Home Fire & Arashi Photography Comparison

Guiding Questions:

  • In what ways does the author offer insights and challenges into contemporary religious and cultural practices?
  • To what extent does the impact of the texts shape our implicit perception of a troubling world?

Both of the texts intend to break the stereotypical view on Muslim women in terms of the conflicts between their religious belief and human instincts. In Home Fire, Shamsie portrays Aneeka, who is devoted to her religion but meanwhile is in love with an unreligious man, Eamonn. The hesitation and uncertainty when Eamonn saw Aneeka unveiling herself and actively leading the sexual behavior reflect the common stereotype towards Muslim women’s chastity. Although after that Eamonn had realized that there’s no conflict between Aneeka’s religious belief and the sexuality, it is still ironic when he inferred the “kneeling” when Aneeka prayed in the morning. This shows that the stereotypes on Muslim women are not easy to be completely broken as they have been rooted for so long. Similarly, in Arashi’s work, even though the Muslim woman wears long black hijab which totally covered her body and doesn’t show any physical characteristics about her, she still seems confident and powerful, unafraid of the wide world and unknown future behind her. In her work, confidence and power are not conflicted with the Muslim identity, and it could even be a stronger symbol of the woman’s power.  Therefore, religion is not a curb on human instincts for those Muslim women. These two texts present the strength and femininity of Muslim women, showing their struggles towards their identity and how they manage to use them as their power. They change our impressions of the troubling world through the emphasis on women’s roles in it, making us no longer think of it as something dominated by the man.

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