Gender Roles In A Thousand Splendid Suns

The novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, written by Khaled Hosseini, is filled with pages of heart wrenching stories representing the roles of women in the Afghanistan community. Hosseini’s novel is a prime example of how literature portrays women and their role in society, specifically the Afghanistan society. The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns is an intense telling of gender roles that helps to uncover the ways in which women are painted in the literary world.(repetitive of what was just said) The women in Hosseini’s novel struggle to strengthen their individual self and fight for their human rights in a world dominated by men. This essay will aim to uncover how literature depicts gender specifically through education, societal expectations,

Laila’s father is one of the few male characters who break the stereotypical gender role. As Pepelar writes in her analysis of Hosseini’s novel, “[Laila] has grown up in a home with possibilities to get an education” (4). Laila’s father considers the education that is given to men to be just as important to for women. Because of what Laila’s father deems important, she is given much more schooling than any girl her age, and definitely more than Mariam could dream of. Singh analyzes Laila’s journey with education by stating, “Laila’s restrictions to education, choices and liberation also restrict her great potentials due to the male dominated world. Her early life shows great potential in education throughout school, many opportunities and free from everyone’s words and ownership” (89). Despite Laila’s advantage of intellect, she is not seen as worthier than any other female. She is still oppressed by the gender stereotypes and roles that women must serve in a society like Afghanistan’s. As Singh states, “The novel stresses over the rights women were not given along with the restrictions to education”