchy in Lebanese culture and the physical and stimulated fuss that it hobo name. Fatmé and Ibrahim were created by al-Shaykh in revise to represent the standard Lebanese join and to demonstrate the harsh man that is patriarchy in Lebanon. In So gigantic a garner, Bâ as well as uses Moudo?s heteroicous marriage to Binetou in raise to show the effects of polygamy on women in Afri underside cultures. When Ramatoulye receives the word of honor that her husband Moudo has get hitched with a siemens wife she thinks to herself ?I acquiesced under(a) the drops of poison that were burning me: ?A quarter of a nest candy of marriage?, ?a wife unparalleled? ? (So persistent a garner by Mariama Bâ. rascal 37). Moudo?s moment marriage is described as physically and emotionally curtailment for Ramatoulye, that because it is an accepted African tradition, Ramatoulye is in undefendable of armed combat the marriage and forces herself to ?check my privileged agitation ? Smile, arrive at the matter lightly, respectable as they announced it? (So Long a garner by Mariama Bâ. scallywag 38). Even though Ramotoulye commits that polygamy is a go out and unjust, she mustiness stifle her pain because it is an accepted African tradition. Bâ demonstrates the effects of polygamy on and African wo homo knowledgeable by dint of the Ramatoulye?s response to Moudo?s second marriage. with these relationships in to each one novel, the beginnings show that two polygamy and patriarchy, even though parts of African and Lebanese cultures oppress adult female in similar focal points. In both novels, Bâ and al-Shaykh exemplify that they believe make is needed for women to burdensomeness. Zahra?s relationship with Sami, the sniper, is used to show the length that women must go in order to disturb conquest. Zahra volunteers at a contingency state of warfarefared as a teentsy way to help recount the violence of the war. Through this, Zahra sees the human race of war and comes to the conclusion that, ?This war shall end! I shall termination it! No cause can be won until the war is cut shortped.? (The drool of Zahra by Hanan al-Shaykh. page 135). Zahra sorely desires to be autarkical yet believes that until the war has ended, her cause of being able to ?? live for myself. I desire my tree trunk to be mine unsocial? (The Story of Zahra by Hanan al-Shaykh. rogue 93) can non be won. Zahra is curb so oft by subjection in Lebanese culture, however, that she must surrender what is so valuable to her in order to achieve hardly a small amount. Zahra finds a way to directly stop a part of the war done her relationship with Sami. Through having sexual relations with Sami, Zhara is able to stop him from killing flock for a brief period. She imparts her freedom and her proboscis for the neater right-hand(a). This is what a woman must withstand in al-Shaykh?s novel in order to fight onerousness. In comparison, Ramatoulye?s denied marriage to Dauoda Dieng revealed Ba?s beliefs about feed for a greater safe(p). In order for the enigma of polygamy in African tradition to be fought, a woman must relinquish her person desires. Ramatoulye married Moudo, barely had always love Dauoda. She did non hook up with Dauoda because ?To his maturity I had like inexperience, to his generosity, poverty, to his gravity, spontaneity, to his stability, adventure? (So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ. Page 59). After Moudo?s death, however, Dauoda, who was already married, asked Ramatoulye to marry him. Ramatoulye answered Dauoda in a letter: ? prickteaser with is non enough for marriage, whose snares I know from experience. And then the manhood of your wife and children further complicates the situation. neglectful yesterday because of a woman, I cannot lightly bring myself between you and your family? (So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ. Page 68). Ramatoulye yields love and happiness in order to fight polygamy, however small the effect of her stand. In each novel, women are not only limited in their fight against female oppression, just also must resign personally in order to fight for their causes. Bâ and al-Shaykh exemplify contrasting opinions about whether a woman can trim down oppression from her culture. In The Story of Zahra, Zahra tries to play her culture and traditions and the oppression of it all by wretched to Africa. Zahra hopes Africa can be her salutary bindn. However, when Zahra arrives in Africa she marries Majed.

Majed is a sexually ignorant man, as seen when he says that ?When I was eighteen, I apprehension it would be a good idea to marry for the interestingness of sex? (The Story of Zahra by Hanan al-Shaykh. Page 82). Majed represents Lebanese traditions and the oppression of Zahra. When Majed meets another Lebanese man in Africa, he believes that ?A Lebanese met another in Africa. What should I do exactly greet him and invite him?? (The Story of Zahra by Hanan al-Shaykh. Page 76). His perpetual involvement with anything Lebanese turns Africa into a second Lebanon for Zahra. This relationship created by al-Shaykh shows the reader that she believes women cannot escape female oppression of a culture simply by relocating. In contrast, the character Aissatou?s issues with oppression are used by Bâ to show that a woman can escape the oppression of her culture. In So Long a Letter, Mawdo is pressured into a second marriage by his mother. He still loves Aissatou, scarcely he continues with the second marriage. Aissatou asserts herself and fall upon ups Mawdo, fighting back against polygamy. Ramatoulye recounts how Aissatou preceded afterwards the divorce in a letter to Aissatou: ?You had the surprising courage to take your life into your own hands. You rented a house and educate up home there. And or else of looking backwards, you look decisively to the succeeding(a)? (So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ. Page 32). Bâ uses this relationship in order to show the reader that she believes a woman can escape cultural oppression by being sozzled and independent. However, Bâ?s Ramatoulye does not emulate Aissatou and instead devoutly fights polygamy. twain authors take a different stance on whether a woman is sufficient of escaping cultural oppression, but by each novel?s protagonists we see that each author believes that a woman should not simply move external from the trouble of cultural oppression. Both al-Shaykh and Bâ?s novels share the theme of female oppression caused by cultural traditions. They each show how women are laden in different cultures through personal relationships between their characters. The oppression of women in different cultures does vary, like the patriarchy of Lebanon or the polygamy of Africa, but all types of oppression towards women have the same effects. Even though polygamy and patriarchy are different cultural practices, we see the protagonists of each novel suffer great emotional and physical pain, sacrifice their personal happiness and find compelled to relocate. The Story of Zahra and So Long a Letter both deal with the great problem of the cultural oppression of women in Lebanon or Africa, and both are extremely successful in purveying this problem through personal relationships. Bibliography:So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ. The Story of Zhara by Hanan al-Shaykh. If you want to get a sufficient essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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