Burqa

I recently read Khaled Hosseini's book A Thousand Splendid Suns. It was incredible, on so many different levels. One thing that I've been thinking about, and this is a relatively tiny aspect of the book but for some reason it really stuck in my mind, is the burqa. Two women, the main characters of the story, are both required by their husband when they marry to don a burqa for the first time in their lives. In case you aren't sure, burqas are those long gowns (worn only in public) that cover an entire woman's body except for the eyes. The women have trouble walking at first, and feel the strange experience of their peripheral vision being obscured. Personally, I feel this is one of many harsh demands placed on women in a society that grossly undervalues and mistreats females. But here is the interesting thing: both women (and this is the author's direction, who is a male) somewhat like the burqa for the following reasons. It allows them to watch without being seen, they can stare without the normal uncomfortable social consequences, they have a measure of anonymity, and they had a feeling that their husband was protecting them. They felt a slight feeling of sacredness, as if their husband was keeping them pure because they were a special thing to him. The reason I find this strange and thought-provoking is because I think I might feel the same way if I were required to wear a burqa. I had never even thought about it before. I hate the idea of this and the many ways women are persecuted by Islamic extremists. But I can also see how if I were forced to wear a burqa, I would glean these same few redeeming qualities as the women in the story did. Like I said, this is a tiny aspect of the story. I took away far greater knowledge and sorrow about the lives of women suffering under the control and persecution of men.