摘 要

《灿烂千阳》是阿富汗裔美国作家卡勒德·胡塞尼的代表作之一。胡塞尼在这本小说中着重描述了阿富汗女性，倾注了自己对阿富汗女性的深刻同情。《灿烂千阳》描述了女主人公玛利亚姆从一个被父亲、丈夫压迫的女性逐渐转变成一个有独立思想的女性的过程。这个故事反映了阿富汗的社会问题以及父权社会下女性的生存状态以及女性在父权社会中的自我探索和成长。

本论文主要从四个方面剖析女主人公玛利亚姆的成长。首先概述了玛利亚姆受到的来自父亲和丈夫的双重压迫；接着重点剖析了玛利亚姆的成长和促使她成长的多个原因；最后论述了玛利亚姆的成长对于阿富汗女性群体的影响和意义。玛利亚姆的成长不仅反映了阿富汗父权社会下女性的生存现状、女性的成长及其重要性，而且表达了作者胡塞尼对战争时期阿富汗女性的关注和深刻同情。

关键词：《灿烂千阳》；玛利亚姆；玛利亚姆的成长；父权社会

Contents

1. Introduction -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2. Demonstration --------------------------------------------------------------------------------3

2.1 Oppressed Mariam in the patriarchal society -------------------------------------------3

2.1.1 Oppression from her father after her mother’s death --------------------------------3

2.1.2 Oppression from her husband after they get married---------------------------------4

2.2 The growth of Mariam----------------------------------------------------------------------5

2.2.1 Rebelling against her father fearlessly--------------------------------------------------6

2.2.2 Fighting against her husband bravely---------------------------------------------------6

2.2.3 Taking her responsibility courageously------------------------------------------------7

2.3 Factors leading to Mariam’s growth------------------------------------------------------8

2.3.1 Sisterhood between Mariam and Laila-------------------------------------------------8

2.3.2 Mariam’s maternal love to Laila’s child ---------------------------------------------10

2.3.3 Mariam’s religious faith and her redemption ----------------------------------------10

2.3.4 Constant war awakening her female consciousness---------------------------------11

2.4 Significance and inspiration of Mariam’s growth -------------------------------------12

2.4.1Significance to Afghan women’s mutual mental support---------------------------12

2.4.2Inspiration to Afghan women’s winning their dignity and status------------------13

3. Conclusion -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------14

Works Cited ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

Bibliography ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16

On Mariam’s Growth in A Thousand Splendid Suns

1. Introduction

Khaled Hosseini (1965-) is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician, who was born on March 4, 1965 in Kabul, Afghanistan. At the age of five, Hosseini and his family moved to Iran where his father worked for the Embassy of Afghanistan in Tehran. When Hosseini was 11 years old, his father secured a job in Paris, France and moved the whole family to Europe. Nine years later, shortly after the Soviet War began in Afghanistan, they sought political asylum in the United States and made their residence in San Jose, California. Since then, he lives in U.S. and works as a physician after he graduated from college. Since his mother was a high school teacher, he read a great deal of Persian poetry which influences his later career and literary creation. He practiced medicine for over ten years, until the release of his first novel The Kite Runner in 2003. The Kite Runner became a bestseller after being printed in paperback. In 2006, Hosseini was awarded the United Nations Humanitarian Award and was appointed as UNHCR Goodwill Envoy.

Hosseini does not write many works. In 2003, Hosseini published his first novel The Kite Runner. The novel tells a touching story of a little boy named Amir and his friend Hassan, who is his little servant but actually is his half-brother. Amir is a noble in Afghanistan, struggling to establish a closer rapport with his father and coping with memories of a haunting childhood event, while his friend Hassan always tries to protect and amuse Amir, but often fails because the care that Amir’s father gives to Hassan makes Amir jealous. The novel is set in Afghanistan, from the fall of the monarchy until the collapse of the Taliban regime. The novel was a number one New York Times bestseller for over two years in the United States since its publication. Hosseini’s second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns was published in 2007 and it is also set in Afghanistan. This story addresses many of the same issues as Hosseini’s first novel, but it focuses more on the idea of feminism. It tells a story of two women Mariam and Laila, whose lives become entwined. The story is set during Afghanistan’s tumultuous thirty-year transition. Hosseini released his third novel And the Mountains Echoed in 2013 and the style of this book is different from his other works. The book is mainly about the relationship between the ten-year-old Abdullah and his three-year-old sister Pari and their father’s decision to sell her to a couple who cannot have a child in Kabul. The development of the plot also reflects women’s social status and social problems in Afghanistan. The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed all center on the rapport between siblings. The circulation of his works is more than 40 million worldwide. Hosseini instills his love and sympathy for Afghanistan into his works, and he reveals the social problems of Afghanistan, especially the female problem which has aroused great attention around the world.

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini depicts the oppression of Muslim women in the male-dominating society by describing the heroine Mariam’s tragic life experience and also reflects the awakening of feminism by describing the change of Mariam. Mariam, the heroine, is an illegitimate child whose father was once a noble in Afghanistan. Mariam lives with her mother Nana for several years until Nana dies. Mariam’s father arranges a marriage for her and she is forced to marry a middle-aged man who often physically and mentally abuses her. After her husband Rasheed marries a second young wife Laila, the situation of Mariam goes worse. The aggressive character that is built in Rasheed gradually appears. Eventually, Mariam kills Rasheed for protecting Laila and her baby as well as for liberating herself.

Many scholars at home and abroad have done researches on this novel, including analyses of its themes, artistic features, and characters. Some scholars believe that the patriarchal system exerts a great oppression on women and women in the male-dominating society are only accessories of men. The study focus of the heroine Mariam is the analysis of her character. However, few scholars have paid attention to factors leading to her growth and change. Thus, this thesis tries to explore Mariam’s growth by analyzing A Thousand Splendid Suns in detail.

This thesis is divided into four parts. A brief introduction to the novelist Khaled Hosseini and his outstanding novel A Thousand Splendid Suns as well as the character of Mariam, the protagonist in the novel is shown in the first part. The second part first depicts the life of oppressed Mariam in the patriarchal society, including her miserable childhood and horrible marriage; then it focuses on the growth of Mariam, including her fight against her husband and ignoring her father and bravely taking her responsibility. The next section of this part quests about factors leading to Mariam’s growth, including sisterhood between her and Laila; Mariam’s maternal love to Laila’s child, Mariam’s religious faith and her redemption, and constant war awakening her female consciousness. The final section of this part probes into significance and inspiration of Mariam’s growth, including its significance to Afghan women’s mutual mental support and its inspiration to Afghan women’s winning their dignity and status. The third part concludes that multiple factors contribute to Mariam’s growth, that is, her transformation from a woman who lives under the patriarchal oppression to a mentally independent one, in Khaled Hosseini’s novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. The novel reflects Hosseini’s deep concern and sympathy towards the tragedies of Afghan women in a particular war time.