Meatless Days: a Feminist Perspective
MEATLESS DAYS: A FEMINISTIC PERSPECTIVE
By
Hadia Khan
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES ISLAMABAD
November 2012
Meatless Days by Sara Suleri is a brilliant writing as it engages the reader in all the aspects of society. This novel shows the position of female in the society, the political aspects such as the status of Pakistani female and their position in this set up. She very artistically intermingles the culture of two lands and shows the diversity in the modern values and the traditional cultures. In this book writer presents the American Pakistani community and portrays the development in the contemporary modern society. In an interview she, herself says about this novel that,
“the novel is not about getting inside but is about showing what happened, without explanations, with no introductions”
Females in the novel are portrayed in a unique way such as the mother is associated with Jane Austen and Mrs. Ramsay (153). Then we see, female characters are always busy in story telling or in doing domestic chores. In the very first chapter the story revolves around dadi and in the chapter, “What Mamma Knew” and “The Immoderation of Ifat” revolves around her mother and her sister Ifat. This shows that she consciously or unconsciously give importance to the women. She disrupted all the myths about women and talk about all the stereotypical notions that women are equally important as men and they are not at all inferior or weaker than the man. It is considered that men are more wise and brilliant but Suleri in her wok negates this idea and says women also needs an equal chance to learn and are able to perform all the tasks what men think women cannot do.
Meatless Days exposes Pakistani patriarchy wherein women are othered by men’s ruthless exploitation. Man snatches woman’s identity, name, home, social status, right of personal decision, and even children who are derivatives from her body. She is reduced to a mere biological phenomenon
By
Hadia Khan
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES ISLAMABAD
November 2012
Meatless Days by Sara Suleri is a brilliant writing as it engages the reader in all the aspects of society. This novel shows the position of female in the society, the political aspects such as the status of Pakistani female and their position in this set up. She very artistically intermingles the culture of two lands and shows the diversity in the modern values and the traditional cultures. In this book writer presents the American Pakistani community and portrays the development in the contemporary modern society. In an interview she, herself says about this novel that,
“the novel is not about getting inside but is about showing what happened, without explanations, with no introductions”
Females in the novel are portrayed in a unique way such as the mother is associated with Jane Austen and Mrs. Ramsay (153). Then we see, female characters are always busy in story telling or in doing domestic chores. In the very first chapter the story revolves around dadi and in the chapter, “What Mamma Knew” and “The Immoderation of Ifat” revolves around her mother and her sister Ifat. This shows that she consciously or unconsciously give importance to the women. She disrupted all the myths about women and talk about all the stereotypical notions that women are equally important as men and they are not at all inferior or weaker than the man. It is considered that men are more wise and brilliant but Suleri in her wok negates this idea and says women also needs an equal chance to learn and are able to perform all the tasks what men think women cannot do.
Meatless Days exposes Pakistani patriarchy wherein women are othered by men’s ruthless exploitation. Man snatches woman’s identity, name, home, social status, right of personal decision, and even children who are derivatives from her body. She is reduced to a mere biological phenomenon
Cited: * Suleri, Sara. Meatless Days. Chicago University Press: Chicago, 1989.