An Interpretation Of Mariam In A Thousand Splendid Suns From The Perspective Of Scapegoat Theory

Khaled Hosseini,an Afghan-American writer,gained widespread attention and acclaim for his three splendid novels.In Hosseini’s works,we can see not only the struggle and pain of the Afghan people in the turbulent era of constant war,but also Hosseini’s own views and thoughts on how the Afghan people should rebuild their country and seek peace.There is no denying that Hosseini’s trilogy has greatly promoted the world’s understanding of and attention to the living conditions of the Afghan people.Hosseini pays attention to Afghan women in A Thousand Splendid Suns.In this novel,he sharply and directly shows the difficult situation of women in the patriarchal society of Afghanistan,as well as the suffering of the people and the country in constant war and years of turmoil.Since the publication of A Thousand Splendid Suns,there is no systematic and comprehensive analysis of the novel from the perspective of scapegoat theory.This thesis will use the scapegoat theory of Rene Girard as the theoretical framework to interpret the image of Mariam in A Thousand Splendid Suns and to analyze the tragic fate of the women represented by Mariam in the Afghan society,focusing on mimetic desire,scapegoat mechanism,persecution and salvation.The thesis is divided into three parts: Introduction,the main body and Conclusion.In the introduction part,the author,Khaled Hosseini and the text,A Thousand Splendid Suns will be introduced at first.In addition,it also introduces the domestic and foreign research of the novel and the structure of this paper.In the Chapter One of the thesis,the development of scapegoat phenomenon in society and relative theories about scapegoat culture will be summarized.Rene Girard,as a representative scholar who conducted numerous researches on scapegoat phenomenon,established his scapegoat theory and summarized the four stereotypes of scapegoat persecution and the operation of scapegoat mechanism persecution by analysis of a large number of persecution texts.In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns,Mariam is an typically innocent scapegoat in the patriarchal society of Afghanistan,who is actually a miniature of the suffering of the whole female group in Afghanistan.Chapter Two will discuss the first stereotype,the description of a social or cultural crisis.In the novel,the time span is from the 1960 s to the 2000 s.During this period,the leading government of Afghanistan has been replaced several times,and the situation in leading organizations are also treacherous.At the same time,the inequality in society existed everywhere,especially gender inequality.Chapter Three will discuss the second stereotype,the accusation of the troublemaker’s crime.Crisis can lead to the breakdown of interpersonal relationships,and people prefer to blame others or society instead of themselves.People will accuse someone of crimes for no reason while it also does not matter whether the crime is true or not.In the novel,Mariam is accused of crimes that she killed her mother indirectly,tried to escape from her husband,and killed her husband finally.Chapter Four will discuss the third stereotype,the special marks on the scapegoat.Girard argues that the most important condition is not the crime when a community selects a scapegoat,but rather the most distinct characteristics of the victim.In A Thousand Splendid Suns,Mariam was born with the identity of an illegitimate child.Because of her mother’s influence and experience of her childhood,Mariam’s character was also extremely obedient.All of these factors make Mariam unique.Chapter Five will examine the persecution and salvation through the scapegoat mechanism.Mariam received oral persecution,mental persecution and physical persecution from her parents and her husband.In A Thousand Splendid Suns,Mariam was chosen as a scapegoat twice.The first time,Mariam passively sacrificed herself and got married with Rasheed as a scapegoat because of her identity as an illegitimate daughter and her father’s reputation and glory.The second time,Mariam voluntarily sacrificed herself as a scapegoat for protection and love.Unlike the traditional scapegoat,Mariam’s second sacrifice symbolize a salvation and a courageous fight against towards patriarchal society.The last part is conclusion,summarizing the realistic implication of the scapegoating mechanism.In A Thousand Splendid Suns,Hosseini profoundly revealed the injustice and inhuman in a patriarchal society by describing the persecution suffered by innocent people.In a “civilized” society,women are always chosen as a scapegoat passively,commercialized and sacrificed as in the “primitive”world.