Comment on style and tone

Sultana is known in her family for her fiery attitude and uncompromising stance against the oppression of women. The book, appropriately, clearly takes a progressive stance in regards to women's issues. Sultana's (and the author's) tone is very passionate, using emotionally persuasive language to convince the reader of the plight of the oppressed women Sultana talks about. Similarly, men like Sultana's brother Ali, Yousif, Majed, and Saleem—who all possess a dismissive, hateful attitude towards women—are described as plainly evil. In the middle of these two extremes are men like Kareem, a man who clings to some of the old ways but who nevertheless has a good heart and an ability to realize how women are sometimes mistreated. Sultana betrays an ambivalence about Kareem her husband, expressing venomous hate at certain times and tender love at other times.