Jose Arroyo
Professor Werry
RWS 200 M& W 3:30-4:45
4 February 2015
Reaction
Paper to “The Muslim Woman”
In
Lila Abu- Lughod’s online editorial, “ The Muslim Woman” she calls to attention
the misconceptions the West has on the image of a woman with a veil on. She
quickly rewrites the misconception and reveals how the veil is sometimes a
geographical reason or purely a personal choice. She also states how even if
Islam threw away the “submission” for women to wear a veil if they would really
stop wearing the veil. The claim I just mentioned above draws interest from me
because she is right. Many women will not simply throw off their veil and wear
jeans. It has become a way of life for these women and especially since some
areas enforce this type of submission they would still be required to wear the
veil. Throughout her piece she is trying to aim her online editorial towards
educated American people who have an interest toward the highly controversial
topic of veiling. I drew this conclusion from the type of language she uses but
also the place and location she published this piece. She is writing on an
online editorial due to looking at the course reader and viewing the title of
the publisher of her piece. The use of “we” in the first paragraph aligns
herself with the general American public because she is creating a common
ground between her reader and herself. Which in essence creates a link
emotionally and makes the reader realize that despite the position of
Abu-Lughod she is seeing the similar things “we” as common people see on a
daily basis. Abu-Lughod’s use of “us” and “them” creates a divide between two
people who have significant differences and do not meet eye to eye on things.
As contrasted with Haydar she tries to show “us” how Muslim women who wear
veils can become united with the American public despite the obvious clothing
difference. There is not hostile tone associated with the diction choice of
“us” and “them” with creates a more settling environment for the reader to
become comfortable with reading the piece. Despite the similarities of
differentiating cultural values of the West and the Middle East in both pieces,
Haydar uses a more calm and simplistic tone to get her point across to her
audience that despite the difference of values both cultures can flourish
together if they take the time to understand one another. One major difference
between Haydar and Abu-Loughos is that Abu-Loughod uses more complex language
which is intended for a more educated audience as compared to Haydar’s piece
which is more simplistic and intended for a general American public audience.
