Comparing The Help 'And A Thousand Splendid Suns'

The turbulence of the civil rights movement and the rising of new powers has contributed to how society is shaped today and has inspired the creation of many literary and visual works. This can be perceived through the American film, The Help (2011), directed by Tate Taylor and the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns (ATSS), written by Khaled Hosseini, published in 2007. The Help portrays the lives of African-American maids in the 1960’s and the service they offer to white families whilst the novel follows the story of two brave young women through the struggles they faced in Afghanistan. In these texts, similar ideas regarding the existence of dominant and marginalized groups in different societies are presented with the aid of film codes and

During the film, the viewers comprehend the struggle of the white adults stressing to their younger generation, trying to create an association between the African - American race, dirty and diseases. This can be seen in the powerful scene where Mae Mobley is caught using the wrong coloured restroom as her mother had exclaims, “I did not raise you to use the coloured bathroom! ... This is dirty out here, Mae Mobley. You'll catch diseases” This represents the superior race suggesting that the African-Americans are fundamentally dirty. This is further reinforced by the separation of the toilets, symbolising the segregation between the ethnical groups. Additionally in the novel, Hoessini displays misogyny by

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Rasheed ,a representative of the majority of the male population was constructed as dominate and powerful, while the women such as Mariam was portrayed as weak and submissive by her action, dialogue and clothing. This is seen through the extract when Rasheed spat out Mariam’s cooking and demanded her to chew on pebbles. When Mariam’s ask in her ‘apologetic tone’ “what’s wrong?”, she ‘felt her pulse quickening, her skin shrinking’. This displays her fear as she realized how powerless and uninfluential she was in the family and how effortlessly her husband could cause harm to her. Likewise, when Rasheed ‘snatched’ her hand and ‘pried it open’ with ‘his powerful hands clasped her jaw’, it illustrates a dominant attitude over his oppressed wife. The ideology of a dominate and a marginalized group which exists in society is confirmed when women has a ‘dress code’ established by the Taliban. This includes wearing a jilbab to cover up as they are recognized as a ‘property’ which belong to the men. Additionally, in the movie, dialogue, clothing and camera angle was incorporate to demonstrate African Americans as the marginalized group in the society. This is evident during the opening scene where Aibileen was questioned if she knew she was going to become a maid