Dilemmas Of Dia And Daanish In Tobias Wolff's

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Khan most poignantly examines this dilemma of resistance in the conclusion of the novel, when it is revealed that Dia and Daanish are half-siblings and therefore all their endeavours at resistance against familial dictates of spousal choice, societal expectations of sexual propriety, as well as their efforts toward transcending marriages of convenience in favours of love-driven romance, have been thwarted by the final moral law against incest. Thus, the destiny of their relationship is doomed by the decisions and transgressions of their parents in the past. Though the circumstances are no fault of their own, Dia and Daanish are punished for their own unknowing trespasses, a dilemma that allows the novel to question whether resistance is possible when there are so many forces beyond the control of the individual and even outside of current temporalities. …show more content…

She continues: “It was a deadly cycle. Dia had to understand that in her own small but tenacious way she could break it” (410). The irony of her efforts lies in the fact that Dia’s later efforts to resist fatalism in love and choose her own partner, destine her to tragedy because of others’ actions in the past, just as the citizens of Pakistan are hampered by the former actions of political leaders, both foreign and domestic, leaving few avenues, despite acts of resistance, to navigate a “happy ending.” Thus, Khan weaves the plots of mother and daughter together in her own fatalistic fashion, situating the novel within the context of a culture rooted in oppressions of gender and class, strictly governed by convention and expectation, and subject to the caprice of more powerful states, to parallel one of the warning signs she describes in the novel: “Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted.” (Trespassing

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