Theme Of Women In A Thousand Splendid Suns

Within Hosseini’s ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ and Atwood’s ‘The Year of the Flood’, each modern novel’s societies present their central women characters as being enslaved. Arguably, this applies to both the central women characters Toby from ‘The Year of the Flood’ and Mariam from ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’. The main focus of ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ is how the changing political situation across the twentieth and twenty first century affects women. On the other hand, ‘The Year of the Flood’ focuses on a post-apocalyptic society. As the term ‘enslaved’ refers to a ‘state of subjugation’ in which the oppressor has control of the oppressed, this can be used to describe both novels. Whilst in ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’, the detrimental treatment of women is shown by the physical …show more content…
Atwood’s environmental focus of ‘The Year of the Flood’ contributes to the realism of women’s enslavement as other topics take precedence over their treatment. Despite being based in different times and settings, the writers make readers consider how women have been/will be treated wrongly in the past or the future. The objectification of women significantly contributes to their enslavement, therefore showing how in each society the central characters are effectively enslaved by males.
In ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’, Hosseini immediately introduces the reader to the oppression of the central women characters whereas in Atwood’s ‘The Year of the Flood’, the introduction of the enslavement of women is significantly more subtle. In ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns,’ Hosseini uses the structure to show the reader that women are submissive to men. By presenting women’s enslavement in society at the very beginning, Hosseini shows the importance of this theme in the book as a whole. Hosseini reiterates the serious situation women face through secondary characters such as