Summary of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein's "Sultana's Dream"
The full text of Sultana's Dream can be accessed here.
Overview
“Sultana’s Dream” is a satirical short story written by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. It was first published in 1905 in The Indian Ladies’ Magazine and then again in 1908 in book form. The short story is known for its feminist utopian vision as well as imagined scientific and technological innovations.
Plot
The protagonist Sultana falls asleep in a reverie about the conditions of Indian women. Upon waking, she is met with a woman she thinks is her friend Sister Sara who gives Sultana a tour of her garden. Sultana notices the absence of men in her surroundings but still confides in Sister Sara about her discomfort walking freely without a veil beyond the purdah, at which point Sister Sara introduces their setting as Ladyland, a utopia where women’s and men’s gender roles are reversed. Men are sequestered in a zenana-esque space called the “mardana” while women roam public spaces freely.
Throughout their walk, Sultana asks Sister Sara questions about this new world order and reflects on how different it is from the India she knows. She questions why women, on account of their weak constitution, should not be cloistered in zenanas. Sultana, in turn, is questioned by Sister Sara about why women in India allow themselves to be secluded in zenanas when it is men who create unsafe environments for them. Sister Sara relies on logical arguments to challenge Sultana’s beliefs and claims that women play a role in their oppression by relenting their “natural rights” to men. In their dialogue, Sultana betrays her being inured to the world she left where male hegemony reigns.
Sultana also learns about various other aspects, aside from the overt condition of women and men, that distinguish Ladyland. Sister Sara shares that work is done efficiently in Ladyland because women do not squander away their time smoking. Sultana also discovers that the youth mortality rate is very low. Sister Sara shares that Ladyland employs solar heat for cooking. Moreover, under the reign of the Queen, women’s and girls’ education is prioritized, young girls are not married off (women cannot marry before the age of twenty-one), and women in universities made scientific discoveries to revolutionize the country, such as controlling the weather through balloon-held technology.
Sister Sara relays the history of Ladyland to Sultana. While women invested their efforts in science, men were occupied with augmenting their military force. Men fought in armed combat against women to assert their dominance; however, as women were not highly trained in physical combat, the Queen advised them to fight using their intellect. It was thus that women defeated men and compelled them to isolate themselves in the mardana.
Without men in public spaces, crime disappeared. Men instead spend their time doing domestic chores. Women continue using science to improve the standard of living in Ladyland, such as by using artificial fountains to combat heat and using solar energy during cold weather.
Sultana also learns about the religion of Ladyland, which is centered on love and the truth. Sister Sara informs her that corporal punishment is nonexistent in Ladyland and it goes against the country’s religion. Women are also only allowed to maintain “sacred relations” with few men, namely those who are part of their family.
Sultana is eager to meet the Queen of Ladyland and Sister Sara takes her to the Queen’s garden via an “air-car.” The Queen informs Sultana that she enables trade with other countries and emphasizes her appreciation for nature. After their conversation, Sultana tours universities, factories, laboratories, and observatories.
The story ends with Sultana waking from her dream to the same world she inhabited before dreaming of Ladyland.
Notable Themes
Differences between genders are upheld, if differently.
Hossain does not attempt to equalize men and women in her short story. “Sultana’s Dream” posits that women are different from men and that is what makes them superior to men. For example, Hossain writes that, while men are physically stronger than women, women are smarter than men and their “brain power” defeats muscle power. Gender roles are also maintained in this short story even if the roles are reversed. The men of the mardana engage in domestic tasks, such as child-rearing and cooking (though not embroidery, for which they are said to be too impatient). For these men, traditional masculinity appears burdensome. When the Queen of Ladyland orders the exhausted male fighters to retreat to the mardana, they accept the dictate as a “boon.”
Women are associated with little to no violence.
In line with the theme of subversively maintained gender differences, Hossain highlights the lack of violence in Ladyland because men are secluded in the mardana. Thus, her story claims that men are sources of violence.
Nature is a keystone of Ladyland.
Nature, in the form of the garden where Sultana and Sister Sara stroll, constitutes the main setting of “Sultana’s Dream." Nature is also a resource that women rely on in this story. In the war sequence Sister Sara describes, men fight with “guns and other ammunitions of war” while women rely on solar energy to defeat them. Women seem to work with nature rather than exploiting it in an anthropocentric manner that resonates with our contemporary moment. Interestingly, however, the women of Ladyland still manipulate nature using scientific technology. They, for example, prevent floods and storms using pipes upheld by balloons. Sister Sara at one point says, “We are all very busy making nature yield as much as she can.” But it appears that the subjects of Ladyland are intentional about admiring and enjoying “Nature’s gifts.”
Ladyland reworks traditional institutional structures.
In terms of politics, Ladyland does not appear radically unfamiliar: the utopia is presided over by the Queen, a prime minister, and a broader government system. Education, however, though it mirrors the institutions of our (and Hossain’s) time, is put to more revolutionary use. Universities are a significant force in Ladyland as they are hubs for women scientists and leaders who produce environmentally conscious scientific and technological inventions. Religion is also central to Ladyland; it is one that practices love and truthfulness, rather than emphasizing punishment.
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