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Purdah
作者Author  /  Imtiaz  Dharker  

Purdah

 
(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)
   
  • 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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