Revolt of the Abject: Images of Women in Khaled Hosseieni’s Selected Novels

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate Khaled Hosseieni’s representation of women in The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns using the concepts of “abject” and “revolt” of Julia Kristeva side by side with the major themes that are common between the two novels. Hosseini is one of the contemporary novelists who produced three prominent novels namely, The Kite Runner (2003), A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007), and The Mountains Echoed (2013). He is the most famous Afghan- American novelist. All his novels are recently published and we are waiting his fourth novel which is announced to be published soon. The two novels under study are reflections of the political events in Afghanistan. Both are a representation of Hosseini’s motifs in order to shed light upon his homeland with all its culture, language, history and political turmoil. Hosseini’s books reflect a wide variety of important events and contemporary issues, although the themes of his novels can be seen as peculiar to the country of Afghanistan. Hosseini presents problems of ethnocentrism, racism, as well as migration and exile. He also sheds light on issues of domestic abuse, gender stereotypes and gender equality.