Opression in a Thousand Splendid Suns

Without realizing it, many people are molded and shaped by their everyday surroundings. Pauline Hopkins once say, “And, after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as much as fate, destiny, or any supernatural agency.” This is exceedingly evident through out Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. A main component to the story of Mariam and Laila, the two main characters, is that fact that it takes place in Afghanistan. This a country where the culture oppresses women. The novel follows the separate lives of Mariam and Laila and then how their lives intertwine. The culture of the Middle East has a major impact on Mariam’s character and ultimately self-worth. In this novel the reader is able to culture of the

In honor killings, most of the women are killed on the basis of an illicit relationship as specified by their partner or family. Sometimes the killings are carried out for ridiculously pathetic reasons such as failing to serve a meal on time can be seen as a stain on family honor and can lead to woman’s death. In modern time, where the world is revolving around technological advances and the independence of women and gender equality, honor killings have exceeded and are more rampant. While India is indeed a prominent exception to Islam 's near domination on contemporary honor killing cases in the world, Hindu honor killings in India are of different form and command from those of Islamic honor killings. Though no less gruesome, the honor killings in India are mostly confined to the northern states of India. Besides, as Phyllis Chesler and Nathan Bloom state these killings are “perpetuated by sociocultural factors largely specific to India.” As mentioned earlier, in India, honor killing cases are not just limited to women, but they are also extended to men. However, in Pakistan and other Islamic countries, majority of honor killing cases are usually related to female victims, there are hardly any cases of male victims. In India, some of the major motives behind these atrocities are caste-specific motives such as “immoral character” and non-caste-specific illicit relationships. In Pakistan and other Islamic countries, caste purity is not a concern, the motivation behind

Shad Helmstetter once said, “Choosing to live your life by your own choice is the greatest freedom you will ever have.” It is important that people are able to choose the paths of their own lives. As the quote suggests, the ultimate freedom is choice. Nonetheless, many people are denied this ultimate freedom. In relation to Afghanistan, many women are denied the ability to choose the course of their lives. The oppression of women in Khaled Hosseini’s, A Thousand Splendid Suns, subjects them to total control by men, however, when the prominent woman characters in the novel, such as Mariam and Laila, are able to maintain a sense of control, they pave the paths of their own lives.

Many people all over the world are denied basic rights such as the right the marry who they want, career, etc based solely on their gender. Women in India have suffered from this inequality since all of history. There, they suffer from dowry deaths, child marriage, marital rape, etc. However bad these things are, they seem minute to other tragedies they suffer from such as acid attacks. In one instance, a woman named Pragya Prasun was attacked for not accepting a marriage proposal (http://www.dw.com/en/why-acid-attacks-are-on-the-rise-in-india/a-19313750). 47% of her body was burned because of such a simple dispute. Although doodh peeti has long ago been banned, data shows increased abortion of girls after finding the gender, nearing almost 8 million in the past

In a patriarchal traditional society woman is considered as a commodity product, a lifelong slave to a family and society. Women is the symbol of love and affection. Women was oppressed in every sphere of her life through her husband, kids and kins.Marriage was not exchange of soul and heart, it was been a mode of transaction where master-slave relation is followed in martial life. Domestic violence is subjugated to all the women in every class division ranges from slapping, kicking, murder, molestation.It seems to be high in patriarchal set up culture. Social codes in patriarchal set up culture creates hurdles in women life and there is no upliftment for women. In this novel Sidhwa projected how the society has been exploiting women for decade in the name of culture and religion.

In Afghanistan their political system is one sided and irrational in their culture men hold the power and the women are put in a position where they are denied many rights and freedom. In a population of 33,739,492 men making up 51,7% at 17,454,304 and women making up 48.3% of the population at 16,285,191 one might think the power would be broken up a little more evenly. At a young age girls are taught where the stand in the cast system and what their responsibilities are of taking care of their husbands and making sure his needs are met. Other responsibilities include; taking care of the house and reproducing preferably male babies so the family name can be carried on. In A Thousand Splendid Suns the author Khaled Hosseini writes about the journey of two girls Mariam and Laila growing up with two contrasting childhoods and in the end coming together and sharing much of the same pain, heartache and suffering.

Indian society is a highly patriarchal society and has always given men more rights over women. In such situations the woman begins to feel helpless and her life meaningless, this instigates the husband to feel more powerful and dominant. Moreover economically backward and illiterate families have the problems of bad relationships between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, where the husband siding with his mother, finds it right to hit his wife to teach her a lesson.

For instance, the burning of brides is a common issue that takes place. When a female does not meet the requests of her demanding husband she may suffer by being publicly burned alive for everyone to see. This is a rather crude way to treat the wife, but in the eyes of many Hindu husbands they must suffer the consequences. The common problem for such a drastic result is often the offspring that the wife produces. The demand of a male offspring is of high request. More commonly the child is brutally injured or murdered. Many Hindu texts discuss the significance of the Hindu women and their values. Yet, many of their important factors are not often taken heed of. By analyzing sacred text, you will then see that there was equality of the male and female gods and goddesses. This brings about the curiosity as to why females are treated so

Dependence of women on men has been a main feature of Indian society since time immemorial. Women have always been considered inferior to men. The social notion has been that women should always be subordinate to men and therefore this ‘inferior sex’ has always been subjected to oppression and suppression by men. “Subordination of women has been caused by physical, economic, psychological and internal pressure reasons. The situation becomes much more miserable when taking into consideration the plight of widows” .

The documentary “A girl in the river, the story of forgiveness” is strongly convincing the viewers that the in Muslim countries like Pakistan, men’s superiority in the society given by Islam, is used as a tool to forcefully limit women’s freedom of thought and right of taking the decision of their life, so that women won’t be able to progress. The matter of dignity of men is creating a hurdle to women’s freedom of thought and freedom of action. Honor killing is the worst punishment someone can ever get for exercising human rights.

The significance of A Thousand Splendid Suns is the endurance that women must possess in order to survive, but also the role of women in the Afghanistan society. Hosseini writes about the difficult life of Mariam and Laila as they bear the hardships that arise over the three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war, and Taliban tyranny in Afghanistan. Hosseini identifies these hardships as something they’re forced to endure as women till they die. As Mariam grows up, the ability to endure, said by her mother, becomes a skill she uses until she dies, as well for Laila. Hosseini’s novel focuses greatly on the lives and struggles of women who have to endure the adversity and suffering at the hands of men, making clear in his novel that perseverance and endurance are absolutely necessary to survive as women in a society of men who oppress and disparage women.

Women are constantly under the constraint of men who have the strength and power to physically harm women who are much weaker than them. In recent years, complaints have increased in frequency about aggression by men who are not part of the women’s family (Bose and Kim 51). Not only are men hurting women but men who have no absolute relation to a certain woman is hurting her. This clearly shows that men do not take ownership in their wives but they allow other men who to treat her just as poorly as he himself. This violence continues to enforce the large impact men have on women. They can have every right to any women and abuse her. Men see themselves of having this over powering right to hurt anybody including somebody much fragile than themselves. But women because of their small figures and feminine qualities have no thought of doing the same.

When she is married, she is happy just because of the food she gets to eat while the marriage ceremony hardly matter. She is lost in her own world, hardly aware of her surroundings. As it is the custom with wedded pre-pubescent girls, Chuyia lives In her parents’ home but at the same evening of her marriage her husband dies and her hair are cut off.

The objectification of the female gender must be terminated. The oppression that the females of India experience day after day go against the universal human rights of freedom. For instance, according to an article released by Research Institute for Compassionate Economics states that, “…the number of woman [in India] sexually assaulted by their husbands is 40 times higher the number of woman who suffer such violence from others” (2015). The research explains how a casual married female is in greater danger inside her own home, ironically, it is where she must feel protected; this in turn decreases or eliminates family unity, morale, and welfare. The passive laws of India have created the foundation that marital rape is acceptable.

Koranic laws give possibility of emancipation for women in the society. But if many Muslim women have a role in many Islamic societies, where religion is the most formidable barrier to the liberation of the spirit, the adequacy of discernment and freedom of expression it is because they struggle to obtain it.