Thoughts on "Don't"

     I was drawn to this piece because it was so negative.  The title itself is, "Don't" which implies that the piece is going to be about not being able to do something.  I looked at where the story was taking place and that place was Cairo, Egypt.  I have to confess I don't know much about Egypt, but I could probably tell that women don't have the same rights as men there or even close to the rights on women in the U.S.  There were a lot of "normal" phrases that parents may tell their kids.  For example, "Don't shout, Don't fool around, Don't be long, Wake up."  However, there are others that were strange to the society I grew up in like, "Don't talk, Don't look out from the window, Don't fight it the razor, and Don't say no."  I feel that my idea that they didn't have the same rights there was correct based on these second set of phrases.  I think the most shocking of the lines was, "Don't fight it the razor."  Could this be a connection to female genital mutilation?  I thought so.  Before this piece there is a "Girl Fact" this fact states, "In Africa, about three million girls a year are at risk for female genital mutilation-more than 8,000 per day."  I was shocked that so many were happening each day!  This is also where I made the connection of Egypt being part of Africa and where Eve Ensler got the idea for this piece.
     A repeating line that is said in this piece is, "My mother keeps me in, my father kicks me out."  I feel that maybe these negative don'ts are mostly her father while her mother tries to console her and tell her that everything is alright.  I feel that the only reason why she has put up with all this was for her mother's sake.  It seems like the males in her family aren't nice to her because she is a female.  There is even a line that states her brother beats her.  I have a feeling the main character also wants to be educated and smart and wants to be a part of who she is and the people around her.  She seems to be repressed.  She mentions wanting to be able to read to better herself.  The last line struck me, "know the number of the bus I'm suppose to take when I one day leave this house."  The character wants out and new free independent life which is what Eve Ensler is trying to send to young girls.  She wants them to be independent and love themselves no matter what situation they are in.