Creative Responses Blog

What Could Have Happened to Zunaira

Zunaira could have put on her burka, ran home, chopped her hair, put on her husbands clothes, and walked back into the city. Zunaira could have walked all the way to the rail track in the capital of Kabul and hopped on a train and gone somewhere or wherever the train was taking her, as a man on a train, as a man going somewhere, with sort hair chopped and uncovered.

Zunaira could have had no home. Zunaira could have had all the homes. Zunaira could be missing her husband, or she could be missing the prison, or she could be missing the Zunaira behind the burka. Regardless, Zunaira could be not behind the anything now. Zunaira could be only behind Zunaira until the moon and the tides switch names. Until Zunaira switches names. Until Zunaira doesn’t have a name to go by. Until she doesn’t have hair to cut. Until she cannot walk to the train station anymore. Until there was nothing but a future to rid a past. Until the voices come again. Until love comes again. Until the voices go. Until the wind takes hold of her hands and makes them old. Until she is old. Until she could be old. Until she could be winded. Until she could be nothing but the hands. Until she could be nothing but the nameless thing. Until she could be everything but the fingers which clutch to their finger-hearts the story of Kabul.

Response: I created this piece of prose as a response to the book The Swallows of Kabul. I was really drawn to both of the female characters in the story, and I think the end of the novel was one of the most riveting parts. At the end, a woman sacrifices herself for another woman because she believes that this other woman can bring her husband love and happiness. This other woman is Zunaira, but Zunaira does not stay around for the end of the novel. Instead of waiting for a man, she leaves, and it is never revealed truly where she has gone to. I found her actions to be so strong and so determined, and because I had formed some form of attachment to her character as a reader, I wanted her to live on. With prose, I could create a plethora of different hypothetical situations, and knowing that none of them were probably the reality of her fate, I allowed the prose to become experimental until it completely unraveled itself. For me, this was also a new path to find my own character development and the real connection that I had with Zunaira. Ultimately, I think that it was really interesting that I saw so much power in her because I think that in writing about her, I wanted to give her even more and more strength. I wanted Zunaira to conquer anything and everything. I wanted her to be bold and wild and free and relentless. I wanted her to fall in love. To breathe air only for herself. To cherish the nature around her. I want to give Zunaira everything that she felt she could not have in Kabul, but mostly I wanted to also give her the freedom to return if she wanted to. Ultimately, what happened to Zunaira is unknown, perhaps even to the author of the novel himself, but I think that the reflection of her future was important for me because it allowed me to see the extent of admiration and connection that a reader can have with a character.

~ by dmuhleisen on December 5, 2015.