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Introduction
In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, Afghan society is portrayed at different points in history and governments, and in all of them, women are viewed as a secondary class of citizens. There is evident inequality for women, ranging from their access to education and healthcare to their rights as citizens and wives or children. Hosseini emphasizes multiple key moments of injustice and inequality faced by the protagonists, Mariam and Laila. The intent of the paper is to explore the recent Afghani history and social conditions while making connections to the events of the novel to address the question: to which extent women are affected by inequality, oppression, and suppression in Afghanistan, and what are thematic prerequisites to this?
The Recent Afghani History and Social Conditions
Hosseini dedicates the novel to the women of Afghanistan, embodied in the images of Mariam and Laila. The tragic fate of women born out of wedlock, her search for herself and the possibility of personal happiness, their heroism and self-sacrifice make up the deep global meaning of the text. The key cultural component of Mariam’s image is harami, or bastard (Hosseini 4). A girl who combines two qualities that are discriminated against in Afghanistan – being an illegitimate child and a woman.
In the story about the fate of Mariam, the key lexeme harami acquires emotional and evaluative meanings, including pronounced epithets and comparisons. The narrator states, “by the way Nana said the word, that it was an ugly, loathsome thing to be a harami, like an insect, like the scurrying cockroaches” (Hosseini 4). In Afghanistan, families feel shame for illegitimate children who are considered a disgrace, which is also present in the text. The latter statement is visible from the following, “She imagined they all knew that she’d been born a harami, a source of shame to her father and his family” (Hosseini 66). Such a state of affairs seems to be rooted in the essentials of the country’s regime that had been oppressing women to a great extent.
The Taliban was the ruling force when the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, but ironically came back into power the very day the US was withdrawing its force from the country. Barr mentions some of the Taliban’s restrictive policies, such as the lack of education for girls and the need for a male family member to accompany women leaving their homes. This wave-alike shift in the degree of oppression within the society has considerably affected people’s understanding of females’ rights in the country. Accompanied by a solid religious foundation, the described factor has never allowed women to feel the absence of inadequate restrictions.
At this point, it would be reasonable to note another cultural characteristic of the image of Mariam; the patience and readiness of a woman to endure oppression which is expressed by two equivalent lexemes. In English it is “endure”, and in Persian “tahamul” (Hosseini 17). Such a female share is instilled in Mariam from childhood by her mother. She states, “This is my reward for everything I’ve endured”, “Only one skill. And it’s this: tahamul” (Hosseini 18). Then, there are some other features of Mariam’s image, among which is the kolba, where the girl lives with her mother. It is a type of small hut that is built with sun-dried bricks, mud, and straw in Afghanistan (Hosseini 10). There is a belief that the kolba is one of the most primitive types of dwellings that are built from improvised materials. Kolba in the novel is a symbol of the woman’s living space, limited by the house (Shihada 29). It is known that Sharia law interprets the place of a woman in this way. After marriage, Mariam remains “living in a hut” although she now has her own house, the house of her husband, she almost never goes out.
The turning point in Mariam’s life comes with the appearance of Aziza, the daughter of Laila, who had become the second wife in the family. Mariam realizes that little Aziza is as illegitimate as herself, along with Laila, who becomes the dearest people in her life, ready to love her and take care of her. Mariam’s insight leads to a confrontation with her fate, which in this fragment is expressed by the inevitability of intolerance and her willingness to escape such a state of affairs. This reflects the author’s evaluative position on the status of women in their country, deprived of love and respect.
Indeed, the Afghan society has been war-torn for decades, and as in many conflict-ravaged societies, women bear the unjustified load. Lauren provides some chilling statistics that more than 80% of Afghan girls will face forced marriage, 87% remain illiterate, and 80% of suicides are by females. Afghanistan is a society that is so inbred in its patriarchy and misogyny that, despite all the evidence, it is willing to see women suffer, die, and face generational levels of abuse with no end in sight.
Laila’s influence on Mariam’s life is not only that Mariam found the meaning of life in friendship and love, but also that Laila is not going to put up with Sharia traditions. Laila personifies in the novel a woman of Western culture secondary to Hosseini – an independent, educated, and persuasive decision-maker. The fact that Mariam follows Laila demonstrates the author’s position in relation to the gender issue in Afghanistan. He considers the position of women there unacceptable.
Mariam performs a heroic deed that is among the most significant events in the novel. After killing her husband to protect Laila and Aziza, she places herself in the hands of the Taliban “justice” and, in doing so, gives her new family hope for a new life. Before her death, in the inner speech of Mariam, all associations of the image of an Afghan woman are expressed, and all that she is unfairly deprived of (Hosseini 354). The main aspects of this deprivation are highlighted syntactically in nominative sentences – a mother, a person worthy of respect.
Here, it should be noted that women’s rights are affected by a large number of ways to end unhappy marriages in Afghanistan. Forms of divorce through the courts often require the woman to pay compensation to her husband (Petersen 71). In a court divorce, the wife must provide sufficient evidence to substantiate her reasons for seeking a divorce. Sharia permits a wife to obtain a divorce through the courts on the following grounds. Among them are mistreatment, cruelty, psychological and physical torture, the impotence of the husband, leaving the family or the disappearance of the husband, and incurable and contagious diseases (Petersen 68). Nevertheless, in practice, courts tend to rule in favor of men, appealing to the lack of sufficient pieces of evidence. It seems that Mariam clearly realized her situation and considered the murder as the only possible option.
At this point, an essential aspect is to be explored. One should understand that the conditions under which women live in Afghanistan – within the scope of social, political, and cultural aspect – are defined by particular legal environment and the related provisions. It should be emphasized that Islamic law took shape as early as the 7th-8th centuries and was very relevant for this era (Hozyainova 3). However, over time, Sharia began to transform and absorb elements of legal customs and traditions that were in force in pre-Islamic Arabia and in the territories conquered by the Arabs. Various currents and legal schools have appeared, interpreting the provisions of Islam in different ways. All this gave rise to the current problem of infringement of women’s rights in Arab countries. Such an issue is associated both with the severity of the prescriptions of Islam and with their arbitrary interpretation, which results in incorrect applications in practice (Hozyainova 5). In addition, it must be admitted that certain Shariah provisions regarding women are outdated today and cannot be applied to modern realities without their inevitable adaptation, the reflection of which may be seen in the Mariam’s plotline.
The unrest that swept through the countries of the Middle East testifies to the social tensions existing in these countries, caused, among other things, by the legal status of women and inequality in terms of rights. Nevertheless, Muslim countries are still making certain attempts to resolve the conflict situation regarding women’s rights and bring the legislation of these states in line with international human rights standards. In particular, since 2006, every two years, ministerial conferences on women’s issues have been held, at which programs, resolutions, and recommendations are adopted to improve the legal status of women in Muslim states (Qazi Zada 269). However, Hosseini does not tend to depict any rays of hope in this vein and shows the darkest picture possible.
In the novel, Hosseini paints a panorama of modern Afghani society. There is a feeling that the women of the East are constantly crying invisible tears. According to the laws of Sharia law, they seek the truth in court or the sympathy of mothers and female friends. The author poses topical problems for the reader: whether an Arab woman has the right to choose or not; is it possible for a woman to endure and forgive violence against herself; whether a Muslim woman can enjoy the freedom of speech and expression.
The issue of injustice in society’s order has been investigated by numerous modern scholars. Particularly, Mahendru describes gruesome instances of gender-based violence and sexual violence, typically in forced marriages. Women found themselves in situations undergoing severe abuse, violations of privacy, including sexual, such as forced virginity tests, and deprived of fundamental human rights, freedoms, and dignity. Under these conditions, sooner or later, a woman will be forced to act desperately, which is shown in Mariam’s plotline. However, anyone who stood up to the extremism, particularly during the Taliban rule, could face years of imprisonment or even the death penalty, as demonstrated in the book.
Here, it is rational to claim that the image of Mariam is associated with the title of the novel. “A thousand splendid suns” is a poetic quote from a poem dedicated to Kabul by Saib Tabrizi, a Persian poet of the 17th century (Ghafoor and Farooq 32). In this line, he expresses his admiration for the beauty of the city. For Hosseini, a thousand splendid suns are the women of Afghanistan, like Mariam. After overcoming her fear, Laila returns to Kabul to become a teacher at an orphanage. It is noteworthy that in Laila’s thoughts, the children in the class relate to Mariam, who never went to school. Education was a pipe dream of Mariam, which is also a characteristic of her image since there are half as many schools for girls in Afghanistan as for boys.
It should be emphasized that education seems to be a pressing issue within the given scope, which is evidenced by the contemporary state of affairs. A related study shows that gender theme is still a decisive factor when it comes to the education of the young generation in Afghanistan. According to that study, over 90% of parents from the sample wanted at least a secondary education completed before their children married (Blum et al 370). The authors also stress severely limited educational opportunities and increased risks of violence and freedom restrictions for girls.
In the final pages of the novel, the metaphorical micro-image of the effulgence of Mariam as a thousand suns stresses the main idea of the novel, which is visible here: “Mariam is in Laila’s own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns” (Hosseini 414). Such a perspective can be associated with the ray of hope that the author foresees in the future of women in Afghanistan.
Conclusion
To conclude, it is evident that the issue of women’s inequality in Afghanistan and as described in A Thousand Suns, is deeply intertwined with the socio-cultural traditions and highly orthodox religious Islamic beliefs which dominate Afghan society. The century-old traditions formulate the patriarchal society, which, in combination, views women in the context of ownership in the light of legal systems such as Sharia law.
Works Cited
Barr, Heather. “From Taliban to Taliban: Cycle of Hope, Despair on Women’s Rights.” Human Rights Watch, 2021, Web.
Blum, Robert Wm., et al. “Coming of Age in the Shadow of the Taliban: Education, Child Marriage, and the Future of Afghanistan from the Perspectives of Adolescents and Their Parents.” Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 64, no. 3, 2019, pp. 370–375.
Bohn, Lauren. “‘We’re All Handcuffed in This Country.’ Why Afghanistan Is Still the Worst Place in the World to Be a Woman.”Time, 2018, Web.
Ghafoor, Sohail, and Umer Farooq. “Can Subaltern Be Heard: An Analysis of The Kite Runner and The Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini: Can Subaltern Be Heard.”International Review of Literary Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, 2020, pp. 29-38, Web.
Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Riverhead Books, 2007.
Hozyainova, Anastasiya. Sharia and Women’s Rights in Afghanistan. US Institute of Peace, 2014, Web.
Mahendru, Ritu. “Girls and Women Speak out from Afghan Moral Prisons: Tackling Extremism and Violence against Women in a Conflict Environment.” Global Public Health, vol. 16, no. 5, 2020, pp. 1–17.
Petersen, Jesper. “The Islamic Juridical Vacuum and Islamic Authorities’ Role in Divorce Cases.” Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research, no. 10, 2020, pp. 67–84.
Qazi Zada, Sebghatullah. “Legislative, Institutional and Policy Reforms to Combat Violence Against Women in Afghanistan.” Indian Journal of International Law, vol. 59, 2021, pp. 257–283.
Shihada, Isam. “Revisiting Women Rights in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns.” International Journal of English: Literature, Language, and Skills, vol. 7, no. 4, 2019, pp. 25–40.
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