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| Purdah |
| 作者Author / Imtiaz Dharker |
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Purdah
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| (Purdah: "[the condition of following] the custom, found in some Muslim and Hindu cultures, of women not allowing their faces to be seen by male strangers, either by staying in a special part of the house or by wearing a covering over their faces." Cambridge International Dictionary of English) |
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- It, purdah, "came quite naturally" to her; it means safety, learning some shame; it is like "the earth . . . on coffins." What does purdah mean to Muslim women and to Islamic culture (see more background info)?
- Besides the "she" which is the center of this poem, there is a shifting of pronouns from the "they" that give commands, to "the people she has known" to "we" (and "you"). What do these pronouns refer to? Does it imply a shifting of perspectives of the speaker of the poem? Why does she remember things from our or your life? Is it possible that we, or Taiwanese women, are included?
- Besides building a community of women who share similar experience of external control and interiority, she "expands" outside and inside of her self. Can you make sense of this?
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