A Thousand Splendid Suns’ was written by an Afghan American writer, Khaled Hosseini. The novel narrates the strength and resilience of two women who endure physical and psychological cruelty in an anti-feminist society. It also demonstrates how The Taliban uses fear and violence to control the people of Afghanistan, particularly females. Throughout this story the novel exposes the way customs and laws endorse Rasheed’s violent misogyny and it tells the tale of two women who endure a marriage to a ruthless and brutal man, whose behaviour forces them to kill him. The protagonist Mariam is a poor villager who lives in a remote area in Afghanistan, in contrast to Laila who is a smart, educated daughter of a schoolteacher. Khaled Hosseini has an interesting way of portraying the two female protagonists. He discloses the tyranny and hostility that the Taliban enforce on women just because of their sex. A critic viewed the novel as ‘a powerful portrait of female suffering’ making the reader explicitly aware of the harsh environment Mariam and Laila had to tolerate. One review expressed that ‘Hosseini defends the rights of women to decide what to be in life’ , this could show that Hosseini directed the novel to be in favour of feminist views. Hosseini’s first book ‘The Kite …show more content…
This highlights the importance of how these acts of cruelty Mariam and Laila faced; ‘fear of the goat, released in the tiger’s cage’ is what ultimately defines their inner feminist strength, ‘over the years/learned to harden’ which shows that Mariam and Laila’s past indirectly prepares them for The Taliban’s arrival. The Taliban take away the basic rights of Mariam and Laila ‘jewellery is forbidden’, but they fail to do so. Ironically, it is the society itself that gives them the strength and platform to strike back against Rasheed, who is a cruel, male-dominating character who symbolised and reinforced everything the term ‘anti-feminist’ stands
Khaled Hosseini’s, The Kite Runner, is a book that depicts modern Afghanistan and all the violence as well as how “political change” (AmirDabbaghian and Solimany) “influenced” (AmirDabbaghian and Solimany) citizens in Afghanistan. Hosseini talks about a kid’s life and all the problems he went through along the way. One of the main themes in this novel was betrayal. The way Hosseini incorporates the theme in the story is by using various literary devices, tone, and conflict. To begin with, Khaled Hosseini uses a variety of literary devices to portray the theme.
In regards to the historiography of gender politics in the Victorian era, the social position of women and femininity had become a problematic issue. Similarly, the gender apartheid instilled prior to the civil war in Afghanistan. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, initially published in 2007, is set in Afghanistan from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. In this, it explores the story of Mariam and Laila as the protagonists, who teach the reader the reality of life as a woman in a backward Islamic country. The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny seen from the perspectives of these two women and observes how they become to create a bond, despite having come from previously living in very different backgrounds.
They make common cause and endure degradation, starvation and brutality at the hands of their husband until they are forced to take up a desperate, joint struggle". After being severely beaten, locked up and starved by their husband, Laila and Mariam's differences lead to a conflict that ends in Rasheed's death and Mariam takes the blame; and is killed by the Taliban for killing his husband. This novel deals with many deep topics under the surface, mainly feminist issues, I have critically discussed the statement that says "A Thousand Splendid Suns shows the social and cultural- and, ultimately political structures that support the devaluation, degradation, and violence endured by Mariam and Laila". This was done by focusing and taking into consideration the events that take pace in the novel; which include the decisions that the two women made that led to their conditions that they find themselves in, and the hardships that the women went through, throughout the
In the late 20th century, Afghanistan was a war torn, male-dominated nation, where a culture of shame was perpetuated and women’s voices were seldom heard out. Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns focuses on two women’s experience in Soviet-controlled Afghanistan, and their struggles with shame and identity are central to the story. One character who illustrates this struggle is Mariam, whose troubled upbringing has left her with shame that never fully fades for the rest of her life. This shame manifests itself in Mariam’s interactions with others and in her own perception of herself.
The truth of her words is reflected not only in Jalil’s mistreatment of Nana, but also in Rasheed’s mistreatment of both Mariam and Laila. In addition, Naghma’s story of the mullah’s son who betrayed her emphasizes how the use of women as scapegoats did not just occur in the lives of Nana, Mariam and Laila, but throughout Afghanistan. Hosseini proves that the mistreatment of women throughout the novel stemmed from the tendency of Afghani men to blame women for events or circumstances that the women could not control or for which they were not solely
A Thousand Splendid Suns A Thousand Splendid Suns is written by Khaled Hosseini. The novel is about two young women trying to make it through tough times in Afghanistan. The historical fiction novel describes the main character’s regretful, despairing, and sometimes hopeless life. Khaled Hosseini brutally tells the story and provides a strong and distinct descriptions of the characters and their setting.
In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, the author Khaled Hosseini emphasizes the importance of education in woman. With the importance of education in women comes the endurance of woman. Hosseini displays the endurance of hardships that women face in Afghanistan through his female characters in the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Mariam wants to go to school and be able to learn like other children,“She pictured herself in a classroom with other girls her age.
Stephen kallestad English 11 Mr Rhoades 1/18/22 Kite Runner Final The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a book that has many important themes like loyalty and betrayal, relationships, and risk. The book goes through the first half of a Pashtun boy/man’s life, Amir. The first theme seen in the book is loyalty and its counterpart betrayal .
Khaled Hosseini: Doctor, Author, Founder Many people stereotype countries such as Afghanistan due to the lack of conversation about the nonviolent citizens living on less than one dollar a day (“The Kite Runner”). One author, Khaled Hosseini, is known for writing literature that depicts the innocent people in war torn countries, and the harsh conditions they live in. Hosseini is not only the author of the New York Times Bestseller The Kite Runner, he is also a public figure providing assistance to refugees. As the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, he aids the women and children of Afghanistan.
In the story, the women are oppressed by the society. This is narrated through the delivery of the main antagonist’s id, the gender inequality in enforcing laws and the marginalization of women. As a result of Rasheed’s id, Mariam and Laila are consistently physically and emotionally
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun presents the rise of feminism in America in the 1960s. Beneatha Younger, Lena Younger (Mama) and Ruth Younger are the three primary characters displaying evidences of feminism in the play. Moreover, Hansberry creates male characters who demonstrate oppressive attitudes towards women yet enhance the feministic ideology in the play. A Raisin in the Sun is feminist because, with the feminist notions displayed in the play, women can fulfil their individual dreams that are not in sync with traditional conventions of that time.
Taliban’s Influence in Afghani in The Kite Runner Every since September 27, 1996 , the Taliban have started putting fear in the Afghan women and men heart by ruling in horror and terror. When the Taliban took over, Afghanistan became one of the most poorest and most troubled places in the world. In Khaled Hosseini 's novel, The Kite Runner, the Taliban influence on Afghani culture is affected by the Taliban Laws, The Mistreatment of Hazaras and The Mistreatment of women. The Taliban Laws was forced on women and men.
They represent the plight which the Afghan women have been facing since ages. These characters give hope to the countless women who still suffer the dominance and hardships of the Afghan society. The actions of these characters symbolize their strength to endure things as they join together and retaliate against the man, and in turn the society, who has taken away their rights to live their lives according to their own choices. The ‘thousand splendid suns’ represent the thousands of Afghan women with immense potentialities who are still under the clutches of patriarchal domination and are forced to hide behind the walls. Khaled Hosseini has beautifully portrayed the cruel realities of the lives of Afghan women through Mariam and Laila and this is what separates A Thousand Splendid Suns from literary works that deal with Afghan women.
Reading this book would require cultural understanding, the reader must have read this book through a cultural lens. To have women star in this novel was an edge by Khaled Hosseini because it gave a direct understanding to the oppression women had to face culturally and societally. It could be simply said that during the Taliban rule, women were oppressed but because of the story, as a reader, I was able to understand the depth of the oppression more. I saw it through Laila every time she visited Aziza, I saw it through Mariam every time she tried to please Rasheed. This was accepted in their culture.
Our Lady of Alice Bhatti(2012) is a resonating example of Hanif’s natural gift of storytelling and of a dangerously sharp and pointed social satire. But underneath that satire is an intense critique. Hanif skillfully and realistically shows how women in Pakistan are dealt with. It is not the political issues or the religious fundamentalism which is keeping Pakistan down, Hanif argues. Alice is oppressed because she is a woman, as are the other ladies in the novel.