Our lady of Paris Notes

1. Theme of Patriarchy and Female Sexuality

In Our Lady of Paris, Helen, an American woman, forms a romantic relationship with Sohail
Harouni, a wealthy Pakistani student. The story highlights how Helen uses her physical
charm and sexuality to keep Sohail close, especially when she senses emotional distance.
This shows a key issue in patriarchal societies—where a woman, regardless of her
background, feels that her body is her strongest tool to gain affection, approval, or power. It
reveals that even educated and urban women may internalize the idea that their value lies
in their appearance and their ability to please a man. This mirrors the experiences of poorer
women in other stories, suggesting that across social classes, patriarchal expectations
force women to use their beauty for survival and belonging.

2. Class and Power Dynamics

Helen belongs to the middle class in America, while Sohail comes from a rich and influential
Pakistani family. Though Helen enjoys freedom and education, she still enters into a
relationship where wealth plays a role in power dynamics. She benefits from Sohail’s money
and lifestyle and adjusts her actions to keep that comfort. The story shows how class
influences behavior, but doesn’t free women from gender roles. Even in a romantic setting,
wealth becomes a silent player in shaping how Helen behaves and how much she
compromises. The contrast with poorer female characters from other stories proves that
while class changes the environment, the underlying struggle of being a woman In a man-
centered world remains the same.

3. Critique of Toxic Masculinity

Sohail’s mother, Rafia, makes a striking remark about her son: “Sohail is gentle – not weak,
soft. That’s one of the reasons we both love him and it’s also his greatest flaw.” This highlights
how society expects men to be harsh, emotionless, and even controlling to be seen as
strong. In contrast, Sohail’s gentleness is viewed as a weakness. This reflects a toxic idea in
patriarchal societies where kindness or softness in men is considered unmanly. The story
criticizes these expectations and opens space for a more human and balanced image of
masculinity. It reminds readers that men, too, suffer under rigid gender norms and are
discouraged from showing emotions.
 4. Exploration of Freedom and Confinement

Rafia, who represents a traditional South Asian woman, expresses a deep longing for
freedom. She says she has never truly felt “absolutely free” and believes only Americans
might feel that. This shows how women in patriarchal cultures often feel tied down by family,
expectations, and social roles. Helen, on the other hand, disagrees and says that even
Americans cannot escape their own inner struggles. This conversation reveals that freedom
isn’t just physical—it’s also emotional and psychological. Women everywhere, whether in
Pakistan or America, carry invisible burdens. These lines show how society, family, and
personal history can limit women’s choices, regardless of geography or culture.

5. Postcolonial Feminist Perspective

This story supports a postcolonial feminist view by showing that patriarchy affects all
women—rich or poor, local or foreign. It breaks the common belief that only poor or rural
women are oppressed. Helen, though from a freer and wealthier background, still faces
pressure to act in ways that please her male partner. Her situation proves that gender-based
limitations exist even in modern, Western societies. The story uses Helen’s character to
point out that women’s struggles are universal. It connects Pakistani traditions with global
issues of gender, making it a powerful example of how postcolonial feminism looks at both
culture and class when studying women’s lives.

6. Gender Role Reversal and Complexity

Sohail, unlike many male characters in traditional stories, is soft-spoken, polite, and
emotionally available. These are traits usually associated with women. His mother’s
comment that his gentleness is both a strength and a weakness shows the conflict between
expectations and reality. This reversal of gender roles is important because it challenges the
idea that men must always be dominant and women must always be submissive. It makes
the reader question why certain behaviors are seen as masculine or feminine. By giving us a
male character who does not fit the typical “strong man” image, the story adds depth to its
discussion of gender.

7. Spatial and Emotional Confinement

In this story, confinement is not only physical but also emotional. Rafia speaks about how
being born into a South Asian family limits her freedom. She feels stuck in her role as a wife
and mother. She envies Helen, thinking she is free because she is American. But Helen
replies that no one can truly escape their past or emotions—even if they run far away. This
shows that people, especially women, are often trapped in invisible cages of memory, duty,
and societal expectations. The story illustrates how women’s freedom is limited not just by
others but also by the way they’ve been raised and what they’ve been taught to accept.

8. Quote Illustrating Patriarchal Contradictions

The line “Sohail is gentle – not weak, soft…” reveals a contradiction in how patriarchy views
men. On one hand, gentleness is praised as a good quality; on the other hand, it’s seen as a
flaw. This mixed message reflects how men, too, are victims of a system that limits their
emotional expression. The quote captures how masculinity is judged not just by strength but
by the absence of emotion. It also hints at the emotional burden men carry to appear strong
all the time, which leads to broken relationships and personal conflict. The story critiques
these contradictions and invites a rethink of what it means to be masculine.

9. Ambiguity in Helen’s Character

Helen is not shown as a completely good or bad character. She seems to care for Sohail, yet
also uses her body and charm to keep him around. She enjoys the luxurious life she gets
through Sohail but also tries to assert some independence. This ambiguity makes her more
real and complex. It avoids presenting women as just victims or villains. Instead, it shows
how women, like men, make complicated choices based on love, survival, insecurity, and
ambition. This kind of layered female character supports feminist analysis, which says
women should be shown with depth and not as stereotypes.

1. Introduction to the Story’s Relevance

The story Our Lady of Paris, from Daniyal Mueenuddin’s collection In Other Rooms, Other
Wonders, represents the cultural hybridity and identity crisis of young Pakistani elites. It
reflects how globalization and Western influence have impacted the self-perception and
social behavior of Pakistan’s upper class, especially the youth. These individuals are caught
between traditional Pakistani values and the modern, liberal influences of the West.
2. Characters Representing Cultural Hybridity

Sohail Harouni is a Yale Law student, symbolizing the globalized Pakistani youth. His
lifestyle and relationship with the American girl, Helen, portray him as a product of both
cultures. Sohail’s double consciousness is highlighted through his American education,
Western habits, and simultaneous emotional and cultural ties to Pakistan.

Helen, his girlfriend, identifies this duality, stating that Sohail has an “American side,” even
though he is deeply shaped by his Pakistani upbringing.

Rafia, Sohail’s mother, is secular and Westernized. She wears Western clothes, parties
often, and even vacations in London. Despite this, she is aware of the limitations of Western
freedoms in the Pakistani context and expresses concern about Helen's ability to adjust in
Pakistan. This contradiction reflects Rafia’s own cultural ambivalence and her internal
struggle between modern liberalism and traditional values.

K.K. Harouni, Sohail’s father, romanticizes American freedom, suggesting, “only an

3. Depiction of Western Influence and Social Behavior

The story vividly portrays the elitist Pakistani class indulging in dating, partying, drinking, and
foreign travel. It subverts the purist image of Pakistani culture often associated with
conservatism and religious fundamentalism. This portrayal disrupts binary oppositions like
West vs. East or colonizer vs. colonized.

Sohail and Helen's physical intimacy, including their lovemaking scenes, reflects a liberal,
secular lifestyle more associated with Western norms than with conservative Pakistani
expectations.

4. Dysfunctional Family Structure and Emotional Alienation

The Harouni family does not follow the conventional structure associated with Pakistani
tradition. Sohail recalls emotionally cold childhood experiences, such as when he asked his
father to dry his hair and was instead sent to a servant who “didn’t know how to touch me.”
This signifies emotional neglect and lack of parental involvement—traits more commonly
attributed to individualistic Western parenting than traditional Eastern care.

Rafia’s conversation with Sohail about accompanying him and Helen on a trip becomes
another example. Sohail resists the idea, joking that it would be like “taking your mother on
honeymoon,” and Rafia agrees to give them space, which defies stereotypical expectations
of Pakistani mothers’ protective or conservative behavior.

5. Symbols of Hybrid Identity

The Seine River in Paris is used as a powerful symbol. It is described as not dividing Paris
but keeping it together. This metaphor symbolizes the possibility of unity between cultures—
Sohail (East) and Helen (West)—though it also reflects their emotional and ideological
distance. Paris itself serves as a symbolic “Third Space,” a neutral zone where cultural
boundaries blur.

6. Intellectual Hegemony and Western Idealization

Both Sohail’s parents glorify the West. K.K. Harouni openly praises Americans: “There’s
nothing you people can’t do when you put your minds to it.” Rafia confesses to Helen, “I envy
your freedoms.” Their idealization of American life—freedom, competence, and
opportunity—underscores the internalization of Western superiority.

This intellectual colonization shows how elite Pakistanis, despite their wealth and status,
still perceive the West as culturally and ideologically dominant. Even when they live modern
lives, their identities remain colonized psychologically.

7. Cultural Conflict and Future Uncertainty

The story ends without a clear resolution, leaving the future of Sohail and Helen’s
relationship uncertain. This ambiguity reflects the unresolved nature of hybrid identity.
Neither fully American nor fully Pakistani, Sohail is emblematic of the modern postcolonial
subject, floating between worlds.

Helen points out that Sohail loves Pakistan—he told her stories about it for hours when they
first met—yet he seems unlikely to build a life there with her. Rafia warns Helen that Sohail
might become “emasculated” in America, unable to find belonging or fulfillment in either
culture.
8. Call for ‘Third Space of Enunciation’

The paper uses Homi Bhabha’s concept of the “Third Space” to argue that Our Lady of Paris
presents a need for a new cultural site—neither entirely Eastern nor Western—where such
hybrid identities can exist and be expressed without conflict. This “Third Space” allows for
plural identities and acknowledges that postcolonial individuals like Sohail cannot conform
to a single cultural identity.

Conclusion of the Story’s Analysis

Our Lady of Paris encapsulates the identity crisis faced by Pakistan’s elite youth. The story
highlights how mimicry of the West and the simultaneous need to uphold Pakistani
traditions creates a fractured, ambivalent self. Through intimate relationships, family
dynamics, symbolic landscapes, and character introspection, the story illustrates how
hybridity leads to a perpetual state of cultural negotiation and existential doubt.

“Our Lady of Paris” reflects postcolonial themes

1. Cultural Hybridity & Identity Crisis

Sohail and Helen inhabit a liminal “Third Space”—caught between Eastern and Western
worlds. Their identities reflect a hybrid postcolonial consciousness, balancing conflicting
cultural loyalties. They illustrate Homi Bhabha’s idea of “double consciousness,” being both
insider and outsider in each culture .

2. Reversal of Exoticism (Orientalism)

Unlike typical colonial narratives that exoticize non-Western cultures, the story “re-
Orientalizes” Europe, portraying Paris as foreign and even romanticized by the Pakistani
characters. This flips the gaze and subverts traditional colonial dynamics .

3. Power, Privilege, and Postcolonial Mobility

Set in Paris rather than Pakistan, the story highlights that postcolonial mobility is itself a
privilege. Sohail’s ability to travel, study, and date abroad stems from elite status—
reminding readers that postcolonial freedom often aligns with class and privilege .
4. Postcolonial Feminism & Gendered Power

Helen and Rafia, though from different backgrounds, each struggle with patriarchal
expectations. Helen’s use of beauty and sexuality to navigate her world mirrors Rafia’s
confinement in a traditional society. This illustrates double colonization, where gender and
coloniality intersect to marginalize non-Western women .

5. Emotional Suppression & Coloniality of Mind

The characters’ inability to express true feelings—Sohail’s emotional restraint and Helen’s
use of seduction—highlights a psychological legacy of coloniality, which discourages
vulnerability and authentic exchange. Their emotional distance reflects internalized
constraints inherited from both cultures .

In summary, “Our Lady of Paris” is a rich study in postcolonial literature, weaving themes of
hybridity, class-based privilege, gendered power, and emotional suppression into its
narrative. It subtly but effectively reverses colonial tropes and reveals the psychological and
cultural tensions of living between worlds.

Symbols in the Story:

1. The Seine River

The Seine symbolizes the unity and tension between East (Sohail) and West (Helen). As
noted in the analysis, “the Seine doesn’t divide Paris, it keeps the city together,” representing
their relationship and cultural connection .

2. Paris (the City)

Paris stands for illusion and aspirational freedom. The city promises romance and escape
but ultimately fails to free the characters from their cultural and emotional ties .

3. Helen’s Body and Clothing

Helen’s appearance—her fashion and beauty—symbolizes both power and dependence.

His soft demeanor is a symbol of masculine struggle. It both distinguishes him and exposes
him to criticism in a society that values emotional toughness .

5. Silence and Frozen Puddles

The cold, frozen puddles along the Seine and unspoken feelings between characters
symbolize emotional stasis and suppression. Beneath a romantic surface, powerful
emotions lie frozen and unresolved .

These symbols work together to highlight themes of cultural hybridity, emotional