Green Tree Stumps

• Main Author: Rafiq, Sami
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University PressDelhi 2022
• Subjects: sami
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190132613.003.0026; https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/58092484/oso-9780190132613-chapter-26.pdf

Abstract Sami Rafiq’s “Green Tree Stumps” is set against the traditional Asian Muslim mindset in which a woman has little to say or decide as far as her life or future are concerned. Pegah, the heroine of the story has a psychic connection with the world of nature specifically the trees. The perils that nature faces in the anthropocene are quite similar to what women face in patriarchy. Both Pegah and the trees are victims of mercenary propaganda symbolised by numbers and figures and in a male-ordered world, their worth is defined by those numbers. The mango trees that are ruthlessly cut down for money are a part of her psychological make up and together they attempt to oppose the tyranny and oppression of the antropocene. Every crisis in Pegah’s life is reflected in the trees that are like a mirror of her consciousness. The outcome of the story is an interpretation of reality in terms of Pegah’s vision which is neither the anthropocene nor governed by patriarchy.