79 pages • 2 hours read
Nadia HashimiA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Burqas and veils are complicated symbol in the novel, representing both patriarchal oppression and security. The burqa is a garment that completely conceals a woman’s face and body. In some Islamic traditions, women are required to wear a burqa when in public or around men. The hijab (or the veil, as Hashimi refers to it) is a less restrictive garment that covers a woman’s head. The burqa is frequently used as a metonym for women; for example, during Benafsha’s execution, Shekib sees “the row of blue burqas behind a row of spectator soldiers” (308). The burqa, part of the women’s appearance, becomes a substitution for their entire identity.
For Shekiba, the burqa/veil is a defensive garment. Because of her disfigurement, being veiled helps hide her from the scrutiny of those around her. It allows her, in a way, to feel normal: Wearing a burqa makes her look just like the women around her. When she is taken on as a guard of King Habibullah’s harem, she still has the impulse to hide her face with her veil. Though Shekib takes on the role of a man, it is hard to shed the gender identity that she developed her whole life.
By Nadia Hashimi