Khaled Hosseini's women as modern archetypes: A study of obedient, resistant and empowered Afghan women

Abstract

This article focuses on Khaled Hosseini's use of the analogy of women as obedient, resistant, and empowered as modern archetypes who learn of the gendered oppression that works through their bodies. Khaled Hosseini, through his writings, lends voice and offers moral encouragement to women by crafting resistant, rebellious, empowered, and strong female characters. With theoretical support from Johnson's Patriarchal Terrorism and Spivak's Can the subaltern speak, this article traces how Hosseini interrogates the patriarchal hierarchies that encompass women's identity in Afghanistan. Women's sufferings correlate with the country's overall circumstances, particularly during and after the war, on the terror regime. Therefore, women's endurance and Afghanistan's endurance amid hostile and oppressive circumstances become equally imperative for Hosseini's works. This article finds that Hosseini correlates Afghan women's issues like tradition and modernity, women and Islam, mother and daughter relationship, resistance and rebellion, and their quest for change and empowerment with the war on terror, foreign invasions, and the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Challenging Patriarchal Culture of Taliban Regime: A Woman Struggles in Qaderi’s Dancing in The Mosque

“…Thus, the resilience of women and Afghanistan in the face of oppression and hostility become equally important themes in Hosseini's writing. According to this study, Hosseini links the war on terror, foreign invasions, and the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan to issues affecting Afghan women, such as tradition and modernity, women and Islam, mother and daughter relationships, resistance and rebellion, and their quest for change and empowerment (Imran, 2022).…”

“…While there have been numerous studies conducted on the issue of women's struggle against patriarchy as demonstrated by studies conducted by Imran (2022), Fadhilah & Handayani (2022), Fauzia & Rahayu (2019), Das & Rai (2022), there has been a gap in the exploration of women's struggle to fight back patriarchal regime. Dancing in The Mosque by Homeira Qaderi is one such piece that has not been frequently studied in academia, particularly in the context of women's struggle.…”

Unmasking The Failure of Multiculturalism in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

“…While A Thousand Splendid Suns focuses more on the harsh realities of life under Taliban rule (Subedi, 2023), The Kite Runner stands out in its profound portrayal of intercultural interactions and conflicts within Afghan society, making it a focal point in discussions about multiculturalism in literature. It is Hosseini's (2003) debut novel, which marked his literary career has garnered immense admiration for its historical and ethnographic importance (Imran & Ismail, 2022), becoming a bestseller in the USA and receiving acclaim as the reading group book of the year (Miswari, 2018). It spans a broader timeline, covering periods before and after the fall of the Taliban regime, providing a nuanced perspective on the complexities within Afghan society (Agnello et al, 2009).…”