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A Thousand Splendid Suns Gender Analysis

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A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini follows the lives of two women, Mariam and Laila, and the novel portrays the dichotomy of gender in the Afghanistan culture. Gender plays a large role in all of Afghanistan’s social institutions, and we can observe this even at the very start of the novel. For example, Mariam’s mother, Nana, is shunned and placed in a recluse area by Mariam’s father Jalil since Mariam is a harami, or in other words, a bastard. Nana was a maid for Jalil when they had an affair, and when he found out that she was pregnant, he sent her away to small house in a seemingly hidden and isolated village. Only on Thursdays is when Jalil visits Mariam, showing that she is not worth any more attention than that. Likewise, it …show more content…

Her mother, a deeply troubled woman, verbally abused Mariam, telling her that she is a harami (4), she also told Mariam most likely untrue but nevertheless chilling stories of her birth (11), and she also threatens to kill herself and then does commit suicide when Mariam leaves her to visit Jalil (26). Nana is on all accounts unstable, but I surmise that a part of her mental illness is due to the Afghan environment and its treatment of women. Nana is bitter that she is the one who bears the weight of the affair while Jalil can live fruitfully with his three wives and his nine “legitimate” children (5). The Afghan social structure is highly gendered, with men being at the top of the hierarchy and women as their inferiors as they are typically seen as a maid or a housewife/child bearer. Nana certainly internalizes sexism, which influences how she parents Mariam. Nana chooses to not educate Mariam, which reveals that she sees no value in the education of women. Nana hinders Mariam’s life even more by doing this, as she inevitability lacks social interaction with people her age, which is crucial in child development. Likewise, by being refused an education, she does not have a support system or a distraction from Nana’s

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She claims he wants her to “Live removed, detached,” from the rest of society (Hosseini 8). These toxic traits from Nana severely impacts Mariam’s relationship who became detached from her mother, and develops some of the same toxic traits as seen with her original interactions with Laila. This impacts the story because it causes Mariam to distrust the rest of the

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The late 19th century was a monumental era for the city of Paris. As the city kept growing and increasing in popularity around the globe, the city itself was being modernized from its dated medieval layout. These modernizations had a direct impact on the culture of the city, the lifestyles of its inhabitants, and the prominence of the city across the world. Paris’ inhabitants were as social as ever, and often enjoyed themselves at cafés and bars. This modernization acted as a perfect catalyst to support the surging wave of capitalism across Western Europe.

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After Nana’s affair with Jalil, Jalil refused to accept the blame for getting Nana pregnant, due to his high position as a wealthy man in society. Under pressure from his wives

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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.

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It's all we have." And: "She remembered Nana saying once that each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world . . . As reminders of how women like us suffer, she'd said. How quietly we endure all that falls upon us." Mariam's life with Rasheed is testimony enough to the legitimacy of Nana's cautions, and it becomes even crueler when he takes a girl, Laila, as his second wife.

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The readers clearly can identify that his agenda was not to rid Nana of his home but the issue of hiding his child from the world to protect his image as an honorable man. There is evidence that Jalil did indeed have some affections for Mariam which is evident by is visits and the way he lied to please her however his love for her was always outweighed by the fact that he had to maintain his “so called name” to society in the fear of “losing face” thus he could never give Mariam he love she deserved or that he truly wanted leading to Mariam’s discrimination from his other legitimate children. Furthermore, the fact that Jalil visits Mariam years later signifies he did not intend nor take pleasure in this

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In the delivery room, “Mariam positioned herself behind the crown of Laila’s head and lowered her face so their cheeks touched… their hands locked together” (Hosseini 260). During a time of extreme pain, Mariam is by Laila’s side to support and guide her. The act of Mariam handing the sun to Laila also signifies her sacrificing her life to better Laila’s. When Mariam turns herself in to the Taliban, she gives Laila the opportunity to reach the potential she had as a child. When Laila was young, her friend Hasina told her that “one day I’ll pick up a newspaper and find your

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For centuries, women have been exploited by the society. Events of women being prohibited from doing things like voting or working and being forced to behave the way it is considered to be socially acceptable have been jotted down in history. Until today women are still viewed as the weaker sex. In some countries, women are regarded less than human and are treated like slaves. Khaled Hosseini goes into the oppression of women in his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns.

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Laila on the other hand was raised by both parents except her mother did not focus much on her. She therefore had a strong bond with her father than her mother. The two grew up with the knowledge they were brought up with. My essay will focus on the comparison between Mariam’s relationship with her mother and Laila’s relationship with her mother and how these relationships prepare them for adulthood.

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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.

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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.

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