The Bookseller of Kabul: December 1, 2010
We were quite surprised to read about the story of Mansur, and his underlying intentions. The author of this book seems to have a tone of sympathy towards Masur as he is conflicted with a desire to have a woman in his life, but he wants to treat that woman well, even when society tells him that the man should have the power in a relationship, and even while he is doomed to spend many hours in Sultan's bookshop. It would be very easy to assume that because Mansur has semi-lustful thoughts, and he is a man in Afghanistan, that he doesn't have much respect for women. However, the author writes about Mansur and his thoughts in such a way that lets the reader assume that Mansur simply wants a woman to become a part of his life, and that he wants to treat that woman respectfully.
We were quite surprised to read about the story of Mansur, and his underlying intentions. The author of this book seems to have a tone of sympathy towards Masur as he is conflicted with a desire to have a woman in his life, but he wants to treat that woman well, even when society tells him that the man should have the power in a relationship, and even while he is doomed to spend many hours in Sultan's bookshop. It would be very easy to assume that because Mansur has semi-lustful thoughts, and he is a man in Afghanistan, that he doesn't have much respect for women. However, the author writes about Mansur and his thoughts in such a way that lets the reader assume that Mansur simply wants a woman to become a part of his life, and that he wants to treat that woman respectfully.
There was a general feeling of surprise and disgust in our group towards the easiness of men being able to do what is essentially rape towards women, and get away with it. Rahimullah so calmly and easily described to Mansur how he is able to take women off the streets and rape them, and not get into any trouble himself. He suggests that Mansur does the same thing. Mansur didn’t give into the temptation, but if Rahimullah could have gotten away with the evil deed so easily, Mansur most likely could have gotten away with rape as well. Our group’s feeling of disgust also expanded to the way that men generally treat women in Afghanistan. Take Sultan’s house for example, all of the women are ordered around by Sultan, and no one may question his authority, or his orders. Sultan married Sonya even though his first wife did not want him to get a second wife. But such a decision could only be decided by Sultan (among the members of his household). He, the man of the house, had all authority on that decision that greatly affected the members of his household, as well as many other decisions that similarly affect the people who live in his house. Sultan’s power as head of his household also extended to his brothers and sons. Sultan had a younger brother that other members of his household enjoyed as company. But, because that brother didn’t want to respect Sultan’s authority, Sultan made the decision that no one in his house may have any contact with that brother. From that point on everyone in the household was forced to follow that rule, or else face severe consequences from Sultan if he caught them disobeying that rule. Our group feels as if the males in Afghani society have too much power, especially over the females.
The author’s overall tone in this book is of interest to our group. It seems obvious that the author has sympathy towards the women that she writes about, and especially the women that she writes about that are treated poorly. She has sympathy towards Shafira when Sultan decides to marry a second wife, Sonya. At the same time, she shows disgust towards Sultan through her tone probably because he is, at least by the moral standards of our group, treating Shafira very poorly. When Asne Seierstad writes about Mansur’s struggles with being in the bookshop all of the time, and yet wanting a woman in his life, she shows a tone of sympathy towards him because she believes that Mansur wants a woman in his life whom he would treat respectfully, while at the same time showing a tone of sympathy towards the girl who Rahimullah got in the back room for Mansur to have the option to rape. Overall, the author’s tone in this book is defiantly sympathetic towards women that are treated poorly in this book.
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