I finished reading Reading Lolita in Tehran yesterday and The Handmaid's Tale today. Both were good books, worth reading and worth my time to recommend them.
The thing is, though, that away from school, away from the constant contact of people who will discuss things ad nauseum, ad infinitum (and know what both terms mean), only to arrive to a closing point in a discussion and say, "Yes, but what does any of it really mean?", makes discussions where you don't really know what your point of entry is particularly difficult. I could start with the fact that both societies in the books--the fictional Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale and the nonfictional Iran in Reading Lolita... are monotheocracies that use state religion to control women specifically. Questions:
1. Is the mandated wearing of garments that cover the entirety of the body--veils/hijab, hats/burquas, robes/chardors, etc., a terrible thing? Is true freedom in revealing as much of the body as possible, or is it in the sovereignity of being able to choose how one's body is revealed?
2. When the US "democratizes" countries like India, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan, why are we persuaded to go into these countries by the supposed inhumanity of women being covered up? Why is the miniskirt a symbol of freedom from oppression?
3. Why are women's bodies so often seen as dangerous or subversive?
4. What happens to the faith of people who are subjects of monotheocratical tyranny?
Right now, I have more questions than answers. Par for the course, I suppose.
*************
I keep saying that I'm not ready to go back to school yet, but with the sheer volume of books I've read recently and the papers that I've begun in my head, symptoms would indicate otherwise
No comments:
Post a Comment