The Power of Books

Rum includes the theme of the Power of Books as her most dominant theme to provide a solution to the premise of A Woman’s Place (or her title A Woman is No Man), and how women can break free of the restrictions of their roles, especially as an antidote to fear. She also uses this theme to show how women can gain a voice through books. Books provide the women in the novel a link together, through time and generations, and even death. Finally, she structures the entire novel as a book written by a woman who breaks free through books; the novel is therefore a metaphor for the reader’s experience.

First, Rum uses the power of books to show to the reader how women can break free of oppressive gender roles. Fareeda tries to stop Deya and Sarah from reading...