PATRIARCHY AND GENDER STEREOTYPING IN KHALED HOSSEINI’S A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

Abstract

The nexus between patriarchal ideology and gender roles in the third world continue to agitate scholars and stir conflicted debates within the realm of postcolonial feminism. The present study, therefore, addresses the plight of women in Khaled Hosseini‟s A Thousand Splendid Suns amid the overlapping oppressions of hegemonic masculinity as well as cultural and social expectations. Hosseini‟s narrative exposes decades of violence and deprivation wherein the female subject is constructed as the other. Hence, the primary aim of this study is to demonstrate the powerful impact of social, cultural and political dimensions on the construction of gender roles in the selected corpus. To achieve this aim, the study endeavors to analyze Hosseini‟s work in the light of Spivak‟s postcolonial feminist theory of subalternity. The first chapter is devoted to the socio-historical context and the theoretical framework. The second chapter examines how the politics of gender and patriarchy alienate the female body in A Thousand Splendid Suns. It sheds light on the novelist‟s representation of the subaltern voice and the diverse tools of female resistance. In a nutshell, this research highlights the role of ideology in the emergence of gender stereotypes in the Afghan society.