37 pages • 1 hour read
Gayle Tzemach LemmonThe Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Kamila Sidiqi
Both the protagonist and the eponymous dressmaker of Khair Khana, Kamila is a young woman who finds her civil rights suddenly curtailed by the arrival of the Taliban in Kabul. Amid a fierce civil war, the Taliban arrive in the city a few days after Kamila graduates from high school, scuttling her ambitions of going to college. All of a sudden, what was once a relatively progressive city in the Middle East is under a strict rule of law. Women are forbidden from leaving their homes without male accompaniment and are forced to wear a veil at all times. Despite this, Kamila rises from the adversity and—by the end of the book—delivers speeches in Washington DC and helps to raise many other women up from poverty.
Kamila achieves this through determination and hard work. As the authority figures in her life are forced to leave the city, Kamila realizes that she has to seize control of her life and ensure that her family has enough money to buy food. She thinks hard and decides to become a tailor, even though she does not know how to sew. Though she quickly learns, Kamila does not become a success through her needlework alone. Rather, it is her vision and her ability to put plans into action that ensures her family’s success. Many women in Kabul are relying on their sewing skills to get by, but only Kamila has the vision and expertise to grow the business at a rapid rate, from a small sewing shop to a school and then a business empire. She ventures out into the streets at times of great danger and meets with men in stores even though this is banned. Her abilities to manipulate the local Taliban guards allow her to succeed, keeping just enough within the rules as to avoid persecution.
Kamila makes sacrifices for her family and puts herself in harm's way. Her willingness and almost relentless drive to succeed can, however, come across as arrogant. In this regard, Malika is a mediating influence as she tries to curtail and slow Kamila's passions, warning her of the dangers she faces. This brings the two sisters into conflict. Kamila goes against Malika's advice and takes a job with an international aid organization, something forbidden by the Taliban. After a period in which the two grow distant, it is Malika who makes amends, but Kamila seems unable to admit defeat. While this helps propel Kamila toward seemingly impossible success, this comes at the potential cost of her personal relationships. In this respect, Kamila's greatest strength can also be her greatest weakness.
Malika Sidiqi
Malika is Kamila's older sister. She is a more skilled seamstress who has been sewing and making dresses long before Kamila dreams up her business plan. While her skills are greater, her ambitions are more limited. Malika is a realist and a pragmatist, acting as a regular warning to Kamila and helping to keep her sister's most impulsive actions in check. To an extent, this is conditioned by her home life. Malika is married with children and gives birth prematurely to twins. While Kamila feels a responsibility toward her family, Malika's sense of duty is clearer and more purposeful. The immediate health of her children (having the money to pay for food and medicine) is more important to her than the ambitious plans to build a school. In this regard, Malika and Kamila have the same stated goals but set about achieving them in different ways.
While Kamila's mind is racing with possibilities, Malika sets limits: She will only teach Kamila how to sew if Kamila agrees to a set of rules and does not place the family in danger. Kamila takes this advice, which allows the sisters to work together for the benefit of their family. Later, Malika makes a similar request: She asks Kamila not to take a job with an international aid organization. While Kamila's first thought is of the benefits this job could bring to the community, Malika's concerns are more immediate. She worries what will happen to the family if Kamila is caught by the Taliban. Unbeknownst to Malika, however, Kamila is caught while travelling to Pakistan. Though she manages to talk her way out of the situation, Kamila (and, by extension, the family) are under a serious threat. Malika never learns about this moment, but she is proved right. To the audience, Malika's concerns are both understandable and justified.
For all of Kamila's big picture thinking and ambition, it is Malika's knowledge and care that provided a foundation for the success her sister experiences. Though she does not get the same recognition on the international stage as her sister, Malika is just as important to the community of women in Kabul and deserves praise equal to that given to her sister.
Woja Abdul Sidiqi
Mr. Sidiqi is Kamila’s father—a retired soldier, whose determination and emphasis on education has been passed along to his children. His traits are evident in his daughters, so much so that—when he is forced to flee the city—his presence is still felt through his daughters' actions. He has taught them well, allowing them to flourish while he is away. Indeed, his and his wife’s departure creates the vacuum of responsibility that encourages Kamila to seize the initiative and become the main driving force of the family's fortunes.
In that respect, Mr. Sidiqi is defined by his absence. He spends far more of the narrative in north Afghanistan and Iran than he does in Kabul. He represents the grander nature of the civil war. To those in Kabul, the arrival of the Taliban was a distant threat and then—very suddenly—they arrived. In other areas of the country, the conflict is more drawn out and bloody. Mr. Sidiqi’s former commander is the person leading the opposition forces, thus creating an instant bond between the fortunes of the two men. Due to the nature of his days in the army (as well as his ethnic group), Mr. Sidiqi is a natural target for the Taliban. His departure from Kabul is not an abandonment of his daughters but a sacrifice. As a former soldier, he is desperate to protect his daughters (and even makes the dangerous journey back to Kabul to check on them). As an officer, he knows the tactical advantage of removing himself from the situation. He helps them more by leaving and removing himself as a target than he does by staying. Having raised the girls, he trusts them to put his teachings into practice.
Mr. Sidiqi’s legacy is his daughters’ success. While his role in the various wars in the recent history of Afghanistan has not been littered with success, his ability to raise several educated and determined daughters is his real victory.
