Analytical Snapshot: Veil of Fears

1.      “Veil of Fears” is in the genre of persuasive analytical—I think. There’s no description of how to determine genre, is there?

2.      The Purpose “Veil of Fears” is to show the western world that there is more to the argument about Muslim women and their rights then we have been led to believe by the press.

3.      The Central Message of “Veil of Fears” is that Muslim women are not necessarily imprisoned by their veils but it is a sign of reverence and respect to the families they come from.

4.      Stanley Kurtz ‘world view’ in “Veil of Fears” is that Western cultures, feminist America in particular, may have been too hasty in deciding that the veil Muslim women wear is a prison forced upon them. The assumption that backs him is that the majority of women in Islamic countries wear the veil by choice: as a sign of respect for their families and tribes.

5.      The tools and evidence that Kurtz uses are: making the topic a question of whether forcing western culture on the Muslim women is right, therefore making it urgent to the reader; answering the issue question he brought up by asserting that it might not be the best or wisest thing to force our culture on them; giving sufficient, typical, accurate, and relevant reasons why this assertion is right. The evidence he uses are by drawing on examples of other conquered countries, and whether forcing domestic changes there helped improve the culture as a whole, how the Taliban’s code of behavior was directed more at the cities, where women were outside their families and tribes more, than it was in the rural areas, and how women, even before, were choosing to wear the veil in public. He also shows that he recognizes where his opponents are coming by referencing back to them and showing that occasionally they have a somewhat valid point—some women are being suppressed—which gave credibility to what himself as a writer.