Sisterhood:Women’s Self-empowerment To Break Spatial Constraints In Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns

As a contemporary Afghan-American novelist, Khaled Hosseini in his second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, depicts the lived experience of Afghan women in a tumultuous period as well as their resistance against gender oppression and gender inequality, narrating Afghan women’s sisterly bond for salvation and their aspiration for love, survival, and freedom. The two protagonists, Mariam and Laila, who grow up in different backgrounds, are brought together through their marriages with Rasheed. They not only constantly suffer domestic violence from Rasheed, but also endure poverty, famine, and violence of war. Yet, the support and care between Mariam and Laila help them to survive the miseries. This novel expresses Hosseini’s deep concern on Afghan women’s living status and his expectation of a bright Afghanistan.In Feminist Geography, space is considered as gendered, with the results of restricting women’s mobility and reinforcing gender inequality. Yet, as a kind of female solidarity, sisterhood can function as a means of self-empowerment to awaken women’s self-consciousness, forming. female subjectivity, and achieving self-realization. Based on the feminist connotation of sisterhood and Feminist Geography, this thesis aims to analyze Afghan women’s sisterhood in breaking spatial constraints, and argues that female solidarity is essential for Afghan women to break the discourse of patriarchy and expand their private and public spaces.This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One introduces Khaled Hosseini and A Thousand Splendid Suns and gives a brief survey of the study abroad and at home. This chapter also elaborates on the research approach and research significance of this thesis. Chapter Two and Chapter Three focus on the dynamics and dialectics between sisterhood and space. The concept of sisterhood has gradually evolved with the progress of Western Feminist movement. Therefore, to define sisterhood is primarily necessary. Then, based on the theory of Feminism, this thesis explores the formation of sisterhood of the two protagonists, which constitutes two stages:from a period of hostility to alliance and become sisters. Their spatial constraints are analyzed from the perspective of Feminist Geography, pointing out that spatial constraints and gender inequality are mutually reinforced. Through the discussion of the relation between sisterhood and space, this thesis argues that sisterhood, as the product of domestic space, can change the home to a site of resistance. Chapter Four analyzes the effects of sisterhood and the process of breaking spatial constraints, arguing that sisterhood can empower women to break spatial constraints by awakening self-consciousness and mutual nurturing. Chapter Five explores the spatial extension of sisterhood concerning the two protagonists, which includes individual space and space for social survival, emphasizing that sisterhood enables women to reshape their space for survival. Chapter Six summarizes the discussions in this thesis, pointing out that sisterhood is an effective way for Afghan women to be liberated from despotism and patriarchy.