In Afghanistan women are not left with many choices. Live a life of cruelty and oppression or attempt suicide in the hopes of never having to live a life of helplessness again. Unfortunately many Afghan women resort to the second of those choices and set themselves on fire as a way to both embody their inner-suffering and set themselves free from their undesired lives. These women are often living with untreated mental illnesses due to their extremely cruel treatment. A woman Farzana said, “I felt so sad and such pain in my heart and I felt very angry at my husband and my father- and mother-in-law, and then I took the matches and lit myself.” These women have nowhere and no one to turn to. They have no outlets of expression and therefore are forced to do the unthinkable and set themselves on fire.
The Pillowbook written by Sei Shonagon displays a similar situation. Women did not have the power to express their thoughts during this time period. They faced oppressions much like what the women of Afghanistan face in the present. Sei Shonagon had a diary which was kept hidden from the public because a woman doing such a thing was frowned upon. It was Shonagon’s unique way of expressing her inner emotions in her oppressive society. “Whatever people may think of my book, I still regret that it ever came to light.” (A, 258) She never wanted her diary writing to become publicized. She wrote these notes in her diary when she, “…though no one would notice what [she] was doing.” (A, 258)
In both examples women are facing oppression. However they ways in which they overcome such cruelty differ a great deal. Although the Afghan women’s choice may seem more dramatic the point is that these women saw no other choice but to act in the ways that they did.
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