A Thousand Splendid Suns : Gender Roles

Women have different personalities and motivations, and they form relationships with men for many different reasons. Some of these reasons include love, money, and even lust and manipulation. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett is a novel about Sam Spade, who is a huge figure of the hard-boiled detective genre. Sam Spade goes on a quest to find a valuable falcon, solve murders and jump over the obstacle that surround him on a daily basis. The novel is also about the three women who surround Spade during his quest. The names of these women are Iva Archer, Effie Perine, and Brigid O’Shaughnessy, and they all have different roles in Sam Spade’s life. In The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, Brigid O’Shaughnessy plays the role of femme fatale, Iva Archer plays the role of Spade’s unfortunate future, and Effie Perine plays the role of Spade’s right-hand woman.

Mariam’s alienation prompted by her mother, father, and husband, in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, reveals the oppression and shame around being a woman in the society of her native Afghanistan. Mariam’s countless, inescapable struggles throughout her life were all regulated by the systematic dehumanization of women in a patriarchal society, which resulted in her living in constant shame and fear. Starting from her birth, she was seen as a bastard because she was conceived out of wedlock, from both her parents, Jalil and Nana, and her society. In her childhood, Mariam is marginalized, by living in a cottage far off from the public eye, because of her father’s fear of humiliation and her mother’s fear of Mariam experiencing the

The fight for justice is not always unequivocal or favorable, sometimes justice is given by means that do not seem fair at all. William Styron says in a novel that life “is a search for justice.” It is blatant that throughout Khaled Hosseini's novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, female characters are continuously battered with injustices. Hosseini hones into the oppression of women and the fight for women empowerment through the life of one of his main characters, Mariam. Her journey is shown throughout the novel where she struggles to search for and understand justice.

Mariam endured many long years living with Nana in their small house in Herat. Nana had a short-tempered personality and a very negative outlook on life, so she repeatedly verbally abused

“A man’s heart is a wretched, wretched thing, Mariam. It isn’t like a mother’s womb. It won’t bleed, it won’t stretch to make room for you.”

Women often undergo oppression and subjugation by the male dominated society. Women were merely slaves to the men as they would clean, sweep, work, while they have to maintain their obedience and sanity. Women were targets of oppression outside their work where men abused their wives as they were an entity for their sexual desires when they felt the need to. This exact relationship of “owner - possession” can be seen through the relationships between Rasheed and Mariam, also with Janie and her husbands. Both novels, A Thousand Splendid Suns and Their Eyes were Watching God, show that women have a lower social status, power, and legal rights when women had become property to eyes of men.

From the very beginning, Mariam grew up in cruelty. She was a Harami, which means “bastard child,” and her mother didn't let her forget that. Her mother blamed for her not so good life. Mariam’s mom was a cleaning lady and she had Mariam with her boss, she was shunned because they weren't married. Her mom blamed her for all this even though they were all her mistakes. Even Mariam's father was ashamed of her since she was born. When Mariam’s mother passed away and he was the only one that could take her in, he sold her off to a man thirty years older. Laila in the other hand didn't have a rough childhood. It

Gender roles became so complex in the twentieth century due how society has changed what men and women should be like. Men take being strong and independent as a God given right to them, while females on the other hand have had to work their way up in order to be titled independently strong. From growing up to early adulthood I faced the conflict of constantly worrying about how society wants me shape myself as a dependent and self-confident which was the complete opposite of me.

Throughout world history women have been treated abysmally. Societies with male-dominance have abused and used women and continue to do so today. Women have been made vulnerable to a man due to the spread of cultural values and beliefs in society that condemn them from power. In Khaled Hosseini's novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, the two main characters Mariam and Laila develop an unconditional bond in which they become each others protectors. The immense inner strength of women from adversity has been exemplified through the growth of Mariam and Laila's contrasting relationship, the pain they endure from Rasheed which strengthens their bond and the courage within them that ultimately resolves their conflict.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is set in America in the 1950s, a time when women were expected to be quiet and submissive, which is the complete opposite of how women are portrayed in the book. Ken Kesey presented women in a way that was not the norm in America in the 1950s. Almost all the female characters in the novel are shown as being extremely dominant and as “castrators” completely contradicting the stereotypical image of females in America at the time.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is a high-quality novel that should be continually read for years to come in English II classes at Cannon School. This book is not only an enjoyable read for students, but it also teaches students lessons and helps them improve their abilities with literary devices.

Throughout the book “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” there is a growing understanding that focuses on the ideas imposed by biased views prejudice against women. This has made a wide impact on decades of Afghan people as they watch their country slowly shatter. The tough times in this society demonstrates how the Taliban uses fear and violence to control the people within Afghanistan, showing a powerful portrait of female suffering. The story is told in the perspectives of two women, Mariam and Laila.They show that both love and hate are powerful shapers of the human spirit. Both of the women’s cultural and physical surroundings influence the people they become, and shape how they perceive the world. Although Mariam and Laila have different beginnings,

Through a feminist criticism of the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns I was able to analyze major themes, character developments and answer questions pertaining to the feminist criticism. I was able to determine the role of women, the difference between men and women in the work and gender roles in the novel. In A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini the theme of education to bring together the style and main female characters.

The Story of an Hour is short, yet, contains important examples of gender roles in marriage. They are important because they represent how women felt married in the 19th century due to male dominance that manifested throughout marriages all over the world. In The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard is a wife that is, at first, seen as distraught, because of her husband’s death. She starts to cry and run to her room, to soon be lifted with the joy that she is now free. It is clear that she felt trapped in the marriage and is now happy that there is no one controlling her any longer. Mrs. Mallard is a prime example of women in marriages in the 19th century, and even some today. Unfortunately, they have to experience sexism from their husbands. Women are dominated by men in marriage and are expected to acquire the stereotypical gender roles.

Lorraine Hansberry was a forward thinker for her time in the 1950’s, which was evident in her writing. “It is believed that hidden behind her work was Hansberry’s own personal struggle with gender” (Wiener 10-11). After many years of marriage and eventually divorce, it was discovered that she was a closet homosexual (Wiener 11). Male and female gender roles are heated topics that have been debated for generations. Women in the United States are still regarded as taking care of and nurturing children as well as the responsibility for taking care of the home. The majority of women in America have a career outside the home, yet still