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Domestic Violence In A Thousand Splendid Suns, By Khaled Hosseini

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This assignment aims to emphasise upon the portrayal of subjugation and oppression of women, especially with reference to domestic violence, that has been prominently depicted by the diasporic writer, Khaled Hosseini in his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. The novel borrows its title from a poem written about Kabul by the seventeenth century poet Saib-e-Tabrizi. The plot revolves around the lives of two Afghan women who are born a generation apart and have been married to the same man within a span of few years. Hosseini projects how violence behind closed doors affects their lives in a greater degree than the turmoil and terror caused in the society under the rule and influence of the Mujahideen and Taliban. Hosseini is careful…show more content…
It portrays how women are perceived to be necessary only for reproduction and household chores and considered to be worthless beyond the four walls of a house.
The central theme of A Thousand Splendid Suns is the plight of Afghan women. The novel commences with an outline of Mariam’s forsaken life and then moves on to other characters. “It begins with an unhappy little girl in a hut outside the Afghan city of Herat, then gradually widens its canvas to embrace numerous other people” (Yardley).
Violence is another theme which is prominently projected in this novel, both with reference to the Afghan society and the environment within the house, which in turn develops into a prevailing fear. This can be justified through Hill’s statement: “throughout the timeline of the novel, Afghanistan witnesses almost constant warfare: bombings, rocket attacks, and random acts of violence on the street are as common as the beatings endured by Laila and Mariam at the hands of their…show more content…
Mariam and Laila represent only a part of all the trials and tribulations the Afghan women have endured throughout their lives and project how violence can affect individuals emotionally, mentally and physically. Oppression becomes almost ritualistic in A Thousand Splendid Suns, cruelty heaped upon cruelty, despair buried beneath despair. Even though Afghanistan's reality seems to render melodrama virtually impossible, Hosseini reluctantly admits that he spared readers the worst of what he saw that spring he returned. (Hosseini; Jones)
Through this novel, the author portrays the raw reality of hardship that has been, and continues to be endured by the individuals of Afghanistan, and how the women are more violated. With poverty and abuse doing their respective rounds in the warzone, life in general has become one with grief and
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