Opposites between India’s Culture and Oppression of Women Compared to Sultana’s Dream
A utopia is defined as a “community or society possessing highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities.” (Wikipedia) In literature, utopias are usually associated with the western world. However, in her short story, Sultana’s Dream, the Indian writer, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein, portrays a feminist utopia wherein females operate everything while men are isolated and secluded. This is the exact opposite of the traditional Muslim practice of Purdah which was prevalent in the Muslim society of Hossein (Purdah was also appropriated in some Hindu societies). Purdah prevented men from ever seeing women, which happened in two ways. The first was to physically separate females from males (keeping them indoors, prohibiting women from walking the streets when men were, etc.). The second was to visually separate females from males (which was based on the cultural interpretation of the Koran by having women wearing burqas). Understanding Purdah is especially important as Sultana’s Dream is read. The story imposes a polar opposite dream world where Purdah does not exist. In short, Hossein attempts to portray her opposition of the traditional role of women within the extremely strict Purdah system. These traditional women roles consist of activities such as a woman cooking, cleaning, serving her husband, taking care of a child (basically on her own), etc. In this paper, I will show how Hossein’s Sultana’s Dream depicts a dream world that is void of the patriarchal structure of real-world India.
In 1905, during which Sultana’s Dream was written, there was violence rampant in India against the British. So, to keep in mind the violence that was occurring around Hossein as she is writing Sultana’s Dream is especially important, as Sultana’s Dream does not show any violence being taken against men specifically, even though violence is extremely prevalent in her life at the time. In early 20th...