Sunday Reading: Sultana's Reality

 Sultana's Reality VS. Sultana's Dream

This blog is in response to Yesha Ma'am's Sunday reading assignment. In this blog, I'll discuss my experience reading digitally born literature and distinguish between Sultana's Reality and Sultana's Dream.

"Sultana's Reality" is a multimedia interactive story by Afrah Shafiq. This is based on the 1905 science fiction "Sultana's Dream" by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein. 

"Sultana's Reality" is a kind of retelling of "Sultana's Dream", but in a whole different way. In other words, this is a reaction or reply to the original work, "Sultana's Dream". Just like the title suggests "Sultana's Dream" is set in 'Ladyland' which is a utopian world for women because there are no men or men are not allowed in 'Ladyland'. In this story basically, Sultana is dreaming of such a place that does not exist in the real world. In reply to that Sultana's Reality Shows that they only can dream of this kind of place.

1. Concept of Andarmehel – the universe of Women

The Andarmahal was a space that women could not step out of, but it was also a space that men would not step into. An all-women space, free from surveillance, for women across class to do, say and behave as they pleased.

The Andarmehel is also known as the Ladyland in the short story. This Ladyland is a utopian world, made for women only, no men are aware of its existence. The concept of Ladylandy seems very easy and straightforward on the surface but it is not that easy. We can say that it is not easy because we have "Sultana's Reality" to support our argument. 

2. Observation of females and their connection with books.
(Colonial education movement)

In the colonial era, education for girls and women was seen as largely unnecessary. The prevailing view was that women's place was in the home and that their primary role was to raise children and manage the household. This view began to change in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as a growing number of people began to believe that women should be educated in order to be better wives and mothers. This movement led to the establishment of a number of schools and colleges for women, as well as to an increase in the number of women who were able to access education.

While the colonial education movement did open up new opportunities for women, it also had some drawbacks. One of the most significant was that it often reinforced traditional ideas about women's place in society. For example, many of the schools and colleges that were established for women were designed to teach them subjects that were seen as appropriate for women, such as domestic science and homemaking. This helped to further the idea that women's primary role was in the home, and that their education should be focused on preparing them for this role.

Books have had an interesting role in women's lives. During the 18th century, we see the rise of the novel, yet the female characters are not the focal point of the work. They are the objects that are talked about. Female characters were not interacting with the world around them. They were used to show how their environment impacted the male characters. The relationship between women and books is a lot more complex. Women's relation to books has been influenced by the lack of education, the limited access to reading material, and the strong connection of books with church and religion. 

The primary distinction between these two narratives is that one is a short story and the other is available in digital format. It recounts a tale through a collection of short movies and artwork pieces. Sultana's Dream is written in the style of a conventional utopia, but Sultana's Reality is a startling counter narrative to Sultana's Dream. A girl is reading at the beginning of the first video of Sultana's Reality. She afterwards notices figures levitate outside her window. It's almost as though she's begun to transform herself into the fictional characters. The dream inevitably comes to an end, or should we say breaks. Similarly, her dream is coming to an end, and she is returning to reality.