Sania Khan
Ethics 1105AC
Maria Pacillo
1 March 2021
A Girl in the River
The term “Honor-Killing” is defined as the deliberate murder of a family member based
on the perpetrators’ beliefs that the victim brought dishonor upon the family, community, or
culture. Each year there are an estimate of 1,000 honor killings in Pakistan. The documentary, A
Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, shows a real-life example of a young woman, Saba,
that was a victim of honor killing. In most cases honor killings are tied with their religion and the
standards or expectations that come with being “religious”. Saba grew up in a small village in
Pakistan which was predominantly Muslim. She chose to leave her family and marry the man her
family initially set her up with, Qaisam, after her family went back on their word due to
Qaisam’s financial status. Her uncle and father were enraged by Saba abandoning her family,
twisting religious values to their liking to support their actions of beating Saba to
unconsciousness, shooting her on the side of her face, stuffing her in a body bag, and finally
dumping her into the ocean. As a third world country there is lack of education, resources, and
exposure to the world outside of their community and village. I think this adds to their small,
minded mindset in which they are so accustomed to their beliefs and values. This is not a
justification for their actions, but simply the only thought process I have that could help me
understand how ignorant and confident these men and women are in their support for the
violence inflicted against Saba, even after the police arrested her father and uncle showing their
actions were wrong.
Objectivism makes exceptions to perspective based off morals concerning life. Absolutist
state that killing is always wrong, however objectivists would ask in what situation? Self-defense
would be an exception to killing in the view of an objectivist. The article states, “The first thing
an objectivist would point out about this prohibition is that kill is too general a term: any rational
person would agree that the unintentional taking of a life in an act of self- defense is not
necessarily immoral.” (Pacillo-Dellino 2016). Objectivism goes deeper into the action, taking the
situation aspects into consideration before jumping into a black and white conclusion. In Saba’s
story, an objectivist would say that the killing her father and uncle attempted was wrong and
immoral because it was deliberate and irrational. Her father and uncle were not acting in selfdefense and did not have any disability that would make them act this way.
Relativism is the exact opposite of objectivism. Cultural relativism states that moral
principles validity depends on the person’s culture. “Relativism denies that morality is universal
or absolute.” (Pacillo-Dellino 2016). The moral truth would be dependent on each individual. A
cultural relativist would easily be able to apply this to Saba’s story. It would justify why a father
would ever think to kill his own daughter. All Saba’s father has ever known is the cultural
society he has grown up and raised his family in and they would believe this is a regular life
occurrence. Subjective relativism states that there is moral truth but it is only true for a single
person and if it is true for an individual then it may be only in that time and place, it can change
for that same person in a different environment. In Saba’s story, this would not necessarily be
applicable. Her father would plan on acting in this manner if he relived a moment similar to that
again.
Emotivism is a non-cognitive perspective which states that moral facts do not exist,
therefore a situation cannot be morally true or false. The article states, “emotivism tends to draw
a sharp distinction between two realms: the (positive) realm of facts and the (normative) realm of
values” (Pacillo-Dellino 2016). This would mean if someone said killing is wrong, this would be
expression of the person’s disapproval of killing. It would not be a moral justification.
I believe I fall into the category of an objectivist. I believe my culture is a very large part
of my life. My parents immigrated here after they married and raising my sister’s and I with
strong Pakistani, as well as religious values is very important to them. Although I am raised and
surrounded by these cultural and religious values, when taking moral situations into
consideration my personal background is not taken into account. I also do not believe all
situation are black and white, a person must fully understand the details and explanations before
truly declaring if something is true or false.