Zoya Vs Fanny, Khirad and Jane

Zoya Khan is refreshingly different from the three female protagonists that we have studied so far. While Fanny, Khirad and Jane were all very serious about life and exhibited great maturity and responsibility in the way they dealt with their experiences, Zoya is the complete opposite. With her cheerful and carefree attitude, it is no wonder that she is great at getting along with children, as she is quite the loveable child of the drama herself. Moreover, while it was Fanny, Khirad and Jane who educated other characters particularly the male namely Edmund, Asher and Rochester, in Dhoop Kinare we see a reversal of roles as it is Zoya who receives education from the male, Mr. Ahmer, which can be attributed to her happy-go-lucky personality.  

 

Apart from the fact that the journeys of all these four characters end in marriage, there is not much similarity between our current and the previous three female leads which according to my reading has much to do with their parents. Fanny, Khirad and Jane were not just orphans but destitute and unloved. The reason why they matured so early and had such a serious attitude towards life was that they did not have much of a choice, as they belonged nowhere and had no one to trust or fall back on. Zoya, on the other hand, is raised by her father who is actually more like a friend and mentor than what we imagine typical Pakistani father to be like. He has evidently spoiled her and we can safely assume that he does not have much control over her either. In this case, the absence of the mother becomes important as in the context of a Pakistani society the education that a mother provides to her daughter is largely missing in Zoya’s personality. This is evinced in the scene where Zoya dresses up for a party at her house and upon seeing her, her father teases her about how different she looks. Therefore, in the absence of a mother to teach her to be more responsible and with a father who lets her be herself and do what she likes (in a positive manner), in retrospect it comes as no surprise that Zoya turns out to be miles apart from Fanny, Khirad and Jane.