Touba

As a Western society, most American’s have a specific, narrow perception of what women in Middle Eastern societies are like. It is assumed that these women allow themselves to be walked all over and given absolutely no rights. There is also the common misconception that men take complete advantage of these women and treat them poorly, leaving the women with nothing to do about the situation. Just like in American society at the beginning of the twentieth century, social strata’s were evolving within Iran, making it easier for women to involve themselves in society and gain respect for themselves, while also gaining it from others. The main character in this novel, Touba, is a perfect example of what it means to be a woman who is changing with the times and helping herself develop and enter into society with knowledge and respect from men, while still maintaining a sense of traditional behavior.

Touba is a distinct woman during the period of her youth. Not only is she intelligent and well educated, but she is outspoken and self reliant. After some severe family issues that included the loss of her father, she was forced to help her mother run the household and maintain a level of normalcy for the family. Iran during this time period, like many other nations, gave women limited or no rights at all. Women were still considered to be inferior and unable to survive without a male counterpart or be educated to the extent of which men were. Due to this commonly held opinion of women’s need to have a male guide them through life, when Touba’s father died, it was necessary for a male influence to take over the residence for their survival. Completely out of the range of what any woman would do in a Muslim country during this time, Touba took it upon herself to propose marriage to a man, who was not only significantly older than she, but a member of her family. There was no genuine love interest in this marriage, more like a business arrangement. Not much time passed and the marriage ended in divorce. Traditional Islamic beliefs would say that this woman is looked down upon, and that divorce is condemned, but with the slight modernization of Iran, this was not as terrible as it had once been.