Woman (Animals)

In my previous blog, I talked about how Aisha and the rest of the family really feared Ahmad rather than loved him. When Ahmad is considering his daughter's, Aisha, marriage, he denies the request. This really hurts Aisha emotional, but still she looks past her emotions to forgive her father. Why? Following this the narrator refers to Aisha as a “ wild animal”, when talking about her feelings. He says, “They fell back impotently like a wild animal stopped by its trainer, whom it loves and fears” (160-161). This really stuck out to me, because even though women are abused and mistreated throughout the book it is the first time they are referred to as tamed animals. Meaning the men have gained complete control over the women through fear. Further along in the book, Yasin also refers to women as being a domestic animal.

What more does any woman want than a home of her own and sexual gratification? Nothing! Women are just another kind of domestic animal, and must be treated like one. Yes, other pets are not allowed to intrude into our private lives. They stay home until we're free to play with them. For me, being a husband who is faithful to his marriage would be death. (338)

When Yasin is talking about his marriage and how he perceives his wife and women in general, he says a woman doesn't want anything more than a home and sexual pleasure. Is this true? Do woman throughout the book just want pleasure and a place to stay, or is it just what he wants? To me, it is simply what Yasin wants and craves. We have seen his sexual desires when he examines woman in the store and when he tries to have sexual intercourse with the maid, in which he successfully rapes one of the maids further into the book. He also shows no desire to leave his father's house. Then again what more can we expect, he is fairly young and has strong sexual desires, but in many cases he has gone to far.
He also says, “Women are just another kind of domestic animal, and must be treated like one. Yes, other pets are not allowed to intrude into our private lives. They stay home until we're free to play with them” (338). Her refers to them as a domestic animal. Domestication is a process in which a animal is selected to be taken under the rule of a human. Yasin is saying that men in his culture have taken over woman and woman must obey an order from a man at any circumstance. Based on the Iran Chamber Society website, in the religion of Islam, the majority of people see woman as a creature for men and his service. We see this with Amina and the way she is submissive to Ahmad. Based on this novel, we can suggest that woman are there serve the man and to do house duties. The Iran Chamber Society also says that throughout history, women have been used by men as sexual objects. Yasin is a perfect example on how men see woman only as a sexual object. His father Ahmad, basically arranges his marriage because of his sexual urges. Woman also stay at home the majority of the time, waiting for the men of the house to return, so they can serve the men or as Yasin says “until we're free to play with them”(338).
This is the second time in the novel, women are referred to as animals, and from examples they almost relate to animals. Whenever the man says sit or to shut up, they do exactly what is being asked. Women throughout the novel have been manipulated. Men have developed a mind control over women ,and to the Islamic culture there is no wrong doing when men mistreat women because that is exactly how they were brought up. For example, according to the website of World Art Erotica, wife beating has happen so often that housewives see it as a part of marriage of life. The way men degrade women has become a part of their culture.