Topic > The Women of Nuruddin Farah: A Challenge to the Somali Patriarchal System

The plight of women and the roles of women in Somali society as depicted in Nuruddin Farah's novels are highlighted by the examination of the female characters in From a Crooked Rib and Sardines. These female characters struggled to reach the position they needed to reach as women in the Somali society which is under the patriarchal system. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The characteristics of each individual woman in From a Crooked Rib are clearly depicted to emphasize the status and condition of women in Somali society. Ebla is the main character whose migration from one place to another took her to the next level of imagination about people and place. At first this didn't help her, because she started to believe in people and their words. Women are not considered equal to men and this led the protagonists of both novels to fight for their rights. In Islamic patriarchal culture, women are considered the weaker sex. Their strength is not equal to that of men. Women can endure anything if they are prone to that situation and can survive. Because women are beaten by men and suffocated by torture inflicted by men in their community. Women are given a negative image of themselves and are forced to travel to learn about other people's tradition and culture and that is why these women are naive and innocent who refuse to leave home to explore and collaborate with the society. This benefited men in keeping women at home by suppressing them and forcing her to do all the household tasks alone. The woman accepts herself as weak, naive, illiterate, brainless and so on. Women have more superstitious beliefs than men and the reason for this is that they are not educated. Her power is limited in both her father's and her husband's homes, and their abuse is inevitable. Both Ebla and Medina have limited power when under the control of their husband or father. But both women unleash their abilities when they are not surrounded by their men. Sexual abuse is not the only abuse that exists in this world. But a woman can be abused in various ways, such as making her marry a man without his permission, denying her education, confining her to domestic activities and similar things which make her suffer psychologically by not giving her freedom to think. The barriers mentioned above were broken from Ebla and Medina. Female genital mutilation or infibulation or circumcision is unquestionably imposed on Somali women and has become torture rather than a customary Islamic practice. Women are forced to endure things like genital mutilation, forced polygamous marriage and domestic violence. The circumcision process makes them feel inferior to men. Her prudence is lacking when she is held in low esteem and men have no sympathetic concern for women. Women are projected in all Somali novels as if they are used as a tool for the expansion of their clan, that is, for giving birth and raising children, for going to bed, and are not fit for any other purpose. Mainly, the tradition of oppression comes from the house of the Grand Patriarch. The great patriarch could be the father or the husband. The Grand Patriarch is the head of a Muslim family in their society, he has unlimited power over his family and the rules should be followed by all family members, including his wife and son. The Grand Patriarch will not tolerate other people's views on his decision and on him. To.