ფარიბა ვაფის ბრმა და თვალხილული ჩიტები

Abstract

In the patriarchal East, public interest towards gender issues arose much later than in the West. Yet, the East underwent almost similar development in this regard. Currently, the gender issue has acquired a new meaning. Hence, new questions have appeared: How did the process of emancipation develop? Have women achieved what they have been striving for? What was the effect of these achievements on men – the masculine side of gender balance or imbalance?! Has the male mentality changed?! The issues of restoration of gender balance and the creation of a new imbalance are of great interest for the contemporary society (as well as literature). In the novel “After the End”, written by a contemporary Iranian female writer Fariba Vafi, the above-mentioned issue is viewed from an interesting angle. The novel describes the lives and attitudes of women of different generations. The representative of the elder generation – Roya’s mother – calls herself a “blind bird”: “She was sure that she was a blind bird. She said she did not know when she got married and why” (Vafi, 2021: 118). The attitude to marriage and family relationships has changed with time. The younger generation of women no longer view themselves as blind birds. The attitude to different events and one’s own status has also changed. The women understand that the reasons for their slavery and blindness are unjustified obedience and attachment to outdated rules and customs. Roya’s generation aspires to independence. From childhood, they have a sense of protest: “I don’t want to be like you: only washing, dressing myself, getting married and bearing children. I don’t want to be offended and humiliated all the time and remain silent and obedient like a sheep. I don’t want to die without being aware of this world” (Vafi, 2021:32). Roya and her friend Nasrin consider that a job is a way to financial independence i.e. freedom. As soon as they get a job, they become “masters of the situation” – their families are unconsciously “charmed” by the girls’ financial independence: “(Nasrin) could wear a manteaux instead of a chador. Her father did not care. Her mother no longer ordered her to do the housework. Suddenly she turned into a modern girl and became the head of the family” (Vafi, 2021:48). The achievements of emancipation – equal rights, financial or other kind of independence – are necessary attributes of the life of every contemporary woman. But this gives rise to a new issue: have we missed something important in the process?! Fariba Vafi’s characters who have achieved the desired independence, i.e. freedom, unconsciously seek for the values lost in the past – the forgotten female essence and feminine desires. The male characters of the novel are also of interest. They were brought up in the patriarchal oriental society, but later they became acquainted with Western values. Verbally, they express progressive ideas, but their behavior proves that they have preserved the complexes based on age-long customs and traditions and remain slaves of old mentality.