Sei Shonagon is a Japanese lady who is famous for The Pillowbook. The Pillowbook is most known for the diaries written by Sei Shonagon in which she freely expresses her thoughts. However, when The Pillowbook was written, women were not granted the freedom of expression and as such, Sei Shonagon did not want her writing to be known to the public because she states “[She] wrote these notes at home, when [she] had a good deal of time to [herself] and thought no one would notice what [she] was doing…[she] was careful to keep [her] book hidden” (B, 258). By writing The Pillowbook, she found an escape from the oppression that banned her from expressing herself. The Pillowbook gave Sei Shonagon  freedom that wouldn’t have been available otherwise to the extent that Sei Shonagon often criticize others in a way that “it might appear malicious and even harmful to other people” (B, 258).
In a New York Times article called “For Afghan Wives, a Desperate, Fiery Way Out”, we see a parallel with The Pillowbook. The Afghan women are constantly being opressed and are severely limited in what they can do. “Their family is their fate. Their is little chance for education, little choice about whom a woman marries, no choice at all about her role in her own house. Her primary role is to serve her husband’s family” (A1). The opression is so great that one Afghan woman, Farzana had beatings that “went on for four years” (A1) however, Farzana discovered a way to escape from the opression and in her mind, free herself by litting herself on fire. By litting herself on fire, Farzana expresses all the sadness and pain she has felt and endured from the oppresion.
Farzana’s attempt to end her own life by burning herself is similar to Sei Shonagon’s secret attempt to write the Pillowbook. Both women discover a way to express their thoughts in a society that condemns it. However, a noticeable difference is that Sei Shonagon’s method of expressing her thoughts is suppose to be private whereas Farzana’s method of expressing herself is suppose to be public such that everyone can see how she is being opressed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/world/asia/08burn.html?_r=1
There is no reason to change your citation from Sei Shonagon’s writing into the third person, as you do.
The citation works perfectly as it appears in the book: “…she states, ‘I wrote these notes at home, when I had a good deal of time to myself and thought no one would notice what I was doing…'”
Don’t alter a citation unless you must.