Outside Reading, Week 5, Post B

I would just like to start out by issuing the following statement: Owned! I totally called it!..**ahem** So last B post, I believe I called that Mariam and Laila would be uniting forces to change their lives for the better. Well, they totally did! Laila, Aziza and Mariam took their money and sneaked out of the house to the bus station. There, they bought bus tickets and attempted to board the bus with a man who was posing as their husband, but they were ratted out, sent to jail, and forced back home to Rasheed. Once the door was closed, Rasheed showed no mercy. Both were severely beaten and several days until Rasheed finally allowed them out of their rooms. Although this may seem like a crushing defeat for Laila and Mariam, I believe that there is a deeper theme rooted in this event

Even though Laila and Mariam's plan miserably and both suffered severe consequences, their spirits are not crush. They both still remain optimistic about the possibility to change their lives and escape from their current state. So, while Rasheed and Mariam represent the oppressive and cruel views of the older generation in Afghanistan, Laila represents the possibility for change in the roles of women. Until Laila arrive, Mariam simply accepted the fact that she was lower on the social ladder than men and didn't do much to challenge it. However, Laila, being of the newer generation, the generation that has grown up under the power that women had with Soviet, believes that she is entitled to a certain level of respect and won't stop until she achieves it. With these emerging conflicts and opposing viewpoints, it will be interesting to see how the story plays out. Will Laila win and gain respect or will Rasheed maintain his reign of terror over the women? I suppose only my further reading of the book will tell.