Yol Bolsun! May There Be A Road: Women and A Walking Drum

By Diane (What is the trick to indent paragraphs?)

Mathurin is a lustful youth accustomed to the cultures of his time, yet he treats each woman with the respect she seeks. “This tribute have I always paid to women. I have not forgotten [them].”(188) The village woman, captured by pirates inspired him with her escape and he repeatedly honored her for it. “Aziza…even lovelier than I remembered… had made her peace with her new life and had forgotten...I remembered.”(188) Of the shepherds dark-eyed daughter, he mused “…she was such a woman as could topple kingdoms and lay dukedoms in the dust.”(123)

Disapproval is clear when he relates “With all the talk of chivalry among the Franks, women were considered mere chattels.”(139) Among the “Moslem worlds of Spain or the Middle East [women] were not restricted [in education] and had attained eminence in the field of letters. Many had attended universities…”(139) In spite of these paltry educational freedoms women continued to be bought for politics, sold with a dowry, and beauty was too often a curse. Even those women who obtained a measure of power held their scepters with a shaky hand, their very physique betraying them by simultaneously offering temptation and displaying frailty. L’amour makes it clear that the same creature so easily procured for any harem is also capable of such influence as Helen or Cleopatra.

In spite of the apparently unanimous religious & societal views of women at that time Aziza explains “We manage, somehow. ...some become very clever at politics and intrigue. Some simply find a lover; some sink into whatever life they have with their children, and often they are enough.”(107) Mathurin accepts her statement without question, but later relates that “Women are neither weaklings nor fools, and they, too, must plan for what is to come.”(290)

Mathurin’s praise transcends gender and pits Safia triumphantly against humanity when he relates that “It had taken more courage than a person had a right to possess for her to come to warn me.”(174) “Safia” he explains, “was unreadable, beautiful again, and a mystery forever. She was soft and lovely…yet quiet, with much of the queen in her presence. There was a steel in her, a command of herself and those about her such as I had seen in no other woman.”(188) How easily he could have kept her with him, instead he respects her wishes and bids farewell as she travels her road to Paris. With Suzanne he is playful and taunting but he still allows her freedom to choose or deny him. Of Sundari, the woman he vows to marry, this book says little, but Mathurin prepares to risk everything for her. Finally he had found “Someone more important to me than anyone or anything….”(348)

“[T]here comes a time when it lies within [ones] grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be.”(336) Mathruin warns that we must be careful what we wish for as the “woman who wishes to be the equal of a man usually turns out to be less than a man and less than a woman. A woman is herself, which is something altogether different than a man.”(219) Through the character of Mathruin, Loui L’amour subtly encourages all women to recognize their historical importance, find the road that calls, and stride forward with confidence. Woman is not man, she was not meant to be and will find greatness only in being woman. Yol bolsun! May there be a road for the women who wish to exit mans’ marathon and travel a feminine path.