MORAL ISSIUES AND MOTIVE OF LONELINESS IN KITE RUNNER AND A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS BY KHALID HOSSEIN

Аннотация

This study is an analysis of the aims of the protagonist’s struggle in Khaled Hosseini’s novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. The novel tells about a wife, the protagonist of the novel, who should live hard with a husband with bad temper. However, the protagonist by the name of Mariam keeps being a good wife for her husband. Furthermore, her husband has another wife. Unfortunately, the husband with his bad temper almost kills her. The protagonist should struggle to protect her husband’s another wife as well. The analysis is conducted by descriptive qualitative method, in which the data are analyzed descriptively. Some theories, concepts and https://scientific-jl.org/obr 3 Выпуск журнала №-69 Часть–3_ Мая –2025 ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ НАУКА И ИННОВАЦИОННЫЕ ИДЕИ В МИРЕ 2181-3187 notions of struggle are applied in this study to support the analysis and finding. One of the theories adopted in this study is proposed Flexner and Fitzpatrict (1996: 9) who said that the concepts of struggle is permeated from the history, the labor movement, and the place of working woman. It implies that the struggle of woman is rooted from the history, the labor movement, and the place of working woman. Key words: protagonist’s struggle, analyzed descriptively, qualitative method, protect. The issue of women’s rights has always been an acute topic since while women in developed countries have the privilege of education and a career, having a sense of security and protection, many women in developing countries are restricted in their freedom. The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns was written by Khaled Hosseini thirteen years ago. The author narrated the life of Mariam and Laila, who had to endure violence, living in a constant state of fear, worrying that no matter what they do or say, punishment will follow. Although more than a decade has passed, the life of women in Afghanistan is still filled with injustice, and with the Taliban seizing control, they have no access to education or any prospects of independence or stability. Thus, while the novel by Hosseini depicts the lives of two women, it can be used to describe the experiences of millions of women in Afghanistan and their treatment, including domestic abuse and a complete lack of rights. The integration and interconnecting of Afghan culture, faith, and ethnicity, together with cultural and contemporary systems, shape the lives of women in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, traditional patriarchal culture is premised on women’s roles as “keepers of the family honor,” where male regulation of women’s lives and bodies is essential and connected to their supremacy over the female population (Rahman 61). Such beliefs are vividly illustrated in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini through the experiences of Mariam and Laila. The two women were married to Rasheed out of despair or coercion, and in this marriage, the women endured both mental and physical abuse. In the end, Rasheed faced the fate he deserved, being https://scientific-jl.org/obr 4 Выпуск журнала №-69 Часть–3_ Мая –2025 ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ НАУКА И ИННОВАЦИОННЫЕ ИДЕИ В МИРЕ 2181-3187 killed by Mariam. Although Laila and the children were able to escape, Mariam was prosecuted for such a crime. Even today, this novel persists in being relevant and enrages those who find such treatment of women unfair. The fate of Afghan women in bearing the children and being obedient to their husbands can be observed in the first part. In her marriage with Rasheed, Mariam had seven miscarriages, which made the man feel worthless and inferior. The disappointment and resentment toward Mariam manifested in physical abuse. Any irritation quickly triggers an outburst of aggression, such as in the fifteenth chapter when he dislikes the food that Mariam cooked for him. The author describes the horror of the woman when by the tone of Rasheed, she already knows what will follow: “She could feel her pulse quickening, her skin shrinking” (Hosseini 67). The following scene shows how “he snatched her hand, opened it, and dropped a handful of pebbles into it” (Hosseini 67). In this sense, a woman in Afghanistan is seen as the property of a man, and no one has the right to interfere. As Rasheed told Mariam at the beginning of their marriage in Kabul, “one wrong look, one improper word, and blood is spilled” since “a woman’s face is her husband’s business only” (Hosseini 47). Therefore, there is no protection for a woman, and she must only endure the pain. As has been mentioned by other scholars, domestic violence is a global problem that has a serious impact on women’s well-being. The root of domestic violence may be deeply rooted in the community and the presumed traditionally dictated gender roles in different cultures. For example, men are supposed to play the dominating position in a patriarchal system, while women are expected to play a subordinate role. The Afghan culture is strongly patriarchal, and males dominate all institutions, which is why women often have poore