Essay about parvana and skin, Islamic Culture Essay Example

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Personality description: Parvana is helpful as she helps her father walk to the market and back home again after work. "I need this girl to help me walk," her father would tell any Talib who asked. Parvana also fetches water for the family. She helps her family by fetching water. This shows that Parvana is helpful. Parvana is smart and intelligent. "I can read and write in Dari and Pashtu". She knew how to read and write in Dari and Pashtu. At that time most of the Afghans didn’t know how to read or write. Parvana was one of the lucky ones because she knew how to read and write. This shows that Parvana is smart and intelligent kid. She is always truthful and honest. When her mother asked Parvana, "Now, tell me where you were today", Parvana didn’t lie. She just told the truth that she went to graves to dig up bones with Shauzia. This shows that Parvana is very honest and truthful in any situations. Essay about parvana and skin

Analysis of 'The Breadwinner' Animated Movie

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The Breadwinner is an animated movie that uncovers the hard truth of powerless women living under an extreme patriarchal regime, real feminist issues and the strength of family bonds.

The film, based on the adaptation of Deborah Ellis’ young-adult novel, was executive produced by Mimi Polk Gitlin, Angelina Jolie and directed by the Irish filmmaker Nora Twomey. As well as being nominated for a best-animated picture at the 90th Academy Awards, it is about 11 years old Parvana’s courageous attempt to support her family and to rescue her father, who was falsely accused and arrested by the Taliban. However, In order to be allowed onto the streets, she had to impersonate herself as a boy. This required cutting off her hair and wearing male clothes belonging to her older, but sadly deceased brother.

Women = Objects

The Breadwinner set a bitter but unfortunately until this day very real world in a Middle Eastern culture. Women are treated as second class citizens and are dependent on their husbands, fathers or brothers for all things, where men control nearly all the aspects of women’s lives, where discrimination against women is the official policy.

In the movie, everything takes place in Kabul, in the era of the Taliban (The Taliban is an Arabic word which means students of Islam) a radical religious group.

The people of Afghanistan now living under Taliban rules had to follow orders set by them. The main rule was that women were strictly not allowed out of the house, without a man figure by their side. This rule prompted several conditions, one of which was that no women were viewed in the market (shopkeepers were forbidden to sell to women customers. Otherwise, they would be punished severely). The economic activities were solely done by men, while women would stay and wait at home. However, when going out, women had to wear a Burkha (a garment that covered them from head to toe). Since it only consisted of a small net in the part of the eyes, the Burkha gave a limited view of their surroundings. Furthermore, women were not permitted to wear colourful clothes or white socks since white was the colour of the Taliban’s flag.

Disobeying these rules, for women meant that they were not going to heaven after they passed away.

In the movie, the Taliban sympathizer would be checking from time to time the market; in search of anyone who dared to break the rules. If anyone did disobey, they would then be punished by being harshly beaten in the street, raped, amputated, plus other forms of violence and told to go back home where they belonged. Simply because of the stereotypical role of how women were viewed and portrayed (take care of the house, cleaning and taking care of the children).

Just like at one point it was displayed in a specific scene in the animated film, where the protagonist’s mother was beaten nearly to death in front of her, because of they attempt to reach the prison, where Parvana’s father was unfairly taken to.

Women also had to be ready to become wives to other families, who had any male who was looking for a wife. Sadly, in their culture, a girl is ready to be given in marriage from the age of 9, sometimes as narrated by their religious book the Quran,(Sahih-Bukhari volume 5, book 58, number 234): girls were allowed to get married at the tender age of 6, as a result of such immoral imposition, many young girls commit suicide, to avoid rape and forced marriage.

In the animated movie, there is a scene where a Taliban member encourages the father of the protagonist who’s only 11 years old to give her in marriage. And not only that, but Parvana’s sister (Fig. 6) had to be ready and willing when her mother told her to marry their cousin from another city in order to survive.

Since the movie depicted the real condition of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban, as objects, women were not counted, their voices were not heard. Just like at one point, Parvana, after her father was taken, went to the market alone and while trying to purchase some items, no one replied to her questions nor sold anything to her. Everyone ignored her completely, almost like she didn’t even exist; however, that situation quickly changed once she pretended to be a boy, and on that day Parvana learned a valuable lesson, that ‘When you’re a boy, you can go anywhere you like.’

Taliban’s Laws

According to documented laws made by the Taliban, where they clearly showed their ruthless restrictions by writing laws that banned women from education. And as a consequence of that, the Taliban used violence to prevent female students from attending school. Aside from not being allowed to get an education, Women were also treated unequally as in job opportunities compared to men, female teachers and doctors were very rare in Afghanistan.

One outcome of the banning of employment of women was the closing down of primary schools, not just for girls but for boys because almost all the teachers at that time were women.

The major main cause of death of Afghan women is the impossibility of getting proper first-aid when needed, because of a lack of female doctors in society (male medical personnel are not allowed to treat women and girls).

Religious police additionally issued new regulations by ordering people to blacken their windows, so that women would not be visible from the outside. Which is something that can be seen in the movie where each house’s windows can clearly be spotted covered from the inside.

The Taliban claim that their goal is ‘preserving women’s honour’ and further claim that ‘the restrictions on women are for their own protection.’

The overall circumstances for Afghan women have improved in the last decade, particularly in major urban areas. However, those living in the rural area of the country still face many problems.

The World Against the Taliban

The Taliban deprived almost every fundamental right for women and the fact that Afghanistan was identified as the most dangerous place for women. Based on Tompson Reuters Foundation survey, it does not come as a surprise. Additionally, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security also ranked Afghanistan as one of the worst countries for women.

About 87% of Afghan women face abuse and violence; they face a high mortality rate due also to the limitation of a lack of economic rights. Moreover, in 2013, the United Nations published statistics showing a 20% increase in violence against women, usually due to domestic violence being justified by religious conservatives and culture.

On May 27-2007, in an interview with Edge Radio, Khaled Hosseini an Afghan-American novelist commented: ‘When the Taliban came; they imposed inhumane restrictions on women, limiting their freedom of movement, expression, barring them from work and education, harassing them, humiliating them, and beating them’.

Many if not all, western’s media coverages on the Taliban were extremely negative. However, in response to the negative media coverage on the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women, the former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar expressed the following opinion about the Western world’s treatment of women: ‘their interpretation of women’s rights is only those ugly and filthy western cultures and customs in which women are insulted and dishonoured as a toy.’

Men under the Taliban

While men think that discriminating against women is something allowed by society, women believe that their fates are between men’s hands. Therefore, both men and women have roles in the founding of this discriminative gender system, and because of centuries-old customs and traditions influenced by patriarchal rules, when the Taliban took full control over everything, the majority of the population (mostly men) believed that those laws were necessary to maintain social order, hence why most Afghans appeared to accept what the Taliban dictated.

All of the restrictions that they brought upon women were deemed necessary by conservative males because they consider women socially immature, with less moral control and physical restraint; consequently, women, based on men’s twisted illogical logic were untrustworthy. Therefore, they kept them between the walls of their own houses so as not to disrupt the social order. The need for their isolation was, therefore, more important than anything else.

Men were required to grow beards and the ones who failed to grow beards and leave them untrimmed were fined and jailed, extremists perceived full beardedness as the mark of a Muslim, and to convicted criminals little mercy was shown.

Male authorities resided in their family economic welfare, politics, and relationships with outsiders; within the family, they were expected to be disciplinarians and providers for aged parents and the entire family, they were further expected to make decisions for women.

The right to make and control decisions for females for men and society was also a symbol of honour and a man’s reputation. Any evidence of independent female action was regarded as evidence of the loss of male control, which adversely affected the entire family’s standing within the community. Therefore the family male’s reputations and their much-valued honour were dependent upon the good behaviour of women.

While some traditional Afghan sports like dogfighting, kite-flying, and buzkashi (a game played on horseback with an animal carcass) were outlawed for being ‘un-Islamic’. Volleyball, cricket, and boxing gained in popularity as the Taliban banned other activities such as music, television, and cinema.

Sports were not for everyone, however. Women were strictly forbidden to take part, and men were permitted to compete, only if they were dressed accordingly. Football players, essay online buy for example, were required to wear long-sleeve shirts, long shorts, and high socks that covered their bare skin.

Another difference between gender inequality was that a man could have easily divorce without needing his wife’s agreement. Whereas if a woman was seeking to divorce then the approval of her husband is needed, and she also requires witnesses who can testify in court that the divorce was well justified.

Moreover, while it is legal for male citizens to marry foreign non-Muslims, it was and still is illegal for female citizens to do so.

The dominance of the patriarchal system was evident from the very beginning of the story. When a Taliban member aggressively asked the protagonist’s father what the daughter was doing outside and why she wasn’t inside where she belonged and that she had to cover herself properly and not raise her voice because she wasn’t allowed to draw any attention to herself. The control of the Taliban in the story emphasizes the struggle of the women to survive. It shows that this movie takes sides to support the women’s actions to liberate themselves in any way that they could. The film appreciates women to have the courage to free themselves, but at the same time, it reminds women that they cannot survive without men because Parvana in order to save herself and her family, had to impersonate herself as a boy, this kind of duality shows how deep patriarchy is rooted within that society’s life.

From the Breadwinner’s Era to Today

The Breadwinner portrays the inferiority of women in a patriarchal community, which is reinforced through the male interpretation of their religious beliefs. The story describes the agony of women and their continuous fight for existence and basic human rights.

In many Middle Eastern cultures and regimes, women still struggle against the oppression from the opposite sex every single day. They are abused physically and mentally, in and outside of their homes. They are treated as an object of man domination by their husbands and male figures in general.

Despite the torture that they go through, women are not even allowed to raise their voices and fights back against such inhumane treatments. Because the right of a husband to beat and abuse his wife is still accepted by their society, many women, unfortunately, still accept being subjugated and consider that as their fate that they should and need to endure.

All of the premises definitely makes the modern-day western feminism groups and ideologies (third-wave feminism and fourth-wave feminism) almost sound and look like a joke in the ears and eyes of many.

Islamic Culture Essay Example

Parvana is a twelve year old girl, who is travelling across Afghanistan to find her family. She had started the journey with her father, after he dies, twelve- year- old Parvana is left to fend for herself. So dressed as a boy and accompanied by other children on the run, they must find a way to locate her remaining family inside war torn Afghanistan. In the text "Parvana’s Journey" the middle eastern Islamic culture affects the character negatively, one can see this by gender roles, education, and landscape/community.

Negative Effects on Gender Roles

As one can see, the Islamic culture negatively affects the gender roles by restricting what each gender can do and holds them back in various different ways. For instance, the Islamic culture and the Taliban express that all men have to grow a beard. This can be seen in the novel, "When the Taliban first came and ordered all men to grow beards, Parvana had a hard time getting used to her father's face. He had never worn a beard before. Father had a hard time getting used to it, too. It itched a lot at first."(p.g 57,Deborah Elis) This indicates that men have to look a certain way, they have to cover up their skin and wear a beard.

This is because the Taliban and the culture are very restrictive on how people look. If you don't follow these rules you would get beaten or even killed. So it's just better off to follow the rules like Parvana’s father. This is also demonstrated in real life too. In the article "Tracking Islamic State", it states that every man in Mosul is ordered to grow a beard. There is also another example of this in the article "Deseret News." This article says that, "In Afghanistan, beards are the rule." These are real life examples just like the book. This research also shows men have to grow beards, just like Parvana’s father. After all, the Islamic culture affected Parvana negatively. In addition, the Taliban forbid women from going into shops or doing any shopping, men are supposed to do everything, women can’t even go outside without a man.

The novel shows this when Parvana has to dress a boy to do the shopping for the family. "Women were not allowed to go into the shops. Men were supposed to do all the shopping, but if women did it, they had to stand outside and call in for what they needed. Parvana had seen shopkeepers beaten for serving women inside their shops."(P.g 123, Deborah Elis) this quote shows that women have no rights compared to men. This can be emphasized in the article "Women's Rights In Afghanistan" and "Women's Rights In Afghanistan-Violence On The Rise." These articles explain that women have no rights and are just used, just like Parvana and her family. This influences Parvana negatively because she has to dress as a boy to go do all of the shopping for her family. By doing this Parvana puts herself at risk of getting killed or beaten, so she thinks of that everytime she does something outside. In conclusion the culture affects the gender roles negatively.

Impact on Education

The Islamic culture resentfully affects the education and learning abilities of the people. In the Islamic culture, you are forbidden from getting any kind of foreign education. This is expressed in the novel when, "The two soldiers grabbed her father. The other two began searching the apartment, kicking the remains of dinner all over the mat."Leave him alone!" Mother screamed. "He has done nothing wrong!""Why did you go to England for your education? the soldier yelled at Father. "Afghanistan doesn't need your foreign ideas!" They yanked him toward the door.``Afghanistan needs more illiterate thugs like you, said father."(P.g 180,Deborah Elis) This shows that the Islamic culture and the Taliban do not like foreign education. Which this means education should only come from the Karam and no other culture or country. If you do not follow the rules the Taliban will raid your house and beat you, because you got education. This is emphasised in the article "The Taliban's War On Education'' also "Education In Afghanistan" same as "Why The Taliban Targets School." All of this research shows that the culture and the Taliban does not want forgein education or people that have education. This affects Parvana negatively because she knows that she can not get educated, if she does the people that taught her will get beat. So Parvana has to hide her education.

Another example is the Taliban does not like books they do not approve even though Parvana's father only has books they do not like. This is shown in the novel from this quote. "Inside the room, the other two soldiers were ripping open the toshaks with knives and tossing things out of the cupboard.Father's books! At the bottom of the cupboard was a secret compartment her father had built to hide the few books that had not been destroyed in one of the bombings. Some were English books about history and literature. They were kept hidden because the Taliban burned books they didn't like."(P.g,114,Deborah Elis)The education expectation is that you cannot read or do anything that the Taliban does not advise, anything they dont like they will burn. A Lot of books also get burned or ruined because of the bombing. If you wanted something like a book you would need to hide it.The taliban will raid your house and burn all the books they don't advise, they will also beat you if you have them. This is happening in real life also shown by the articles "Afghanistan's War On Books" and "Why The Taliban Doesn't Like Books." This research shows that the Taliban burns and destroys books, just like Parvana. This affects Parvana in a horrible way because she knows that if she learns and reads books, something bad will always happen. In conclusion the culture and the Taliban affect education in a negative way.

Affecting Parvana

One can see the Islamic culture unsympathetically affects Parvana and the landscape/community. In the novel a man had to rebuild his house five times because the bombs kept destroying his house. The quote for this example is " I asked the man why his house looked like it was beaten down, he said to me , I have rebuilt my house 5 times because of all the bombing, but nothing will hold me back from living, and rebuilding my house."(P.g 210, Deborah Elis) This quote explains that the bombs from the war destroyed most of the landscape and housing, of the people so they keep rebuilding them, to keep their pride not give up. In Afghanistan there has been a war against the Taliban for a long time so they keep fighting and destroying the landscape.

This is shown in real life from the articles "The US Has Been Dropping Bombs Like Crazy Lately"and "The Taliban Kill 95 People With An Ambulance bomb" These articles show that there are many bombing that ruin the landscape like the guys house in the novel. This affects the character badly because everything she sees gets destroyed so she can not get connected to something because it will end up getting destroyed. This shows how the landscape and community affects Parvana and the other character negatively. Another example from the novel is when Parvana sees and watches the little kids play on a rusted soviet tank.

The quote for this is "when I went outside I saw a bunch of little kids swinging and playing on an old rusted soviet tank having fun, this is what kids did on their past time."(P.g 36,Deborah Elis) from this you can see that the landscape expectation is that kids will find a way to have fun in afghan even though there is nothing to play on, they will have fun on anything because they don't know any better.The culture is reinforcing it because the war is still going on so anything they build will just get destroyed so there is no point, so they will just play on non broken things. You can see this in real life from the articles "Tanks In Afghanistan" and "Soviet-Afghan War Tanks,Vehicles, And Artillery" This research shows that when the Russians lost the war they just got up and left everything there to rust. This affects Parvana and the other characters negatively because they cannot have a fun childhood, all they know is war, war, war ,war. Even though it's just war, they still need to have fun. In conclusion the culture and the Taliban affect the landscape and community resentfully.

In summary the Middle Eastern Islamcic culture affects the gender roles, education, and landscape/community in a negative way.

Works Cited

"Education in Afghanistan." Razia's Ray of Hope, raziasrayofhope.org/education-in-afghanistan.html.

"In Afghanistan, Beards Are the Rule." DeseretNews.com, Deseret News, 1 Dec. 1998, www.deseretnews.com/article/666158/In-Afghanistan-beards-are-the-rule.html.

"Kabul Attack: Taliban Kill 95 with Ambulance Bomb in Afghan Capital." BBC News, BBC, 28 Jan. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42843897.

McCarthy, Niall. "The U.S. Never Dropped As Many Bombs On Afghanistan As It Did In 2018 [Infographic]." Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 13 Nov. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/11/13/the-u-s-never-dropped-as-many-bombs-on-afghanistan-as-it-did-in-2018-infographic/#5ff679c02fae.

Mohammadi, Reza. "Afghanistan's War on Books | Reza Mohammadi." The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 8 June 2009, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jun/08/afghanistan-burning-books-shia.

Rfe/rl. "Every Man In Mosul Ordered To Grow A Beard." RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, 29 Apr. 2015, www.rferl.org/a/every-man-in-mosul-ordered-to-grow-a-beard/26985105.html.

"Soviet-Afghan War Tanks, Vehicles, and Artillery (1979 - 1989)." Military Weapons, www.militaryfactory.com/armor/soviet-afghan-war-tanks-vehicles-artillery.asp.

"The Taliban's War on Education." Human Rights Watch, 28 June 2010, www.hrw.org/news/2006/07/31/talibans-war-education.

"The Taliban's War on Education." Human Rights Watch, 28 June 2010, www.hrw.org/news/2006/07/31/talibans-war-education.

"Tanks in Afghanistan." Army Tanks, www.tanks.net/tank-history/tanks-in-afghanistan.html.

"A Timeline of the U.S. War in Afghanistan." Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan.

"Where We Work: Afghanistan." Womens Rights in Afghanistan, www.medicamondiale.org/en/where-we-work/afghanistan.html.

"Why the Taliban Targets Schools - BBC Newsbeat." BBC News, BBC, 17 Dec. 2014, www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/30521100/why-the-taliban-targets-schools.

"Why the Taliban Targets Schools - BBC Newsbeat." BBC News, BBC, 17 Dec. 2014, www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/30521100/why-the-taliban-targets-schools.

"Why the Taliban Targets Schools - BBC Newsbeat." BBC News, BBC, 17 Dec. 2014, www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/30521100/why-the-taliban-targets-schools.

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