Digital Object Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.7
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8797-7719Women have always remained the marginalised “other” in a gendered society. From time immemorial, patriarchy as an institution has relegated women to a subordinate status. To ensure and exert its hegemonic control over the powerless inferior sex, the powerful patriarchy has established stereotypical roles for both men and women. Men should be the monarchs of the public sphere, whereas women should be the “angel in the house” and maintain the private realm. Patriarchy as an ideology is so deeply embedded in society and culture that even women have internalised this ideology. The desperate struggle of the deprived and discriminated womenfolk in this phallocentric society is beyond the borders of spatio-territorial particularities. However, the frail and fragile “second sex” has the power to reverberate and reincarnate herself as the magnificent, brave “New Woman”. Significantly, the role of a woman has remained very tough and challenging in a discriminatory society. However, most noticeably, it becomes extremely excruciating in a conservative Talibanic society. Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns is one such touching testament that graphically narrates the suffering and strength, plight and power of two Afghan women, Mariam and Laila, who are the victims of the oppressive Talibanic rule. When the Taliban takes over Afghan society, life becomes miserable for them. They become doubly colonised and are compelled to fight a desperate struggle, but ultimately they successfully overcome the daunting obstacles. This article explores how these two female protagonists, belonging to different age groups, act as foils to each other and serve as mouthpieces for captivity and emancipation. Moreover, it aims to explore how Mariam and Laila, rather than succumbing to the tormenting terror inflicted on them, forge their selfhood.
Tashneem, Tahira. “From Subjugation to Selfhood: The Transformation of Women in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 5, Oct. 2026, pp. 88-99, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.7.
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by the Research Centre for English Language and Literature (RCELL) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
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