What I believe
I believe that women are equivalent to men. And further, that all people are created equal, and that they should be judged based on their personality and character, not on what they look like. I learned this and many other things from my free-choice book, which talks about the struggles of everyday people with equality with their race, and their gender.
In the book, Brick Lane by Monica Ali, this vital issue played a major role in the lives of the main characters. Brick Lane is a story centered around a young Bangladeshi girl named Nazneen, who, since birth, has been told that the reason she is alive, is that she has been left to her fate, and has no power over her own life. “So when Rupban [her mother] advised Nazneen to be still in her heart and mind, to accept the Grace of God, to treat life with the same indifference with which it would treat her, she listened closely, with her large head tilted back and her cheeks slack with equanimity.” (4) Even Nazneen’s own mother would not lay a hand on her to make the young baby drink milk, she was simply left to her Fate. Brick Lane is bursting with civil, emotional, and family tension, but is also beautiful in the fact, that although Nazneen is ripped from her village home, she still has the power to preserve her culture by passing it on to her children, and keeping it alive in the culturally-indifferent environment of London in the 80’s.
For my inspiration project I made a sari, using a beautiful pink fabric (a traditional young girl’s sari color in Bangladesh), and decided to learn a little more about Bangladeshi women, and their traditions and daily life. Bangladeshi women traditionally stay at home and do the cleaning and cooking and care for the children. But that has changed in modern times, women now have the choice of staying home or getting a job. One of the biggest conflicts in the story was that of Nazneen’s neighbor and her husband. Nazneen’s neighbor, Razia, also an immigrant from Bangladesh, wished to get a job at a sewing factory, while her traditional husband, wanted her to stay home and perform her womanly duties.
Bangladeshi women are responsible for cooking the family’s meals, which usually consist of rice and dal, a stew made of lentils and beans. They repair and make the families clothes, and care for both their children and their husbands.
A passage in the book that really touched my heart was when Nazneen’s sister’s friend had been accused of adultery. Her husband brutally disfigured her by pouring acid on her. “I see is Monju. I know by right eye alone. Left eye is narrow and stuff come our. Cheek and mouth is melt and ear have gone like dog chew off. I whisper to her but nurse pass by and tell to shout. Hearing is very small now. ‘Monju’ I shout. ‘Monju.’ Is all I can think to say. She say God give them the pain I suffering now…It is her husband who have done this with his brother and sister. Brother and sister hold tight and husband pour acid over head face and body…” (221) It just struck me that I had seen a article about Muslim women who were accused of adultery and had acid thrown on to them by people, sometimes even people they knew and loved, as in this passage. And even a fellow women, had taken part in this. Such cruelty towards women, even though they may be at fault, should not continue to go on. I respect and cherish aspects of every religion, but this is simply a small group of people who are perverting a religion to their own selfish ways.
I have learned from this book that I will never let anything stand in my way to achieving my goals and dreams. Women have fought for equal rights for many, many years. And in our country, women are no longer second-class citizens. Women fought and won their right for suffrage, or the right to vote, on August 26, 1920. I believe this is good progress, being a young woman myself. I understand and empathize with the main character in this book, both in my life and in this book are many representations of this attitude towards women, but I feel great hope in the fact that all over the world, through independent and church-operated organizations, people are helping women in poor countries to improve their quality of life.
