Mixing Memories with Desire: Women in Kamila Shamsie’s Salt and Saffron

Abstract

Women, all through history, have been held down by patriarchy, tradition and
cultural ideologies. To be a woman is to occupy a certain sort of social position—
”woman” is juxtaposed with “man” and other social categories and constructed by
the society and culture in which one lives. Though, the position of ‘woman’ varies
from country to country and region to region and is also dependent on religion, class,
caste and social status as well as geographical locations, the novelist, Kamila Shamsie
projects female characters that reflect a more western approach in understanding the
self and their rights. To some extent, they are different from the traditional women
who kept dancing to the tunes of the men. Through her writing, Shamsie pays homage
to three generations of women writers in her family: