THE ROAD FROM PATRIARCHAL CAPTIVITY TO FREEDOM (THE JOURNEY OF MONIRO RAVANIPOUR’S FEMALE CHARACTER)

Abstract

Moniro Ravanipour is an Iranian emigrant writer and significant figure in women’s literature. Since 2007, she has lived in the United States. She emigrated because she deeply believed that human beings are born for freedom, but the Islamic Revolution completely clipped the wings of that aspiration.

Moniro Ravanipour’s entire work and personal life – both in Iran and abroad – is an example of the breaking of patriarchal traditions. Her covert and explicit struggles are directed toward justice and the defense of human rights.

Today, in the West, where Ravanipour lives and continues her literary activities, she is primarily perceived as a feminist writer.

In the modern world, the way society (and women themselves) approach female identity is considered one of the key issues in literature.

As a writer who supports the breaking of all clichés and taboos and opposes frameworks that limit individual human identity, she devotes significant attention to the search for and establishment of female identity.

The aim of the paper is to explore the journey of an Iranian woman in her search for identity and self-discovery. The paper analyzes how this process is portrayed by Ravanipour – as a native Iranian author and an emigrant artist.

Analysis of the writer’s feminist-spirited works reveals that feminist discourse in Ravanipour’s works forms a distinct concept, allowing the reader to trace its evolution.

The search for female identity in Ravanipour’s early works begins with a character that expresses the author’s personal credo – little Maryam. This character, who questions the justice of the small yet familiar mythopoetic world of the Persian Gulf, gradually transforms into a woman who rebels against patriarchal oppression and seeks her rights and individual identity. Ultimately, in the collection “A Woman at Frankfurt Airport”, she emerges as a liberated character, an educated, self-confident and independent woman protesting against the patriarchal reality and Islamic laws.

The research has proved that this collection, which expresses an open protest against the regime of the Islamic Republic, can be considered a kind of final touch in the development of the feminist line in the author’s work.     

Key words: women’s literature in Iran, Iranian emigrant writer, Moniro Ravanipour, Islamic Republic, feminist discourse.