les femmes du monde.

“There is in every true woman’s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.”

- Washington Irving, The Sketch Book

Last night, I would not put a book down.  You must know it; it is entitled “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini.  It must be saddest book I’ve ever read.  It had me shedding tears once in a while, it must appear silly if I do it in public.  Nevertheless, when I was reading it last night, late past midnight, I couldn’t find it in my heart to stay aloof when I wanted to cry with the characters.

It is a story of two Afghan women who started their lives filled with hopes and aspirations that were instilled in them while they were growing up.  However, due to the circumstances in the chaos of politics and death, they ended up having to serve the demanding needs of the most excruciating antagonist I have ever met. 

The character of this man in this novel will make any reader angry and desperate to reprimand him, only if he exists.  But I’m sure he does.  He is in every household were the position of men and women differ from each other.  He is the man that would have done everything to prevent the people around him, most of all his wives, to make a living so as to make their lives rely on him.   He is the man from a pre-feminist era where his words are the rules and that being a woman automatically renders you way below his league.  It pains me reading this character, I was in total agony having to read about his life and the way he treats his wives.  But I must add, his character was brilliant.

I think I might have spoiled some plot over there, but anyway, back to the point.  This is a story about how a fantasy can easily be changed by conflict and power hunger.  What is ironic is that after reading this, I had to read an article for school which tackles almost the same theme of domestic violence (this isn’t the main plot of the novel, but it is there).  The article spoke about a woman who wanted to change the treatment towards wives and children in the Philippines.  It was great.  It is nice to hear that a woman is standing up for women.

After reading turmoil then solutions I went to sleep.  It was funny actually, my dream consisted of all those stories colliding with one another, only it was me who was standing up for women and children and the poor and the weak.  It was probably one of the best dream I ever had, it was the fulfillment of my ultimate goal in life.  It is what I’ve always wanted to do, to change the world, and having to dream about actually doing that must be a message, a sign.