Iraqi women untold war stories a comparative : study of heather Raffo's nine parts of desire and Ali Abdul Nabi al-Zaidi's summer rain

Abstract EN

Although they do not participate directly in military operations, Iraqi women suffer as much as Iraqi men from the devastating impact of wars and armed conflicts.

The Iraqi women suffering takes many forms : emotional and economic deprivation, widowhood, and social and personal disarticulation.

Bringing these narratives of women's home front suffering to light is still insufficient in comparison to male suffering narratives in the battlefields and elsewhere.

As the main aim of the theatre of war is to fight back wars and raise awareness of its often tragic consequences, shedding light on the untold stories of misery and dispossession whose main characters are women become one of its priorities.

It is argued that dealing with women stories will be more effective as a tool of raising anti-war consciousness.

This paper is a comparative study of Nine Parts of Desire by the American-Iraqi dramatist Heather Raffo and Summer Rain by the Iraqi dramatist Ali Abdul Nabi al-Zaidi.

Both plays reveal many striking similarities in terms of characterization, symbols, and political message.

Both are one-woman /performer show although Ninenarrates the tragic stories of nine Iraqi women.

The paper is proposed as a call to take the necessary actions that help in mitigating the distressing experiences of Iraqi women during and after war.