Theme Of Women In A Thousand Splendid Suns

When someone is condemned by another party or is held accountable for a certain outcome, it can be defined as blame. Constantly, under Taliban rule, women have been under the scrutiny of men, especially in areas, where it is a damnation for being female. The Taliban is a radical Islamic militant group operating in Afghanistan. Particularly, under the Taliban, Afghani men hold dominance over women and often times blame them for the troubles presented in their lives, “Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman” (Hosseini 7). Men can and will simply blame women for anything that does not go according to plan and evade punishment. Khaled Hosseini presents this idea in his novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, through the events carried out by the antagonists, Rasheed and Jalil. Specifically, in the novel, woman are there

Women must endure much injustice in patriarchal Afghan society, taking blame for hardships is just one part of it. A compass needle always automatically points north as man always finds a woman to blame for their misfortune. For women no matter what they do or what happened to them, if it was not perfect it was not right. Men on the other hand could do no wrong, the government under the Mujahideen and Taliban institutionalize this blaming behavior. For instance, women are the sole reason for all marital problems. If a woman runs away from an abusive husband, she is punished, and not the husband. Nana does not accept the blame for her affair with Jalil and resents the way it changed her life, from living in a wealthy setting as a housekeeper to an isolated life with a young daughter. Nana tries to warn her daughter, Mariam, of men and their readiness to blame an innocent woman for their mistakes. Mariam experiences this as Rasheed blames her for all of his issues, even ones, both of them have no control