For Ramla, I feel so angry about Alhadji Boubakari, threatening her with a letter of repudiation to her mother. Ok, evil and low. Why did he pick Dadiyel, her mother, as his hostage? Cuz he knew that she is Ramla’s biggest weakness. Using love to threaten is just disgusting. Plus, he ignored the precept of the Prophet which stipulates that a girl must consent to her marriage. He should be the one who supports children. Instead, he is the one who ruined Ramla’s life. Her future could be good, being a pharmacist in the future. I mean, that is a perfect plan, but he ruined all. What I see from here is a kind of control on all women. Ramla and her mother’s lives are being controlled always. They don’t have autonomy. Those men address “submission”, “munyal”. Screw those traditions and patriarchy. That society of male supremacy is so stupid. Here, he even ignored the religious tradition to make decisions for his daughter. It clearly shows that the patriarchy is actually higher than religious rules. How shameful that is.
Now, I am saying Ramla’s father is so arrogant and selfish; however, another guy is way worse — Moubarak — such an asshole. He took tramadol pills cut with Viagra and then raped Hindou, ignoring her scream, cry, and begging. It is fun for him.
OMG such a loser. I was
actually mad when I read one of their conversations:
“Sorry,
I’m hurt. I’m in pain.”
“Don’t
worry! That’s normal.”
Huhhhh?
“Normal”. You raped her, made her bleed, covered in bruises. Then what you did
after - drag her to the ground and gag her with your hand. And here we go, this
part is what I hate the most: “"It wasn't a crime! Moubarak had every
right to do with me what he wanted” “He was just so in love!” “It's not a
crime! It's a legitimate act! The conjugal duty. It's not a sin. ... it's a blessing
granted by Allah.”
Amazing logic. The violence was just because of love. I'm disgusted. And the conjugal duty here is completely for the husband. He got the right to use his wife’s body, no matter how he wanted. WHAT? Is the conjugal duty defined like that? Shouldn’t it be mutual and respectful? How stupid that is, making rape a legitimate act. And Hindou accepted her fate, and slowly internalized this crazy, unfair logic. “MUNYAL!” “Blessing granted by Allah!” I feel sad for all women who live like that every day.
Well, Ramla finally fled away and in Yaoundé with her brother. Idk if I am too sensitive now. It seems like she
escaped, but the brother, a male. She still needs a man to survive. So my
question is: do you think Ramla finally succeeded, or like, just from one cage
to another, maybe a little bit better cage, but still a cage? I mean, she still
needs that man to get so-called “freedom” or “mobility”.
Melissa: Hey, I read a different book for this week but I think that your analysis on patriarchy and the treatment of women is interesting. I think that I would feel a similar way as well if I had read this book, because I am disturbed by the idea of female bodies as marginal, or instrumental to conjugal acts. The implication of this character escaping by having escaped merely into another 'cage' concerns me about how the autonomy of women is depicted in this novel, if at all.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, and it frustrates me to say this, I don't know if Ramla truly escaped. We saw in Hindou's story, that her family can just track her down, and regardless, she has endured so my trauma. But I want to believe in my heart she and all women in situation can heal.
ReplyDelete