Allusions In Shabanu

1220 Words3 Pages

Ronald Dixon - Spiritual
Manal Siddiqui - Philosophical
Raphael Samuel - Political
Natalie Shipley - Historical
PAP English II
Murray-Period 1
17 May 2016
Family Ties
Family is the one thing that has been constant throughout history. Since the neolithic times, family and blood ties have been the only thing to hold people together. In most cultures, a woman is in charge of running the household and as a woman comes of age she must learn how to be a mother and a wife. In Shabanu, Suzanne Staples institutes the importance of family roles through cultural, political, spiritual, and historical allegories. Suzanne Staples was born and raised in Pennsylvania. She was raised as Christian and after she graduated college, she stayed in the Cholistan …show more content…

In this chapter we can see that it is Shabanu’s first ever Ramadan fast and that she is looking forward to it. This allusion gives a more background information on the culture of Islam and some of their traditions. This aspect influence these actions of the characters by determining what they eat and drink for the duration of their fast. It also determines their daily actions as far as their prayer activity. This fast helps the girls cleanse their mind and also think of different things necessary for the wedding. Shabanu takes over more responsibility for her sister before the wedding and she also bears her sisters burdens. The spiritual influence in this chapter helped the characters rediscover themselves before the …show more content…

An example can be a person that is born and has not been influenced so far by his or her surroundings. Tabula Rusa refers to Shabanu because she did not encounter that many issues relating to her marriage and had a lot to learn still. Family ties enabled her to lose innocence. This also ties back to Rousseau’s philosophy which basically talks about how civilization affects good nature. For example, when her parents forced her to marry an aged man who had three wives up to now which eventually lead Shabanu to act

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