Analysis Of The Book ' Osama And The Characters ' A Thousand Splendid Suns '

“Women and Gender in Islam” by Leila Ahmed was published in 1992, at a time when research on Arab women was a young, newly emerging field of study. Leila Ahmed is an Egyptian American writer and feminist. Her text “Women and Gender in Islam” targets proclaimed feminists, both western and non-western, as the intended audience. The text is involved with the discourse of gender, the discourses of women, the discourses of feminist, and colonial and post-colonial discourses.

For many years, women have been oppressed and treated as property. The opinion of a woman did not matter, being obedient to her husband was all that is required. Even if they were obedient to their husbands, women were property and only for the pleaser and likening to the husband. Mariam did all the her husband required of her, however there was one thing should could not. Which was give her husband, Rasheed, a son or any child. In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Hosseini reveals the social issue of physical abuse and mental abuse by his use of imagery, diction, and dialogue.

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Mariam and Laila are learning to live in a war zone when the Taliban gains control of their country. Consequently, the Taliban's laws are one source of major female inequality within

The first night's story in Arabian Nights is that of the Merchant and the Demon. Told by Shahrazad, the story offers a remarkable parallel to her own situation as she faces immanent death. Thus, the story of the Merchant and the Demon is told as a parable within the frame story, presenting a poignant analogy for Shahrazad's own situation. The Merchant and the Demon is a short tale but one filled with themes such as power, guilt, justice, and moral responsibility. Through the clever analogy with her own situation, Shahrazad also explores the theme of creative problem solving in tricky situations. Moreover, the story illustrates the core differences between pre-Islamic and Islamic values in Arabian society. Because the theme of gender roles and norms are not present within the Merchant and the Demon, the story shows how sexism is simply a form of general political and social oppression.

Much like the country of Afghanistan, characters in A Thousand Splendid Suns carry on through tough times and loss. Mariam and Laila persevere through unhealthy relationships with their mothers, as well as their abusive relationship with Rasheed. Through their character growth throughout the book, they grow into strong individuals. The war that has greatly damaged their country leads them to be able to overcome anything in their lives. Through this character growth, strength and perseverance through tough times proves to be the most prominent and important theme in the

Whether it be to leave the place oppression is being enforced or to fight against it, whether it is being enforced in private or public places, oppression shaped the female characters in both Osama and A Thousand Splendid Suns in the ways they reacted. In Osama, when the family had no source of income and were forbidden to work, they were faced with a choice, to slowly die of starvation, or to fight back. They made the courageous decision to fight back and resist the Taliban’s enforcements by disguising the youngest girl as a boy so that they would not starve to death (Osama). This is an example of how oppression has shaped the characters in Osama because the women when faced with these obstacles had to turn to an undesirable option. This shows that the oppression enforced has pushed them to a point where they are going against laws to survive. In A Thousand Splendid Suns Laila and Mariam are shaped by oppression in two similar ways. Mariam is shaped by oppression in that she is able to take direction of her own life. Rasheed was beating Laila for meeting up with her childhood lover, whom she thought to be dead. Rasheed began to choke Laila, and Mariam realized that he meant to take Laila’s life, “And so Mariam raised the shovel high, raising as high as she could, arching so that it touched the small of her back. She turned it so that the sharp edge was vertical, and, as she did, it occurred

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel that provides insight into a young girl living in Iran during the hardship of war. Persepolis takes place during the childhood of Marjane Satrapi. It gives a background of the Islamic Revolution and the war in Iran. Satrapi attempts to guide herself in a corrupted world filled with propaganda. She tries to develop her own morality concerning religion, politics, and humanity. Satrapi was blessed enough to have high class status and parents who had an open mindset about the world around them. Thanks to her slightly alternative lifestyle, she is able to reconstruct gender norms that society has set by depicting the different ways women resist them. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others” by Lila Abu-Lughod is an essay detailing the misconceptions surrounding the veil. Through this essay we can see how colonial feminism, the form of feminism in which western women push for a western way of living on their third world counterparts, has shined a negative light on cultures all around the world - particularly Islamic women. The essay shows how women who don’t conform to American societal structures are labeled as women who urgently require saving. Through this essay one can develop a thorough understanding of the veil itself and the many representations it holds to different entities. Although in Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Satrapi

One of the most controversial topics concerning Muslim women’s rights is the idea of the veil. It is believed by some Muslims that the veil is an Islamic obligation that all Muslim women must adhere to. But nowadays, the veil can have different meanings that are not necessarily religious. In her article “Reinventing the Veil,” Leila Ahmed addresses some of the different meanings that the veil can have. Marjane Satrapi explores one of those meanings in her animated autobiography Persepolis (2008). In Persepolis, Marjane tells the story of her rebellion against the Iranian Islamist regime that takes over Iran, oppresses women, and forces them to wear the veil. What was interesting to me was seeing Marjane wear the veil without being oppressed, although she does not believe in it, and is being forced to wear it. In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi escapes being a subject to the Iranian Islamist ideology by establishing her individual identity through transforming the veil from a means of oppression into a means of feminist rebellion.

The specific topic of this book is the oppression of women. Its overall purpose is to understand the women behind the veils and why the Muslim women take up the hijab. The purpose is also to show how

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a novel written in 2007 by Khaled Hosseini who is an Afghan-American author. Mostly Khaled Hosseini is well known with his former novel The Kite Runner all over the world. However, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a work as great as The Kite Runner and it has more subjects to deal with a feministic perspective. So, we can say that A Thousand Splendid Suns carries a deeper meaning in terms of women rights and the place of women in society. It tells about the tyranny of the Taliban and the civil war in Afghanistan between the early 1960s and the early 2000s from the perspectives of two women who are Mariam and Laila and their changing lives. The novel itself simply have

The book A thousand splendid suns is about two women (Mariam and laila) who is forced to be married to an older man in their teenage years because of their Afghanistani culture and their government. The government’s belief of how women is treated is very wrong.They are taking away women's human rights, their freedom of being educated. They can’t even choose when to be married or whom to be married to. These women are being treated like a dog, putting them to starvation, beating them up. The main issue the women in afghanistan and all around the world is fighting for is gender equality. This issue have been happening throughout the years in traditional and modern societies. In this novel the main topic , issue the author have been stressing

In A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini , the book shows how a woman’s love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice. This book had a very simple approach of grabbing the reader’s attention. I mostly prefer books that have a very enticing stories that make the reader think about how the event could have taken place but this book was a new thing for me. The beginning of this book is very enjoyable. Hosseini draws in their reader by simply starting off the story of the little girl called Mariam. The book is from a third person point of view telling the story of Mariam and her journey as a women in Afghanistan. The author drew me in with the details about the main character’s life, I was really interested since the beginning because it was something that is part of my own culture and there are many aspects that I can relate to and

In today’s society women are given ample opportunity just as much as men. In some countries, such as middle-eastern nations that is not the case. Muslim women are often perceived to be submissive to Muslim men and unequal. Mohammed never taught for women to be treated as lower class citizens. Nonetheless, the blame is pointed towards the religion of Islam. The Islamic religion began as all monotheist religions representing a belief in one God and moral standards. In the following essay I will discuss and elaborate what Mohammed taught, how women lived in early Islamic society, and what it has become.

The characters portrayed by Leila Aboulela to a great degree vary vastly in their levels of religiosity. This novel showcases a wide spectrum of Muslim identities. Most of the devout believers follow Islam, as they are constantly expressing their faith, thru means of prayer, recitation or other adorations. These religious members are accepting of veil culture, because they have more to value than materialistic objects and western culture. For instance, the young school girls that wore tobes, while Najwa skirts to university. Also, the servants she had back home, as she would be coming home from a party at dawn, they would be make their absolution, “A light bulb came on. They were getting ready to pray. They had dragged themselves from sleep in order to pray. I was wide awake and I didn’t,” this quote from the novel, illustrates a young Najwa understanding the basis of Islam and the importance of prayer (Aboulela, 32) However, this is an evident class divide, illustrating that those with wealth are more secular and those with less are humbled towards their faith. In her time in London, Najwa befriends woman at the local mosque and develops an interest her recitation. Her realization and locality to religiousness triggers her spirituality.

This is a significant aspect of the course because the article examines the strengths and weaknesses of femininity through a cultural Muslim perspective and the reading is a prime example of how ideologies regarding race affect those involved. In class we have discussed the significances of social constructs and how assumptions are made on the basis of physical characteristics. In this situation, identity is related to gender as Muslim women are categorized as both good/respectful and rebellious/evil individuals because they are apart of a culture where they are both oppressed and liberated simultaneously.