The many challenges faced by women in a patriarchal society as well as in the West are brilliantly delineated in this collection of short stories

In her latest offering, The Gatekeeper’s Wife and Other Stories, Rukhsana Ahmed paints a grim picture of the realities women face in the struggle to survive in the patriarchal society we live in.

In this women-centric collection of short stories, the characters belong to diverse cultures and ethnicities, with a predominant focus on women of the East – a trend that predominates in South Asian writers.

A writer of Pakistani origin based in Britain, Ahmed’s experience allows her to critically assess the women of her region who migrate to the West with their families in search of a brighter future. And as a woman brought up in the East, she understands the dynamics of the cultural norms of émigré’s roots, which is clearly depicted in her stories.

The title story narrates the life of Annette, a British ‘memsahib’ married to an affluent man in Lahore, who is in a relentless quest to escape the drudgery of her everyday life as a housewife. She bore no children and does not regret doing so either. The society she lives in, however, is reproachful towards such women. Although Ahmed has not explicitly mentioned it, but this could be one of the reasons why Annette still finds herself an alien in the city despite having lived here for a long time. The love and affection she showers on the animals at the zoo shows how women desire the love and nurturing of their families- an important aspect that was missing in Annette’s life.

Ahmed explores the popular subject of migration and resettlement in her story ‘The Nightmare’. She has shown that the anticipation of moving to the West in search of better lives may not always be a pleasant experience, especially for women. It can be burdening and heart-wrenching. Fariha the protagonist is put through misery after migrating to Britain with her children to reunite with her husband after ten years of separation. Unable to acclimatize with the norms and habits of the West, she goes through immense emotional trauma and is admitted in a mental asylum, while her husband Salim appears to be embarrassed at his wife’s condition. Fariha is misunderstood in the west; she is a simple woman whose existence is still entrenched in the values of the east, where husband and children are the only motive in a woman’s life. Both Annette and Fariha are victims of alienation in their own homes; for both have migrated abroad yet neither of them has settled. ‘First love’ is also about a Pakistani family in Britain; however these appear to be old migrants. The family is led by a single mother who is very protective of her three children. The protagonist of the story is the daughter Shahbano, who is in love with her brother’s best friend. This story is a fresh escape from the otherwise serious and dim lives of females in the other stories. The author explores the idea of the awkwardness and innocence of first love, and though it’s a short story, the readers can get attached to the characters.

‘The Spell and the Ever-changing Moon’ is a gripping tale of a woman who is the target of domestic violence by her husband. She resorts to black magic in hopes of bringing an end to her miseries, a practice not uncommon amongst the less privileged in our society; though we witness that out of fear and distrust Nisa is unable to practice it on her husband. But her resolve to stand up to him is nonetheless seen when she refuses him his conjugal rights and takes an affirmative action at the end to abolish this life of humiliation. Nisa appears to be one of the strongest characters of Ahmad; she is determined to put an end to her husband’s injustices and when nothing works she takes a bold action which most definitely is uncommon in our society. She is a character to be proud of, a woman to look up to.

Ahmed writes effortlessly and with conviction. In certain aspects and phases of life, we can empathize and identify with almost all of Ahmed’s characters. There is a storm raging inside each character; a battered soul looking for means to escape. Chandra in ‘Afterlife’ is mortified when she is forced to come in contact with a bizarre object that stirs that storm in her. She resolves to escape her life as a prostitute but eventually she too succumbs to the tragedies that life has to offer to her. ‘Appearances’ is the only story which is centered on a young man, who works as a driver for a working lady belonging to a prosperous family. Safdar is a proud Pathan, who is resentful towards his job and the indignity he goes through by waiting long hours for his ‘Baji’ and how he must give up his identity and self-respect in order to bow down to the wishes of his employers.

The experiences of motherhood are shared in ‘My daughter, Mona’ and ‘Through the Rose-Tinted Window’– the sacrifices women made to build their beautiful homes and how it all crumbles due to unfortunate events in their lives. The readers are reminded time and again how the sacrifices of women go unnoticed, even in the most sanctified relation, which is motherhood. The readers are left in a state of dejection.

Though Ahmed sketches the characters in bold lines, yet most of them being unable to fend for themselves leaves the readers uninspired. We have all seen, heard and read about the plight of women. We need new inspirational works that challenge the patriarchal and sexist attitudes and assumptions still harboring in our society.

That said, the brilliance and ease with which an entire world is conjured in a short story and having the readers totally gripped and involved from cover to cover is an art which only few can master. Rukhsana Ahmad is one of them.