Ayse Papaya Bucak History Of Girls Analysis

There are three types of women in this world. Some have voices, some have thoughts, and some have both. In Ayse Papatya Bucak’s “The History of Girls”, the young girls provide insight into the lives of oppressed women in the Middle-East. The young girls face great despair. They often ponder their lives, and they tell each other stories for comfort. Their stories symbolize their desire to fight for equality, and if only they could act, they would bring progress to women’s rights. It has yet to improve fast enough, leaving women under the tyranny of submission.

The average American girl holds high expectations for herself in the 21st century. She dreams of princesses and ballerinas, and she covets the newest Barbie dolls for her birthday.

Young girls should dream of princesses and butterflies, or whatever else brings them happiness. In the Middle East, the young girls dream about women overpowering villages. The narrator tells of, “The Somalian girl [who] [turns] to steel...The Egyptian girl [who] [shoots] lasers out of her turned-to-ruby eyes... The Syrian girls [that] [turn] to water... And the Afghani girls [who] [rise] up to the sun and [hide] it from the sky until their attackers [turn] to ice.”(360-361) The girls in the stories represent the main characters in Bucak’s book. They tell these stories to empower each other. But the lack of realism within the stories is saddening. They dream of defeating their enemies to feel control of their lives. Celine, one of the girls, tells a negative story about sisters. She makes the ending of the story tragic. She tells the young girls that the “prince followed the princess and he danced and drank their drinks and has their fun and then he [tells] on them and [ruins] everything.”(361) Celine cannot tell a happy story because she does not have any hope. She knows that she will never be a princess or dance like the sisters in her story. Dancing is relevant in the story of the sisters who love to spin on their toes. The girls enjoy the freedom found in the stories. The dancing sisters represent the free expression which they long for. It is essential for them to tell stories to brighten up

In the Middle East, however, dangers are much more prevalent. The narrator warns that there are many easily committed sins, with the story of a young girl named, “Gul [who] was sent to school because her brother threatened to kill her for having a boyfriend.”(360) Even dating can lead to death. Even more absurdly, her brother felt entitled to scold her. Usually, parents reserve the right to punish their children, but limitations blur in middle eastern society. As a male, he takes it upon himself to control her, directly attacking the equality between the sexes. The narrator has witnessed the wrath directed towards many past sinners, and she explains “But we [learn], too, the history of sinner. Girls who were stoned by villagers. Burned by brothers. Killed by their fathers. Cast out by their mothers. Our lessons were full of girls who died.”(360) The narrator must worry about her reputation to avoid ending up like the girls who did not. The uneasiness of impending abandonment and death is depressing. A family’s love is supposedly unconditional, not disposable. The narrator speaks apathetically about punishment when she says, “stoned for this and stoned for that.”(360) These stories no longer affect her for its often occurrence. All their lives they are told how to act to get through girlhood and eventually get married. Everything she does, is for the sole purpose of marriage and reproduction. If