Analysis Of The Dressmaker Of Khair Khana

Throughout life, women have overcome oppression and surpassed what society thought they were capable of. The book, “The Dressmaker of Khair Khana” by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is one of the instances where a powerful young women’s story gets told. Even though this is just one story, many others run through the veins of the world like it would in a human body. As one more story is told to another, it passes on the immense courage and inspiration that is needed for individuals to take a stand for change to be made. This is why these stories must be heard.

Kamila was a nineteen year old young woman with long dark hair. She holds herself high with confidence and determination to excel at life. Kamila was a strong young woman who was raised to get an

Kamila knew she had value as a human being and was very aware that her duty was to help her family and her community. Although the Taliban took away women’s education, that did not deter Kamila for long. She knew she was a very intellectual girl and nothing was going to keep her from eventually continuing her education. Rockets shooting out of the sky did not stop her and neither was the Taliban.(Lemmon, 2011, p. 2) Stereotypes are stemmas that society has constructed about groups for people to help understand them and gender roles are what society expects of someone whether they are born a male or female. Kamila challenges female stereotypes and gender roles in many ways throughout this book. As a woman, she is expected to want to stay home, become a wife, raise children, and live for her husband’s every need and desire. That is not the case for Kamila at all. Kamila wants to get an education and when her family needs her, she establishes her own business. Finding a suitor and starting a family was far from her mind. The typical stereotype for women is fragile, easily deterred, and compliant. That could not be any further than that of Kamila. Kamila is a strong, determined young woman that does what it takes to help her family

This is a system of allocating more social power and social status to men. For Afghanistan this is true. Although this was the case during the time period in which this book was written, it did not seem to deter Kamila or her family members. She was raised in a household that whether you were male or female, you worked for a education. All of the Sidiqi girls were going to make something of themselves and Kamila never let outside influences change that. Once the Taliban took over, Kamila did have to abide by the rules of wearing a chadri and her whole life changed in an instant. The Taliban thought they pushed every last women down, but little did they know. Kamila had no other choice but to follow the rules of the Taliban or she would put herself and her family at risk. Another aspect that was discussed in class was self-presentation. Self-presentation is acting out a self in response to the expectations of others. These expectations were that of the Taliban. Kamila knew the expectations of women were outrageous but when under the eyes of the Taliban, Kamila became what they wanted her to be. Kamila had to live with the fact that the Taliban felt entitled. Entitlement is feeling deserving of social or capital goods and benefits. The Taliban raided her homeland and she had to come to terms with the fact that these men thought very little of women. Kamila listened to their rules completely until she