Jennifer Lindquist

Great Poets

3/15/00

Taslima Nasrin

The Battle for Women’s Rights with Poetic Beauty

Taslima Nasrin spins worlds with her poems, pulling the reader into her creations with the power of a magnetic pole. "You’re a girl" begins Taslima Nasrin’s poem "Character" and hands the reader his or her identity for that specific poem, but also speaks to a more general role of the reader for many of her other poems (Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry, 401). Nasrin’s poetry is a telling inspiration to women all over the globe, as she fights her battle for the rights of women in Bangladesh from her exile in Sweden. Three of her poems, "Eve Of Eve", "Character", and "Another Life", provide a telling insight into Nasrin’s beliefs and work through both their differences and similarities.

The title of Taslima Nasrin’s poem, "Eve Oh Eve" brings its reader to expect a lament, a rail against Eve and her action in the garden, in which she is portrayed as responsible for the expulsion of humans from paradise. She took the fruit of knowledge from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and ate of it in defiance of God and man. The title of the poem seems to open a lament of Eve’s actions, that in eating, she gave up something precious to both herself and to the reader. However, the actual poem does not follow with this logic, but rather asks Eve why she waited so long to taste of the fruit, thanks her for the action’s repercussions and then gives advice to all women and humanity in general.

The first potion of "Eve Oh Eve" uses multiple references to Eve’s human qualities, emphasizing her human nature and not her perfection. The poem asks, "Didn’t Eve have a hand to reach out with, /fingers with which to make a fist; / didn’t Eve have a stomach to feel hunger with, /a tongue to fuel thirst, / a heart with which to love?" (404). In other words, Nasrin’s poem wonders if Eve were truly human or if she merely had the potential to be human. Nasrin brings Eve out of the bible and into sight as an actual human woman, rather than a divine individual, by using both human body imagery and human emotion and needs. If Eve existed as a human, with human curiosity and faults, why not take and eat of the fruit for the knowledge that it will bring?

If Eve had these human frailties, she would have had no need to eat of the fruit because she already would have been as human as we are today. Instead, before eating she had the body parts in place and the potential, but no need for them. Eve, in paradise, had no need for the fist fingers could make, nor did she hunger or thirst because all of her needs would have been immediately met in the garden. So, if Eve has no access to any of these characteristics, then she also has no access or knowledge of the last, which is the ever important, human defining love. Had Eve been human, with knowledge of taste, love, and the anger of a fist, she would have taken the fruit and eaten of it directly.

So, if Eve is not human in the first part of the poem, but rather a divine individual with restraint, it is also that Eve who "suppresses her wishes, regulates her steps" (404). A non-human Eve who is "so compelled / to keep Adam moving around in the Garden of Eden/ all their lives?" (404), for if Eve were human, she never would have, never should have submitted to Adam and God. Eve never would have lived that monotonous life of eternity in a paradise she couldn’t recognize because there was nothing with which to compare.

The poem seems to be proposing that the very essence of Eve’s human nature made her eat of the fruit, which made all of the difference in the world. Eve’s bite gave her access to all of the beauty of reality, so that the line "Because Eve has eaten of the fruit" ends with a realization of "sky and earth", "moon, sun, rivers and seas," and joy, rather than with a tale of human horror ending in disaster (405). By "eating of the fruit, Eve made a heaven of the earth" (405), for she created the human experience for generations to come.

It is the final line of this poem that carries its advice for women. "Eve, if you get hold of the fruit/ don’t ever refrain from eating,"(405) If the reader, as a woman, comes across a forbidden fruit, one forbidden by society or by a separate cultural pressure, she should take that fruit and devour it, rather than watch it hang upon its branch because who knows what fantastical realizations will result from the eating of such fruit. One may even uncover a bluer sky than that which presently exists. One may even uncover paradise.

It is Nasrin’s poem "Character" that warns women of their reception when they choose to eat of the forbidden fruit as it is described in "Eve Oh Eve." In the case of "Character", there is a progression of good and evil contrasts in accordance with the severity of the ripple effect a woman’s ‘misplaced’ presence can cause in the ‘ruling class’ of a society. In the poem, the girl spoken to has four levels of existence. The first is within her own home, where she is accepted and expected to be present. The second is her first step away from that protected, acceptable atmosphere, which immediately draws male eyes to her person. The third is her continuation of that outward motion away from her safe environment as she wanders on down the lane, which gives the men even more permission to follow and whistle their appreciation and ownership of her. The fourth is the woman’s step on to the "main road" and away from all accepted boundaries and positions, of which men approve, which gives men permission to "revile the girl and to call her "a loose woman" (401). Freedom of travel is the forbidden fruit and the punishment arises not from original sin, but rather patriarchal limitations.

The description of the four levels facing a woman can be easily compared to the battle facing every woman in society today. There are certain understood limits which a woman is expected to accept and avoid crossing, such as wanting to participate in combat within the armed forces or desiring equal pay for equal work in the job market. Each of these is a description of a forbidden fruit that exists is our society, awaiting its first taste by a woman or by "you" (402).

If one chooses to follow this difficult path "onto the main road", Nasrin believes that character, strength of moral will, is an implicit attribute of your nature (401). She says, "If you’ve got no character /you’ll turn back" and buy into society’s beliefs about your capabilities (402). However, if you don’t turn back "you’ll keep on going, / as you’re going now" (402). Those women bucking the system in this poem are on a path, which directly implies a depth to their character.

Nasrin’s poem "Another Life" is important, especially in combination with the two poems previously discussed in this paper. Within "Another Life", two major themes are discussed, women’s need for each other and the need of heterosexual women for male love and companionship. These two themes are of equal importance, but it is the last, which separates this poem from the previous two.

Women can give and take an incredible amount from each other, evidenced in the poem by women who "spend the afternoons squatting on the porch/ picking lice from each other’s hair" (405). There is a sense of companionship inherent to these lines of the poem. The women are relying on each other for friendship and the benefit of mutual experience, like care of their little ones and their mutual abuse. This mutual experience allows for a closeness and love between women that can grow to very deep levels; however, it cannot be confused with the romantic love and needs of a heterosexual woman.

The women of this poem can pick the lice from each other’s hair, yet they cannot examine each other’s hearts and retrieve the stones that have gathered there. Those stones cannot be removed by female hands, but are rather the result of poor relationships with the men in their lives. These women "offer their backs" as a sign of surrender to their individual men, only to be abused, used, and ignored (405). Their needs are ignored, their hearts are ignored, and the stones piling up cannot be removed by any other than those who place them there. They cannot be removed because "there is no one to touch them with two fingers…"(405).

Nasrin’s poems are incredibly powerful, encouraging women to new heights, while teaching men about the feeling of oppression. From Eve to the reader, Nasrin pulls female experience out of the depths of society and into truth in words. Words so true that she was banned from her own country for them. Now that is character.

***************

Tim Oakland

HONR 250- Great Poets

17 March, 2000

Group Project Poet

Taslima Nasrin

Back

"You’re a girl." Surely an insult on the playground, but now it means something different. Nasrin’s strong voice and clear perspective force us into character and let us feel a different world. Nasrin’s first poem in our book Contemporary World Poetry is an important introduction. It would have been easy for my first reading to simply unveil Nasrin and her perspective, but this poem did much more. The first line of this poem is powerful; it puts me in character to read the rest of her poems. I think it is wonderful that this poem is titled "Character", it describes what a woman of character is for her, but it also presents me with my character. Nasrin forces me into a character that might be a little uncomfortable, one that I might usually resist. This character lets me see things differently, I am not trying to see as a woman does, I am a woman and that is how I see.

I feel she is using this strong voice to counteract the overpowering voices telling me what I must be. She tells me I must let some cultural traditions go, I should step over the threshold of my house, not be carried over his. When I walk down the lane, men will follow me. They will be at my back, not at my side. They will whistle at my back, at my body, not facing me, at my soul. When I walk down the lane the men whistle from behind, lurking. The men are faceless and put me in my place as a body. When I become daring and step onto the main road, throwing aside the place they have given me, the men will be forced to more direct forms of subversion. The men must speak, overtly communicate using human words. They still do not look into me. Nasrin leaves my future wide and bright. I am a girl who is on the right path. I haven’t yet been pushed away, all I have to do is keep on going.

At the conclusion of this first poem, I will allow myself to resurface, fading from my character. I notice that Nasrin uses the image of a back in this poem and those to come. In this poems she places the men whistling behind the girl. This shows how men (at least the men Nasrin is describing) do not approach women directly on a level field. They subvert women early in their lives and continue, this subversion becoming brash as women move toward independence. I will return to this idea later, but now I will return to my character.

"At the Back of Progress" tells me the story of three men. The first is a white-collar upper-class man in a nice office. It angers me that the number of girls this man raped isn’t fixed; it’s a dozen or so. The destruction of youth for one or more people is insignificant for this man. He is unreformed. He lusts after the woman at the cocktail party, the belly button. For me this is a sign of umbilical connection, of motherhood and childhood. But the man wants to make that his, he continues to destroy. Sex isn’t his only medium for abuse, he goes home and turns to violence over the insignificant objects in his privileged life, an excuse. He doesn’t treat his workers well, he is unkind, but he treats them better than any woman in his life. This man gives references, he is given the privilege of judging a person’s character. He has power to control people’s futures. He wouldn’t judge character as I judge character. This poem sets a scene in an office, with three characters. The next character introduced is an employee, a subordinate of the first man. This second man is quiet and timid, but not always. He pretends to be a great man when he is out of the office. He takes what his manager gives him and gives that to his wife. She accepts this from her husband because she doesn’t know anything else. She has learned this role. The page turn in the text (page 403-404) strengthens the effect of the next line. I can see this learning process from one generation to the next. But it is not transferred through the women, the men carry on this horrible cycle. The outcome is suicide of every woman in its path. Nasrin’s break in the line gives me just a moment to think about what I know is coming. The subsequent lines, each ending with mother, each stretching a little farther to the edge of the page, amplify the tragic message that shows the progression, the depth of this man’s actions. In the next stanza the man beats his wife, but Nasrin pulls this line in closer, as if it weren’t so bad and it isn’t after the previous stanza. The last man, the bearer is a worker, the most common of the group. His story is in neat lines, one after another. He keeps a lighter in his pocket, a convenient portable pre-packaged container for his fire. Someone else made this for him; he can use this powerful tool without thought. He makes a small tip, being just a waiter. He divorced a wife for sterility, a wife for having a daughter, and the last for not bringing dowry. He beats his wife now. One after another, systematically and without emotion. This man has the system so well engrained he doesn’t even need to think or feel. Nasrin is explaining that the cause for this injustice is hidden, in the back, but it exists at all levels, there is not one responsible group. This hidden injustice looms beneath even our highest progress.

In this poem the back is of progress. Nasrin’s poem includes modern things like air conditioning, movies, art, literature, politics, the white-collar worker, and the commodity of leisure time. These symbols of progress are lost in the terror of the crimes committed by these everyday men. This is the opposite of what we know. Nasrin calls us to remember progress is measured by meaningless things and we must forget what we are told sometimes in order to find truth. She shows us the back of progress, its weakest point.

In "Another Life" I see the perspective of a woman living a simple, agrarian life, not the progressive air-conditioned city. The women’s lives and the poem begin in the afternoon. I feel the connection of women and the simplicity in life with these women picking lice from each other’s hair like apes. This isn’t derogatory though; the line about picking lice shows the women’s relaxation in this activity as the line slides farther from the rigid left margin. The alliteration in the line "they spend the evening feeding the little ones" makes this line lyrical and playful. This line continues the women’s relaxation as the women approach personal centeredness. I see with the simple glow of the lamp, the line still slides to the right. Next the women "offer their backs"; they are at their most vulnerable, now they may be healed from the troubles of their lives. This vulnerability is betrayed by the men. Women are forced to the left away from the warm completion of the right side. The wise crow oversees the beginning of the other half of the women’s lives. In this half, they operate at the left, they are pragmatic. The women start the fire, start life. They oversee another world, another life. In this life the women are given the backs of the winnowing tray. With this back, the women tap carefully with five fingers. Even more carefully, they remove the hard stones with only two fingers from the food, the life they give to all. The winnowing tray is allowed to fall to the right and stay. The women spend half of their lives operating this just world of gentle humanity, but they don’t get to live in a world like this. They must endure as the cycle continues with the ellipses.

In this poem the backs are the women’s and winnowing trays. The women offer their backs, where they are most vulnerable. The men use this vulnerability selfishly to retain control, to keep his stones in order. In this process he forces a woman to carry more than her share and takes away humanity. In this poem I feel the men’s actions are caused by difference of understanding. In previous poems these terrible acts seemed more like the problem of men, but now I see universal understanding as a goal for Nasrin. In this poem she shows the sadness and small joy in women’s lives. Also, this poem expresses the almost quality in the women’s lives. When I look at the world of the women and the winnowing tray, I can’t help but see the Garden of Eden. It seems so perfect, but it is at the same time imperfect since the rocks are still there. Instead of the famous Garden, I think this is the beautiful gentleness women seem to carry so easily. I think Nasrin is putting out a goal or at least a consideration for everyone. Despite the excruciating ellipses, this poem is hopeful. Nasrin gives us the beauty and injustice, then the goal, then the sign of another cycle, which suggests the same, but allows for change.

In the first poem, Nasrin has men only interacting at the back of women, they don’t act in front overtly, that is dangerous. The second poem exposes a reality of what most people think is improvement. The back in the third poem belongs to the women who offer this vulnerability to men. The backs in these poems make a sequence. The first shows how the men take advantage of the access women give them and tells women how not to let men abuse this. The second exposes the widespread reach and depth of this problem. The last poem gives insight and hope for the future.

Nasrin, Taslima. The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry. Ed. J. D. McClatchy. New York: Vintage

Books, 1996. 401-05.

***************

Great Poets, Father Mark

Paper on Nasrin

March 16, 2000

Islam and Subordination

Taslima Nasrin is a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. This trait may not appear uncommon except for the fact that wherever Nasrin speaks, whether it is in Nottingham, England, or the supposed neutral Canada, angry Muslim demonstrators and angry Islamic students are present wishing her harm. Why is this? She is not only speaking her mind, but she is also speaking out against the Islamic religion, which she says oppresses women and confines them to traditional, submissive roles as sexual objects. Bangladesh’s government has banned all of her books. In a 1998 interview with the magazine Free Inquiry, Nasrin said: "Islam itself oppresses women. Islam doesn't permit democracy and it violates human rights. If any religion allows the persecution of the people of different faiths, if any religion keeps women in slavery and keeps people in ignorance, then I cannot accept that religion."

Nasrin is a doctor, a writer, a political activist, and a woman who Islamic fundamentalists want dead. Currently she is exiled in France for her own protection. In spite of her self-inflicted exile, Nasrin is a world-renown feminist and writer. Her poetry reveals her frustrations and experiences with the Islamic tradition. Her poems portray women trying to escape from a patriarchal system where men are always "blocking the door," where men "follow you and whistle," and where rapists hand out "character references."

In her poem "Character," Nasrin offers future generations of women a set of confining realities, realities they are forced to swallow because they are "girls." Who are confining the girls? Men. Nasrin writes: "when you step over the threshold of you house/men will look askance (disapproval/suspicion/distrust) at you. When you keep on walking down the lane/men will follow you and whistle" (401). Why is the house safer than the outside world? Are the women only whistled and belittled outside of the home? In this poem, Nasrin reveals little of the inequalities and subordination women and girls face from the men within the "safe" walls of houses. Perhaps, it is because she did not experience these limits in her own family. Now, another important question for any reader to ask is whom is the author writing to?

In "Character," the subject "you" is mentioned throughout the poem which implies that the speaker is talking to another audience, perhaps future generations of women. The poem is filled with "you’s," and "I" is never used. Maybe the author is trying to remove herself from the situation. However, at times, I wonder if the author is talking to herself. Despite all of Nasrin’s accomplishments, she reminds herself that she is still a "girl." Nasrin begins her poem with two short, separate lines: "You’re a girl/and you’d better not forget." The word "girl" as opposed to "woman" reflects innocence, inexperience, and powerless. It is as if "girl" implies a mark on the forehead or a sign of the plague. I am reminded of the Bible story where God marked Cain as a form of punishment and protection. Like Cain, the girls of Bangladesh are recognized everywhere they go; however they are not protected.

While Nasrin is quick to point out the injustices girls face walking down the road, her poem is not a hopeless cause. Her determination and spunk are revealed in the last four lines:

Nasrin does not offer her readers much of a choice. Go forward to the taunting streets or return to the confines of your home. When someone has turned his/her "back," he/she is defenseless, vulnerable.

as you’re going now." ("Character," Taslima Nasrin, Vintage Book, p. 401)

The placement on the right side of the page implies the image of a person walking on towards the men in the street, into the face of humiliation, but with a confident walk of character. The earlier lines in the poem are all streamlined towards the right when they talk about leaving the house. What is the meaning of the contractions throughout the poem? "You’ve" "You’ll" "You’re." Is Nasrin enforcing the diminished role of girls in society by not even writing out the full phrases? When "you" is used in the context of the girl walking by the men, the words are written out fully, and there are no contractions. Does that mean the girls are less whole when they are by themselves? Obviously, from this poem, Nasrin is encouraging herself and the future generations of women to walk alone with heads held high above the taunting and dominating men. However, will this walk ever lead to freedom? Unless one is willing to choose a life of exile, probably not.

Nasrin develops another theme in her poem "Border." She comments on her desire to leave her family and country, to cross the river to a place where she can cry with her head "in the lap of solitude." This poem, in contrast to the first one, mentions the confinement of her family and the tension in leaving them, though only to return. However, once she leaves, can she return? Throughout the poem, Nasrin uses "I" which leads me to believe she is writing about herself. Once again, dominant men are present in her poem. As she is trying to leave the house,

"my husband stands blocking the door

but I will go" (402).

The long sentence forces the image of a burly husband into my mind, and the short line is her simple answer. The first stanza presents her past and family at her back. "Behind me my whole family is calling." Her child is pulling at her "sari-end . . . but I will go" (402). She is running towards progress, but tradition and family are pulling her back. Throughout the poem, the image of a river is used. A river keeps flowing and is always moving and changing. Nasrin wants to swim in the river of progress, the river of political and religious freedom. This poem may represent her exiled flee to Sweden. However, in spite of covering geographical distances, she is still trapped by the patriarchal tradition. "I know how to swim but they won’t let me swim, won’t let me cross." Are "they" her family? Or the Islamic fundamentalists who try to quiet her challenging writings?

When talking about the other side of the poem, the words and blank spaces on the page portray the image of emptiness.

but a vast expanse of fields" (402).

Another example is:

in the lap of solitude" (402).

The other side of the river is a place of isolation and loneliness. At the end of the second, third, and fourth stanzas are the words "and then return." I do not understand why the author wants to return. Throughout this poem and others, I feel that Nasrin is struggling to break away. The contrasting image of "return" puzzles me. Perhaps she longs for her return because Bangladesh is her homeland, and family ties are strong. However, if she’s in exile, is she able to return even if she wants to? Nasrin wants to flee to a place where she can dance, play childhood games, and cry until her tears run dry. Once again, the tears, like the image of the river, are ones of fluid freedom. These are all images of innocence and fun. However, her childhood game of "keep-away" is not a childhood game any longer. Is she trying to escape from the fundamentalist Islamic, or is she trying to escape from her family, or is she tired of fighting? She uses the word "someday" when discussing these ideas. If she is so anxious to go, if she can swim, if she wants to raise a commotion, why doesn’t she leave now? In the end she does leave, but she will return, and the man will still be blocking the doorway. An historical note is that when researching Nasrin, I found that when she returned to Banladesh in 1998, she was greeted by 3,000 people who yelled "Kill the infidel!" (Biblio).

Lastly, Nasrin’s poem "At the Back of Progress . . ." is a poem in which Nasrin portrays the harsh reality that sexual domination and exploitation of women is part of the Islamic tradition that affects all social classes of women. It is a mockery of the idea of progress, for the secondary effect of progress is the abuse of women. The poem’s ellipse is present for a purpose. All three persons in the poem--the businessman, the employee, and the bearer-are all abusive to their wives, girlfriends, and the belly dancers in the bars. In addition, all of these men are one of the guys: "fellows" and "buddies" who in their free time, beat their wives regarding material items which represent the regression of class from the modern man to the cultural native.

For example, at the beginning of the poem, the businessman is hitting his wife over a handkerchief and shirt collar. Next, the employee continues the polarity because he "indulges . . . on politics, art, and literature," and beats wife "over a bar of soap". Lastly, the bearer represents the primitive man as he divorces one of his wives because of her sterility and beats another over a "handful of cooked rice." The downward digression of "shirt collar" to "cooked rice" represents the falsity of progress, and the cycle of violence, which permeates all classes.

In addition, the signs of progress at the beginning are false, and the irony of the progress is represented visually as the poem’s words slide down to the right. The first two lines of the poem are in stark contrast, and the second line grabs your soul.

"The fellow who sits in the air-conditioned office

A dozen or so young girls" (403).

The word "air-conditioned office" projects an image of a civil businessman, but the word "raped" screams animal. The ambiguity and blank space before "a dozen or so" implies the man has raped more than he can remember. This businessman is a man of two faces. At cocktail parties he "secretly stares" at the belly button of dancers. What kind of cocktail party is this? Why does he secretly stare if all of the men beat their women anyway? The sexual exploitation of women is culturally accepted, however, one must uphold an image.

Throughout this poem Nasrin presents a contrast of images including "Five-star hotels" and a man who initiates various sex acts with women. This man is the same "fellow"--implying one of the guys-who gives out "character references for people" (403). Nasrin is mocking the progression of Bangladesh’s society. It is a country trying to emerge from the primitive bearer to professional businessman. However, the progression is false as all classes are trapped in the abuse of women, the cycle of violence. The voice of women in this poem is non-existent, for they are already beaten down.

In all of these poems, Nasrin reveals the patriarchal society of Bangladesh, a society in which women are sexually exploited and barred from any new venture that threatens society’s tradition. While Nasrin never directly mentions Islam, its presence is felt in the background of her poems. It is a religion she has protested against, sacrificing any normalcy of life to do so. It is a religion she believes is built on the subordination of women. Nasrin allows her readers to pass their own judgment, but behind each line one senses her frustration at a religious institution’s fundamentalism. What is Nasrin asking us to do? I believe she wants us to examine our own lives and ask ourselves: how are we also participating in any social/government/religious institutions that cause harm, (which hidden in social norms)? Are we unconsciously supporting the oppression of any individuals or groups of people? Are we buying into a system in search of success without realizing the fallacy of it? Nasrin challenges us to think beyond ourselves.

 Works Cited

"Banned in Bangladesh." Biblio. Dec. 1998: 14.

Cherry, Matt. "One Brave Woman vs. Religious Fundamentalism: An Interview With

Taslima Nasrin." Free Inquiry. Winter 1998: 34(3).

Nasrin, Taslima. The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry. Ed. J. D. McClatchy. New York: Vintage Books, 1996. 401-05.

***************