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A traditional and conservative Islamic practice, purdah dictates that women inhabit the private, domestic sphere while men occupy the public. Hasina, maligned for her position as a “garment girl”—meaning she works outside the home in a garment factory alongside men—feels the need to inform her judgmental neighbor, Zainab, that she still proudly keeps purdah, meaning that her purity is very much intact. Mrs. Islam likewise brags to Nazneen, Razia, and the other female inhabitants of Tower Hamlets that she keeps purdah, but it is later discovered that this is a lie because she runs a money lending business that requires much mixing with men. The onus of keeping purdah is almost always on the women themselves, while men are freer to behave as they choose, highlighting how the religious practice can easily turn to sexism.
Purdah Quotes in Brick Lane
The Brick Lane quotes below are all either spoken by Purdah or refer to Purdah. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
“Mixing with all sorts: Turkish, English, Jewish. All sorts. I am not old-fashioned,” said Mrs. Islam. “I don't wear burkha. I keep purdah in my mind, which is the most important thing. Plus, I have cardigans and anoraks and a scarf for my head. But if you mix with all these people, even if they are good people, you have to give up your culture to accept theirs. That’s how it is.”
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Over tea in Nazneen’s apartment, Mrs. Islam is explaining to Nazneen and Razia that the insistence of Jorina, one of their Tower Hamlets neighbors, on working outside the home is going to lead to the loss of her cultural traditions. The simple act of spending time with non-Bengalis, Mrs. Islam argues, is enough to erase a woman’s ties to her homeland. This is, of course, coming from Mrs. Islam, one of the villains of the novel, and so everything she says should be viewed with extreme skepticism. Even so, Mrs. Islam’s attitude toward assimilation and its attendant evils is not Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusan
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Purdah Term Timeline in Brick Lane
The timeline below shows where the term Purdah appears in Brick Lane. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
The day Hasina is writing of is hartal, or an official day of striking. Mr. Chowdhury is against both the strikers and the...
(full context)
...Rupban would never have threatened to kill herself—that would have been blasphemy. It is another hartal, or strike day, and Hasina is home, writing to Nazneen and listening to the jute...
(full context)
