Assia Djebar Alifa Rifaat Examine Experiences Women

¶ … Assia Djebar Alifa Rifaat examine experiences women > Muslim societies postcolonial North Africa/Egypt. Similarly, > Mariama Ba Ama Ata Aidoo concerned gender women > postcolonial West Africa (Senegal Ghana). Gender and Society in Islamic tradition Assia Djebar's "Women of Algiers in their apartment," Mariama Ba's "So long a letter," and Ama Ata Aidoo "Changes: a love story" are three novels discussing essential concepts in the lives of Muslim women. These three books address traditional Islamic topics, like polygamy, gender discrimination, and the way Muslims generally perceive women in their society.

Djebar, Ba, and Aidoo apparently wanted to address accounts explaining what numerous Muslim women have to go through. What is particularly interesting about the women portrayed in these manuscripts is that they acknowledge their underprivileged position but they eventually decide that it is better for them to accept it rather than do anything to change their lives. "So long a letter" deals with the life experiences of Ramatoulaye, who is a Senegalese school teacher shown having great difficulties coping with her husband's decision to get a second wife.

Even though they are married for several decades, Ramatoulaye's husband is apparently uninterested in his wife's opinion regarding the marriage and does not even consult her before actually going through with the act. Similar to how matters are in the other two books, Ramatoulaye is typically imagined as being little more than an object meant to assist her husband throughout his life, since her life is relatively unimportant in the larger context of Islamic society.

Ramatoulaye has her friend, Aissatou, as example that change can actually occur in her life and that all that it requires is for her to take matters in her own hands and divorce her husband. She however feels that her position in society stops her from doing so and prefers to suffer because of the loyalty she feels toward tradition.

In contrast to "So long a letter," Aidoo's "Changes: a love story" puts across the story of a woman who realizes the wrongness in Islamic society and attempts to reshape her life with the purpose of experiencing less difficulty. In spite of the fact that she manages to divorce her first husband and thus breaks away from his aggressive behavior, she eventually comes to assume the another role in the life of a conventional Muslim women through becoming Ali's second wife.

Esi is a seemingly civilized woman who is able to tell the difference between right and wrong and does not hesitate to stand up for herself when she feels that this is necessary. Although her society did not accept the concept, she recognized "that what she had gone through with Oko had been marital rape" (Aidoo 15).

In contrast to Esi's first husband, Ali Kondey appears to be more aware of what is and what is not right in a marriage and of the fact that his behavior can have a terrible effect on his wife's personality. Even though Ali does not behave like Oko, he nonetheless performs acts that horrify Esi, making her uncertain with her position in society and unable to realize that little have changed from her first marriage to the second.

Ali recognizes that his actions are immoral and attempts to compensate this through providing Esi with expensive gifts. However, the woman proves that she is capable of understanding the situation and feels like his gift's are worthless, since it is his loyalty and his understanding that she wanted when they got married. Ali has had contact with a variety of cultures and customs, but in spite of this he cannot help to insist that Esi should quit her job in order to take on the mission of a mother.

This again proves that Ali generally considers Esi to be an object, since he wants her to quit the chance of having a career, considering that it would be irrational for her to want to do so instead of doing what he believes is normal for a woman. Esi eventually proves that her initial attempt to become independent ended in failure, since he is yet again the victim of the Islamic society because of her husband's adventurous character. Assia Djebar's "Women of Algiers.