Issue
Authors retain the copyright without restrictions for their published content in this journal. HSSR is a SHERPA ROMEO Green Journal.
Publishing License
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of
LAYERS OF DISCOURSE AND GENDER RELATION IN KHALED HOSSEINI'S A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
Corresponding Author(s) : Priyanka Chaudhary
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews,
Vol. 8 No. 3 (2020): May
Abstract
Purpose of the study: The research explores the gender relation and coercion on the marginalized section—women primarily due to socialized stereotypes in Hosseini's bestselling A Thousand Splendid Suns. The paper deciphers discrimination among the Muslim society of Afghanistan. It leads to how the filial and societal norms, which women are expected to upkeep, gradually develop revulsion and motivation for resilience to bring peace in filial relations.
Methodology: In the context of postcolonial and feminist literary debates, this research is framed by Discourse Analysis of Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Karl Marx, and Foucauldian theories on 'Othering,' alienation, and power relation.
Main Findings: It is found that the inflexible gendered roles in conventional Afghan society instigate the oppressed to cultivate insolence against cultural hierarchy. The female characters, three generations apart, an embodiment of Afghan women, show resilience against the discourses. Women, being more prone to being triply marginalized in the regimes of phallocentric norms—Taliban dictatorship, and western ideologies of Soviet and American government.
Applications of this study: The novel is chosen to discuss this problem as it demonstrates Afghan women's conflicts through the heart-rendering portrayal of their positions and roles in the community. The protagonists develop a sisterhood to raise voice against the cultural institutions to seek peace in filial relations.
Novelty/Originality of this study: The novel is thoroughly examined under discourse related to gender relations and under feministic criticism, which is far apart when we talk about the women in third world countries. They try to gain their space and share not by keeping themselves in the centre similar to Eurocentric feminism; rather, they are more concerned with filial welfare instead of the 'self.'
Keywords
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)BibTeX
- Al-Dagamseh, A. M., & Golubeva, O. (2017). Khaled Hosseini’s a thousand splendid suns as a child-rescue and Neo-orientalist narrative. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 19(4). https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.3057 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.3057
- Ashishkumar V. Patar. (2018). Gender Discrimination in Khaled Hosseini’s Novels. Smart Moves Journal IJELLH, 6(4), 1049-1054. https://ijellh.com/OJS/index.php/OJS/article/view/3702
- Bahri, D. (n.d.). Feminism and Postcolonialism in a global and local frame. Open Edition Books. https://books.openedition.org/iheid/6321
- Beauvoir, S. D. (1949). The second sex. Random House.
- Chona R. Echavez et al. (2016). The Other Side of Gender Inequality: Men and Masculinities in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit.
- Dasarath Neupane & Ramnath Khanal. (2017). Reasons behind Spousal Aggression in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Journal of Advanced Academic Research (JAAR), 4(1). https://doi.org/10.3126/jaar.v4i1.19525 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/jaar.v4i1.19525
- Gandhi, L. (2019). Postcolonial theory: A critical introduction (2nd ed.). Columbia University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003116714
- Gramsci, A. (2011). Prison notebooks. Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003116714 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003116714
- Guha, R., Research School of Pacific Studies Ranajit Guha, & Spivak, G. C. (1988). Selected subaltern studies. Oxford University Press.
- Hooks, bell (1984). Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Boston: South End Press. ––– 1994. Outlaw Culture. New York: Routledge.
- Hosseini, K. (2007). A thousand splendid suns. Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Kenas, T. (2019). Gender subalternity in Khaled Hosseini’s a thousand splendid suns. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.09.84 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.09.84
- Khaled Hosseini (2013, July 2). An interview with Khaled Hosseini. Interview. https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/900/khaled-hosseini
- Lindsay B. Shapiro. (2010). Middle Eastern Women’s Issues: An Analysis of A Thousand Splendid Suns and The New York Times [Master’s thesis]. http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0042591/shapiro_l.pdf
- Marx, K. (1973). Karl Marx on society and social change: With selections by Friedrich Engels. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226173788.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226173788.001.0001
- McClintock, A. 1992. The Angel of Progress: Pitfalls of the Term ‘Post-Colonialism’. Social Text 31/32: 84-98. https://doi.org/10.2307/466219 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/466219
- Morris, R. (2010). Can the subaltern speak? Reflections on the history of an idea. Columbia University Press.
- Jovia, I., Farooq, U, Ghafoor, S. & Gull, A. (2017). Courageous Women: A Study of Resilience of Women in Khaled Hosseini’s Novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. Language in India, 17, 98-108. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321267627
- Muntian, A., & Shpak, I. (2020). Gender discourse of “A thousand splendid suns†by Khaled Hosseini. Тrаnscarpathian Philological Studies, 2(14), 213-217. https://doi.org/10.32782/tps2663-4880/2020.14-2.40 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32782/tps2663-4880/2020.14-2.40
- Parry, Benita, (1997). ‘Resistance Theory/theorising resistance or two cheers for nativism’, ‘in’ Colonial Discourse, Postcolonial Theory’ Eds.’ Francis Barker, Peter Hulme and Margaret Iversen. Manchester, Manchester University Press.
- Rüsse, P., & Krasnova, A. (2020). Pro-social Trickstars in Khaled Hosseini’s a thousand splendid suns. Interlitteraria, 24(2), 556-576. https://doi.org/10.12697/IL.2019.24.2.21 DOI: https://doi.org/10.12697/IL.2019.24.2.21
- Qamar, S. & Shakeel, R. K. (2015). Representation of Afghan Institution of Marriage in Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed and A Thousand Splendid Suns: A Cultural Study. International Journal of English and Literature, 5(1), 57-64. http://www.tjprc.org/view_paper.php?id=4485
- Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism: Western conceptions of the Orient. Penguin UK.
- Scheff, T. J. (2000). Shame and the social bond: A sociological theory. Sociological Theory, 18(1), 84-99. https://doi.org/10.1111/0735-2751.00089 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/0735-2751.00089
- Hong, S. (2018). Focalization in A Thousand Splendid Suns: on the Highlight of the Theme and Characterization. In 2018 4th International Conference on Economics, Management and Humanities Science (ECOMHS 2018) (pp. 6-10). Francis Academic Press, UK. https://webofproceedings.org/proceedings_series/article/artId/2960.html
- Soraya, S. (2015). The subaltern voice in a thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini. Lingua Cultura, 9(2), 81. https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v9i2.827 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v9i2.827
- Stephen Slemon (1997), “Unsettling the Empire: Resistance Theory for the Second Worldâ€, in Contemporary Postcolonial Theory: A Reader
- Stuhr, R. A. (2011). A Thousand Splendid Suns: Sanctuary and Resistance. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/
- Suharni, A., & Ekalestari, S. (2019). Motives of struggles in Khaled Hosseini’s novel a thousand splendid suns. Journal of Language, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.30743/jol.v1i1.1121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30743/jol.v1i1.1121
- Yahya, Z. (1994). Resisting colonialist discourse. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
- Spirovska, E. (2020). Memories and stories of returning home in khaled hosseini’s novels the kite runner, and the mountains echoed, a thousand splendid suns. Folia linguistica et litteraria. XI. 27-37. ttps://doi.org/10.31902/fll.31.2020.3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31902/fll.31.2020.3
- Mirzapour, N. & Samadian, A. (2020). Embodiment of Gender Discrimination in Khaled Hosseini’d The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Semnan University Journal, 9(1), 29-35.
- ÇEVİK, Y. (2019). The plight of marginalized women in Khaled Hosseini S a thousand splendid suns in ‘The third world feminism. Journal of International Social Research, 12(66), 56-64. https://doi.org/10.17719/jisr.2019.3559 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17719/jisr.2019.3559
- Naidu, S. (2015). The First World’s Third World Expert: Self-Exoticization in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies, 3(1), 40-52. http://jcpcsonline.com/contents/ns-v03n1.html
- PondelÃková, M. I. (2019). Reflection of muslim culture in literature. Radomskie Studia Filologiczne, Radom: UTH: 9(2), 177-192.
- Sundaresan, S., Sumathi, K., & Kolappadhas, P. (2018). Literature review on Khaled Hosseini’s “The kite runner†and ‘A thousand splendid suns’ novel. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 3(4), 493-502. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.3.4.3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.3.4.3
- Nayebpour, K. & Varghaiyan, N. (2020). The unresolved ethnic conflict in khaled hosseini’s the kite runner. Atatürk University Journal of Faculty of Letters, 64, 293-309. https://atif.sobiad.com/index.jsp?modul=makale-detay&Alan=sosyal&Id=w1H2bXMBu-adCBSEsIiW
- Naik, N. & Tiwari. A. (2018). Multicultural Themes in Khaled Hosseini’s Novels: A Critical Analysis. International Journal on Arts, Management and Humanities, 7(1), 1-3. https://www.researchtrend.net/ijamh/pdf/1%20IJAMH-1097-FAYAZ%20AHMED%20NAIK.pdf
- Khadawardi, H. (2017). Superego guilt, redemption and atonement in Khaled Hosseini’s the kite runner. International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.20431/2349-0381.0402009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20431/2349-0381.0402009
- Khan, R. N., & Qureshi, A. W. (2018). The politics of voice in the stereotypical representation of the pashtuns: A critical study of Khaled Hosseini’s novels. Global Social Sciences Review, III(II), 385-399. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2018(III-II).22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2018(III-II).22
- Benzahra, S. (2017). Adverse Elements of Culture: In Nuruddin Farah’s Links and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner [Doctoral dissertation]. https://dspace.univ-adrar.edu.dz/jspui/handle/123456789/3763
- Verma, R. G. (2018). Home No/w/here: Study of Diasporic Dilemma in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. In Ajay K. Chaubey & Asis De (Eds.), Mapping South Asian diaspora: Recent responses and ruminations. Jaipur and New Delhi: Rawat Publication, 182-194.
- Shihada, I. (2019). Revisiting Women’s Rights in Khaled Hosseini’s A thousand Splendid Suns. International Journal Of English: Literature, Language & Skills, 7(4), 25-40. https://www.ijells.com/volume-7-issue-4-january-2019/
- Nanda, S., & Shokeen, N. (2014). Bond of love in the novels of Khaled Hosseini. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19(3), 10-13. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-19321013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-19321013
- Naidu, S & Shabangu, M. (2015). The First World’s Third World Expert: Self-Exoticization in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. Journal of Commonwealth & Postcolonial Studies. 3. 40. vital:26358, http://hdl.handle.net/10962/53922, http://jcpcsonline.com/contents/ns-v03n1.html
References
Al-Dagamseh, A. M., & Golubeva, O. (2017). Khaled Hosseini’s a thousand splendid suns as a child-rescue and Neo-orientalist narrative. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 19(4). https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.3057 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.3057
Ashishkumar V. Patar. (2018). Gender Discrimination in Khaled Hosseini’s Novels. Smart Moves Journal IJELLH, 6(4), 1049-1054. https://ijellh.com/OJS/index.php/OJS/article/view/3702
Bahri, D. (n.d.). Feminism and Postcolonialism in a global and local frame. Open Edition Books. https://books.openedition.org/iheid/6321
Beauvoir, S. D. (1949). The second sex. Random House.
Chona R. Echavez et al. (2016). The Other Side of Gender Inequality: Men and Masculinities in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit.
Dasarath Neupane & Ramnath Khanal. (2017). Reasons behind Spousal Aggression in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Journal of Advanced Academic Research (JAAR), 4(1). https://doi.org/10.3126/jaar.v4i1.19525 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/jaar.v4i1.19525
Gandhi, L. (2019). Postcolonial theory: A critical introduction (2nd ed.). Columbia University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003116714
Gramsci, A. (2011). Prison notebooks. Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003116714 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003116714
Guha, R., Research School of Pacific Studies Ranajit Guha, & Spivak, G. C. (1988). Selected subaltern studies. Oxford University Press.
Hooks, bell (1984). Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Boston: South End Press. ––– 1994. Outlaw Culture. New York: Routledge.
Hosseini, K. (2007). A thousand splendid suns. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Kenas, T. (2019). Gender subalternity in Khaled Hosseini’s a thousand splendid suns. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.09.84 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.09.84
Khaled Hosseini (2013, July 2). An interview with Khaled Hosseini. Interview. https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/900/khaled-hosseini
Lindsay B. Shapiro. (2010). Middle Eastern Women’s Issues: An Analysis of A Thousand Splendid Suns and The New York Times [Master’s thesis]. http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0042591/shapiro_l.pdf
Marx, K. (1973). Karl Marx on society and social change: With selections by Friedrich Engels. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226173788.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226173788.001.0001
McClintock, A. 1992. The Angel of Progress: Pitfalls of the Term ‘Post-Colonialism’. Social Text 31/32: 84-98. https://doi.org/10.2307/466219 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/466219
Morris, R. (2010). Can the subaltern speak? Reflections on the history of an idea. Columbia University Press.
Jovia, I., Farooq, U, Ghafoor, S. & Gull, A. (2017). Courageous Women: A Study of Resilience of Women in Khaled Hosseini’s Novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. Language in India, 17, 98-108. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321267627
Muntian, A., & Shpak, I. (2020). Gender discourse of “A thousand splendid suns†by Khaled Hosseini. Тrаnscarpathian Philological Studies, 2(14), 213-217. https://doi.org/10.32782/tps2663-4880/2020.14-2.40 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32782/tps2663-4880/2020.14-2.40
Parry, Benita, (1997). ‘Resistance Theory/theorising resistance or two cheers for nativism’, ‘in’ Colonial Discourse, Postcolonial Theory’ Eds.’ Francis Barker, Peter Hulme and Margaret Iversen. Manchester, Manchester University Press.
Rüsse, P., & Krasnova, A. (2020). Pro-social Trickstars in Khaled Hosseini’s a thousand splendid suns. Interlitteraria, 24(2), 556-576. https://doi.org/10.12697/IL.2019.24.2.21 DOI: https://doi.org/10.12697/IL.2019.24.2.21
Qamar, S. & Shakeel, R. K. (2015). Representation of Afghan Institution of Marriage in Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed and A Thousand Splendid Suns: A Cultural Study. International Journal of English and Literature, 5(1), 57-64. http://www.tjprc.org/view_paper.php?id=4485
Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism: Western conceptions of the Orient. Penguin UK.
Scheff, T. J. (2000). Shame and the social bond: A sociological theory. Sociological Theory, 18(1), 84-99. https://doi.org/10.1111/0735-2751.00089 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/0735-2751.00089
Hong, S. (2018). Focalization in A Thousand Splendid Suns: on the Highlight of the Theme and Characterization. In 2018 4th International Conference on Economics, Management and Humanities Science (ECOMHS 2018) (pp. 6-10). Francis Academic Press, UK. https://webofproceedings.org/proceedings_series/article/artId/2960.html
Soraya, S. (2015). The subaltern voice in a thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini. Lingua Cultura, 9(2), 81. https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v9i2.827 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v9i2.827
Stephen Slemon (1997), “Unsettling the Empire: Resistance Theory for the Second Worldâ€, in Contemporary Postcolonial Theory: A Reader
Stuhr, R. A. (2011). A Thousand Splendid Suns: Sanctuary and Resistance. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/
Suharni, A., & Ekalestari, S. (2019). Motives of struggles in Khaled Hosseini’s novel a thousand splendid suns. Journal of Language, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.30743/jol.v1i1.1121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30743/jol.v1i1.1121
Yahya, Z. (1994). Resisting colonialist discourse. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Spirovska, E. (2020). Memories and stories of returning home in khaled hosseini’s novels the kite runner, and the mountains echoed, a thousand splendid suns. Folia linguistica et litteraria. XI. 27-37. ttps://doi.org/10.31902/fll.31.2020.3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31902/fll.31.2020.3
Mirzapour, N. & Samadian, A. (2020). Embodiment of Gender Discrimination in Khaled Hosseini’d The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Semnan University Journal, 9(1), 29-35.
ÇEVİK, Y. (2019). The plight of marginalized women in Khaled Hosseini S a thousand splendid suns in ‘The third world feminism. Journal of International Social Research, 12(66), 56-64. https://doi.org/10.17719/jisr.2019.3559 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17719/jisr.2019.3559
Naidu, S. (2015). The First World’s Third World Expert: Self-Exoticization in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies, 3(1), 40-52. http://jcpcsonline.com/contents/ns-v03n1.html
PondelÃková, M. I. (2019). Reflection of muslim culture in literature. Radomskie Studia Filologiczne, Radom: UTH: 9(2), 177-192.
Sundaresan, S., Sumathi, K., & Kolappadhas, P. (2018). Literature review on Khaled Hosseini’s “The kite runner†and ‘A thousand splendid suns’ novel. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 3(4), 493-502. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.3.4.3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.3.4.3
Nayebpour, K. & Varghaiyan, N. (2020). The unresolved ethnic conflict in khaled hosseini’s the kite runner. Atatürk University Journal of Faculty of Letters, 64, 293-309. https://atif.sobiad.com/index.jsp?modul=makale-detay&Alan=sosyal&Id=w1H2bXMBu-adCBSEsIiW
Naik, N. & Tiwari. A. (2018). Multicultural Themes in Khaled Hosseini’s Novels: A Critical Analysis. International Journal on Arts, Management and Humanities, 7(1), 1-3. https://www.researchtrend.net/ijamh/pdf/1%20IJAMH-1097-FAYAZ%20AHMED%20NAIK.pdf
Khadawardi, H. (2017). Superego guilt, redemption and atonement in Khaled Hosseini’s the kite runner. International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.20431/2349-0381.0402009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20431/2349-0381.0402009
Khan, R. N., & Qureshi, A. W. (2018). The politics of voice in the stereotypical representation of the pashtuns: A critical study of Khaled Hosseini’s novels. Global Social Sciences Review, III(II), 385-399. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2018(III-II).22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2018(III-II).22
Benzahra, S. (2017). Adverse Elements of Culture: In Nuruddin Farah’s Links and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner [Doctoral dissertation]. https://dspace.univ-adrar.edu.dz/jspui/handle/123456789/3763
Verma, R. G. (2018). Home No/w/here: Study of Diasporic Dilemma in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. In Ajay K. Chaubey & Asis De (Eds.), Mapping South Asian diaspora: Recent responses and ruminations. Jaipur and New Delhi: Rawat Publication, 182-194.
Shihada, I. (2019). Revisiting Women’s Rights in Khaled Hosseini’s A thousand Splendid Suns. International Journal Of English: Literature, Language & Skills, 7(4), 25-40. https://www.ijells.com/volume-7-issue-4-january-2019/
Nanda, S., & Shokeen, N. (2014). Bond of love in the novels of Khaled Hosseini. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19(3), 10-13. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-19321013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-19321013
Naidu, S & Shabangu, M. (2015). The First World’s Third World Expert: Self-Exoticization in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. Journal of Commonwealth & Postcolonial Studies. 3. 40. vital:26358, http://hdl.handle.net/10962/53922, http://jcpcsonline.com/contents/ns-v03n1.html