Afghan Females Under Power Gaze

Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-born American novelist，is certainly a dark horse incontemporary American literature. Compared with its predecessor The Kite Runner,his second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns is more delicate in writing skill and moresophisticated in language. The study both in China and abroad of A ThousandSplendid Suns is still in the early stage. It is the first time abroad and at home toapproach the novel in the light of Michel Foucault’s theories. Informed withFoucault’s concepts of power and discourse, gaze, and the techniques of disciplines,the analysis of the novel shows that the Afghan society is a disciplinary society. Basedon a close reading of A Thousand Splendid Suns, the thesis studies the Afghan societyand Afghan females’ living conditions, revealing the oppression of Afghan females inpower operation mechanism. Through the interpretation of Mariam and Laila’sstruggles, the thesis concludes that in the Afghan disciplinary society, only whenwomen learn to help each other and depend on their own efforts, can they change theiroppressed fates, avoid being a prisoner of disciplinary power, and finally, liberate boththeir spirit and bodies.