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Sexual Objectification and Exploitation of Women in Daniyal Mueenud-

din’s Short Stories Saleema and In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

Research Project By:

Aliya Abbasi, Asma Batool, Misbah Niaz, Simana Almas

Submitted To:

Ma’am Aroosa Kanwal

Department of English

Faculty of Languages and Literature

International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan

2021
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The paper is an attempt to demonstrate how Daniyal Mueenuddin in his short stories

Saleema and In Other Rooms, Other Wonders highlights the powerlessness of women in rural

areas of Punjab and how they use whatever means available to them to achieve their purposes

holding sex as their strongest card. Women in his short stories are being portrayed as victims

who are seen trying to empower themselves often in misguided ways specifically using sex as a

tool but fail miserably every time. Drawing upon Sylvia Walby, Simon de Beauvoir, and

Fredrickson and Roberts, the themes of sexual objectification of women, their exploitation by

powerful men in their supervision, and victimization of women by male dominant society will be

investigated in this discussion in order to emphasize the fact that Mueenuddin is colluding with

patriarchal norms and values and is not moving any further from representing women as mere

objects which are only being valued in that particular patriarchal society because they can easily

be exploited and ruled upon.

Keywords: sexual objectification, exploitation, victimization, patriarchal norms and values, gen-

der struggle.

The main focus in many of Mueenuddin’s stories is on women. From the epigraph of his

collection of short stories In Other Room, Other Wonders, “Three things for which we kill- land,

women, and gold”, it is evident that in many rural areas of Punjab, women are regarded as prop-

erty, have very little in their grasp and are utterly powerless in most of the cases. They are de-

picted trying to empower themselves but since older men are actually in power, and women be-

ing young, nubile and powerless are trying to gain power and attain social, financial and emo-

tional stability “through” men by using their bodies, which is the only asset they have to per-

suade men to their direction and while trying to accomplish their goals they do get bruised both

spiritually and physically but they have to continue going through this process because they have
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no other choice left for themselves. But whenever the affection of men is withdrawn, women

lose everything they have gained and become powerless once again. Feminist literature has long

been confronting the patriarchal structures in a male-dominated society. Mueenuddin’s short sto-

ries are also concerned with various forms of marginalization in an inherently patriarchal society.

His female characters Saleema and Husna are vulnerable and powerless whose stories often col-

lude with overly male-dominated structures and are seen attempting to find ways to survive and

pursue their existence by coming close to powerful men but both end up failing miserably at the

end.

Saleema portrays the heart-rending story of the rejection of a servant girl, who works up

trading sexual favors and ends up in destitution. It is a story of a poor girl who runs away with a

man for a good future. She follows the footsteps of her mother who slept “around for money and

favors, and she herself at fourteen became the plaything of a small landowner’s son.” (Mueenud-

din 24). A suitor comes to her village and takes her to Lahore where she becomes a maidservant

at the mansion of the landlord K.K. Harouni. There she establishes sexual relationships with the

cook Hassan to earn little favors from him and when he gets what he wants he starts to treat her

with slight indifference so Saleema turns towards Rafik for sexual favors and becomes pregnant

with his child. Later Rafik abandons Saleema because of the pressure of his first wife and chil-

dren and after the death of K.K. Harouni, Saleema dies and his son from Rafik is left to roam the

streets. Omama Tanvir in her article asserts that “Saleema” throws light upon the lowly position

of Pakistani women as compared to men in the society. “Saleema, the protagonist of the story is

subjected to abuse at the hands of her father as a child, is ignored by her husband, misused by

Hassan, teased by other male servants and is renounced by Rafik when Harouni dies.” (Tanvir

61).
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Similarly, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders presents the story of Husna, a genteel lower-

middle-class companion to the grand landlord K.K. Harouni, who is also horribly rejected and

driven out of the house after the death of the landlord. Husna is a poverty-stricken girl. She gets a

job in K.K. Harouni’s house as a maid. Husna’s only mission is to keep Mr. Harouni happy at

every cost for which she makes sexual relations with Mr. Harouni and satisfies his sexual needs

and desires to take hold of the house and wants a prominent position in society. Harouni’s

daughters disapprove of this relationship and cannot even bear Husna’s presence among them as

a family member. So as long as Mr. Harouni’s health is fine, he keeps giving her gifts and facili-

tates her, but when, Mr. Harouni's health deteriorates and he dies, Husna is evicted by Harouni’s

daughters and sent back to her village again.

Mueenuddin’s short stories completely collude with patriarchal values and constructions

of female sexuality. According to Lois Tyson, feminist criticism “is the ways in which literature

(and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psy-

chological oppression of women" (Tyson 83). Tyson repeatedly discusses gender roles in her

book, that “Traditional gender roles cast men as rational, strong, protective, and decisive; they

cast women as emotional (irrational), weak, nurturing, and submissive.” (Tyson 85). Men are

“more intelligent, more logical, more courageous, or better leaders.” (Tyson 86) as compared to

women. The short stories “Saleema” and “The Other Rooms Other Wonders” both portray

women as weak creatures, passive and fragile as compared to men. Simone de Beauvoir states

that “women are considered contingent beings (dependent beings controlled by circumstances).

They have meaning only in relation to men. She is less than a man; she is a kind of alien in a

man’s world; she is not a fully developed human being the way a man is.” (Tyson 96) Mueenud-

din’s female characters are financially weak, needy, poverty-stricken, oppressed and they have
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no moral standing in society. In Mueenuddin’s stories, the female characters try hard to meet the

needs of men in order to gain a prominent position in society but ultimately both fail miserably.

We see that at the end Saleema dies and Husna ends up with nothing.

Sylvia Walby defines Patriarchy “as a system of social structures and practices in which

men dominate, oppress and exploit women” (Walby 20) According to Lois Tyson, Patriarchy is a

“belief that women are innately inferior to men.” In the story, Mueenuddin builds upon patriar-

chal norms. It can be seen very clearly that Saleema and Husna are financially weak and op-

pressed women, “I’ve come to you for help. I’m poor and need a job”. (Mueenuddin 91). While

all the male characters are strong and powerful, female characters are physically weak and de-

moralized by male servants. Hassan (the cook) brutalizes Saleema by saying that ‘I need to fatten

you up, I like them plump.’ (Mueenuddin 25). Male servants demoralize Saleema by whistling at

her, “Give us some of that black mango. It’s a new variety!’ ‘No, it’s smooth like ice cream, I

swear to God my tongue is melting.’ ‘You can wipe your dipstick after checking the oil!”

(Mueenuddin 26). Desinta Dhiotya Rachma in his article comments on patriarchy that “she was

always physically and intellectually inferior to the man” (Rachma 4). Harouni suggests to Husna

that “You need to develop some skills.” (Mueenuddin 92). Patriarchy is a system in which, men

desire a “good girl”. Lois Tyson says that a good girl is the one who “accepts her traditional gen-

der role and obeys the patriarchal rules.” Patriarchy reveals that a man’s desire is “to own valua-

ble women suited to be wives and mothers,” (Tyson 89). In the story when Saleema gets involve

in a sexual relationship with Rafik to fulfill his desires, he throws Saleema out of his life when

he comes to know about the returning of his wife. “The same gentleness would bend him toward

his duty, which always would be to his wife and grown sons.” (Mueenuddin 44). Simon de

Beauvoir states that “woman has been subjected to man, who, partly with woman’s consent, has
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made her an extension of himself”. (Vintges 134). Hence Mueenuddin’s short stories are the rep-

resentation of patriarchal values.

Female sexuality is very prominent in Mueenuddin’s stories. Fröander and Halkosaari as-

sert in their article that “many women have other reasons than their own feelings of desire”.

(Fröander and Halkosaari 6) In “The Other Rooms Other Wonders” Husna wants a luxurious

lifestyle, she just wants to have a life full of desires. For this purpose, she does not care about her

honor and dignity. “Whenever she saw a girl her age stepping from a large new car in Liberty

Market, among the expensive shops, or glittering in a pair of diamond drops at a wedding,

Husna’s mind would hang on these symbols of wealth, not letting go for hours. She sensed that

all this might come to her through Harouni.” (Mueenuddin 96). She makes a sexual relationship

with Mr. Harouni to satisfy his thirst. “A week after she moved into the annex, Husna slept with

K. K. Harouni.” (Mueenuddin 99). Fröander and Halkosaari state: “Women are encouraged to be

sexy and to have casual sex.” (Fröander and Halkosaari 6). In “Saleema” it is very common for

females to have sex.” In every one she had opened her legs for the cook.” “She slept each night

in Rafik’s bed.” (Mueenuddin 25). Fröander and Halkosaari argues that “women are seen as sex-

ual, liberated subjects who independently choose to please men because they will benefit from

it.” (Fröander and Halkosaari 6) Husna wants to be a sexy girl in order to gain lavish lifestyle,

she thinks that her goal can be achieved only if she looks sexually attractive and seductive. “She

wore a fitted kurta, showing the cleft of her breasts, which jutted out from her muscular youthful

torso.” (Mueenuddin 97) Hence, Mueenuddin’s female characters are also the representation of

the construction of female sexuality.

The stories are also portraying women as mere objects that can be used whenever desired.

The victims Husna and Saleema got objectified because of their recessive gender. The girls were
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treated inhumanely and badly used for men’s sexual desires. According to objectification theory,

Fredrickson and Roberts postulate that “Many women are sexually objectified and treated as an

object to be valued for its use by others. Self-Objectification (SO) occurs when a woman’s body

or body parts are singled out and separated from her as a person and she is viewed primarily as a

physical object of male sexual desire” (Szymanski and Moffitt). Likewise, we can see the exact

thing in “In Other Rooms Other Wonders” that how Husna and Saleema became prey of those

men around them. “She’s mean and rude. She treated me like dirt. Why don’t you get her to

come live in the annex and play cards with you and make your tea? ’I can’t have you speak like

this,’ said K. K., removing the mask, his face drawn and imposing. ‘You’re upsetting me.’ He

spoke in a measured voice. ‘You’ve upset me.’ ‘I’m leaving this house,’ she said, standing up on

the bed, looking down at him. ‘I gave you everything I had, but you give me nothing in return.”

(Mueenuddin 104). Here we can say that Husna's self-respect is zero in front of Mr. Harouni who

uses her in his leisure time but cannot give her status in front of the world.

Szymanski and Moffitt assert in their article that “Objectification theory also posits a me-

diation model that may explain how self-objectification leads to women’s mental health risks via

negative psychological outcomes.” (Szymanski and Moffitt 8). This thing can be seen in our se-

lected stories as well that one day “In the morning, sometimes when she had taken a stronger

dose this lines shows that the girl was suffering from mental health. She could not sleep well she

has to take pills with stronger doses.” (Mueenuddin 106).

Fredrickson and Roberts state that self-objectification can increase women’s anxiety

about physical appearance” (Szymanski and Moffitt 8). Husna in the story always thinks about

her appearance. “She saw her face in a mirror. The irregularity of her features, her straight, dry

hair, her small mouth, all caused her to cringe inwardly and suddenly to feel vulnerable.”
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(Mueenuddin 96) “She wore too much makeup and clothes that were too bright.” (Mueenuddin

93). “Objectification theory objectifies the female body and equates a woman’s worth with her

body’s appearance and sexual functions.” (Szymanski and Moffitt 8). Saleema and Husna both

are suffering from an inferiority complex of being not wealthy and beautiful they both think that

they can get wealth by selling their bodies which are fed in their minds because of the patriarchal

dominant society. These mentioned textual pieces of evidence show how these young innocent

poor girls are being humiliated and how the patriarchal command has prevailed in their heads.

These clearly prove how women are seen as an object and are not considered human beings.

Mueenuddin also could not succeed in his attempt to present a nuanced version of women

empowerment and ended up portraying them as victims. In first story, Saleema is the victim of

harassment, relationship and extra marital affair at Harouni’s estate and in the second story,

Harouni has an extra marital affair with Husna and she is a victim of his desires and he uses her

to get rid of his loneliness.

At a very early age, Saleema suffers from being the victim of harassment. “Saleema at

fourteen became the plaything of a small landowner’s son” (Mueenuddin 24). Though there is no

clear evidence that which kind of harassment it is. In a feudal system, it is not problematic to

abuse or harass someone. No one cares there that what happened to whom, they simply give

some money to the sufferer’s family to shut their mouths.

In conclusion, in both stories “Saleema” and “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders”, we have seen

Mueenuddin building upon the conventional ideas of construction of women as victims. Both

women have suffered from being victims of men in different ways while they were making an

attempt to empower themselves. Both could never earn a respectful status in society because of

the things they did to attain financial stability. They were helpless and not even in the position to
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ask for their rights. Saleema could not convince Rafik to make her his wife, nor could Husna

earn a place in Harouni’s family after his death and was made to move out of the house. Hence

we can build up on the narrative that Mueenuddin has presented his female characters as mere

sexual objects who have been exploited and victimized by men in power in their journey to try-

ing to empower themselves.

Bibliography:

1. Mueenuddin, Daniyal. In other rooms, other wonders. WW Norton & Company, 2009.

2. Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge,

2006. Print.

3. Walby, Sylvia. Theorizing Patriarchy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990. Print.

4. Tanvir, Omama, & Nazish Amir. "Deconstructive Analysis of The Short Story “Saleema”

By Daniyal Mueenuddin." University of Chitral Journal of Linguistics & Litera-

ture [Online], 1.I (2017): 60-70. Web. 13 Jun. 2021.

5. Vintges, Karen. "Simone de Beauvoir: A Feminist Thinker for Our Times." Research Ex-

plorer, UvA-DARE, pure.uva.nl/ws/files/36348229/VINTGES_1999_Hypatia.pdf. Ac-

cessed 8 June 2021.

6. Fröander, Rebecca, and Nelli Halkosaari. "The construction of women’s sexuality - A

critical discourse analysis on consent research." 14 Jan. 2019, pp. 1-45, www.diva-por-

tal.org/smash/get/diva2:1291430/FULLTEXT01.pdf. Accessed 9 May 2021.

7. Szymansk, Dawn M., and Szymansk B. Moffitt. "Sexual Objectification of Women: Advances to

Theory and Research." pp. 1-33, file:///C:/Users/sony/Desktop/Downloads/sexual-objectifica-

tion%20(1).pdf. Accessed 8 May 2021.