"THE OPTIMIST" || Short Story 》BINA SHAH 》Part 2 》Critical Analysis

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"The Optimist" is a short story, written by diasporic female writer Bina Shah. She is a short story writer and novelist. The story talks about arranged marriage and its catastrophic and dire repercussions.
Before dealing with the very story critically, it is pertinent to shed light on its plot. It is the story of family which is scattered, half living in Pakistan and half living in Britain. The story revolves around the main characters Adnan and Raheela (protagonists) and their arrange marriage. Adnan sees his cousin's (Raheela) photograph and falls in love with her. Adnan's parents ask Raheela's hand for their son from her parents and they nod instantly without consult Raheela. Despite long protesting and resisting, she eventually bends to her knees in front of parents' decision.
As far as its critical analysis is concerned, one can witness so many instances of feminist elements and especially arranged marriage is demonstrated as a menace to society. As readers can see that Raheela is not happy with parents' decision. She does not want to get married to Adnan, even she does not want to see his face but her parents forcefully impose their verdict on her. It apparently shows mentality of Pakistani parents who think that they are the ones to decide their children lives and life partner for them.
As in the very story we can witness that Raheela's parents say " it is a joke, Raheela, they proposed and we accepted".. Raheela replies " how could you do this to me, you did not even have the courtesy to ask me”. The above statement of Raheela's and her parents show how parents arrange their children marriage without consult them.
Furthermore, in Pakistani, parents are very materialistic when it comes groom for their daughter. As in the very story we can witness Raheela's parents who stress that Adnan has prestigious job in a travel agency. They say that he is a good boy and only son, and would get everything after his parents are gone..
In Pakistan society, parents always solace their children/ daughters by telling them how much the boy earns monthly and which car he has. As in the story, we can witness Raheela's mother saying " Adnan is doing so well for himself. He is a partner in the travel agency. You can get tickets to visit us anytime you want. Don't throw this chance away, you will regret it later".
At the end of the story reader sees that Raheela flies to England with her parents and leaves Adnan in unbearable and everlasting sorrow. It shows that arranged marriages have always adverse and dire consequences and jeopardizes lives of people forever.
In a nutshell, one can state that Arranged marriage is a curse for society where parents knot the tie of two unwilling Youngs. In the story, we witness Raheela who doesn't want to marry her cousin but her materialistic parents force her which eventually leads to their separation and unhappy end.

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