Passion for Art as a Means of Resistance in Amirrezvani's Blood of Flowers

Abstract

Anita Amirrezvani’s Blood of Flowers revolves around the issue of female resistance by foregrounding the rebellious and revolutionary spirit of the major character. The protagonist disrupts and subverts patriarchal norms and values, rules and regulations. In this novel, a fourteen years old Muslim girl’s acts of learning carpet making from her uncle, reading and writing from her friend Naheed, lifting off her veil while walking in an open market place without caring the passerby can be taken as some examples of her rebellion against patriarchal ideology. By foregrounding the trials and tribulations of the unnamed narrator, the fourteen years old Muslim girl who is the protagonist of the novel, the novelist valorizes her voice against sigheh, a three months marriage contract, a tradition of Muslim society. In sigheh, a man has to pay certain amount of money before starting their temporary married life. Even though the narrator is forced by her parents to accept it for the sake of money without showing any concern about her dream and desire, the narrator revolts against it and ends the marriage contract. The courageous acts pave the narrator to achieve economic independence, self-worth, and identity and help the narrator to dismantle and subvert the patriarchal ideology. Thus, to probe into the issue of her rebellion against patriarchal ideology, particularly in Muslim society is the major contention of this research.