A Postmodern Feminist Study Of A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-born American novelist,is certainly a dark horse in contemporary American literature. Compared with The Kite Runner, his masterpiece A Thousand Splendid Suns is more delicate in writing skill and more sophisticated in plot. It tells a compelling story of two Afghan women, born two decades apart, whose lives are brought together through a series of tragic events against Afghanistan’s recent history. The study about A Thousand Splendid Suns both in China and abroad is still in the early stage. It is the first time to approach the novel in the light of Postmodern Feminism. This dissertation discusses the inheritance and subversion of traditional male image and female image by analyzing the characters in A Thousand Splendid Suns and explores the constructions of female subjectivity and harmonious relationship between men and women using Luce Irigaray’s identity criticism, female discourse and “To Be Two” theory.This thesis consists of five chapters: Chapter One briefly introduces Khaled Hosseini and his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, and the postmodern feminism theory; Chapter Two explores the inheritance and subversion of the traditional male image and female image in the novel and discusses the effect of subversion is to show the ideal male image in Hosssini’s eyes and to construct the female subjectivity; Chapter Three explores the reason why the female subject is absent in the patriarchy using Irigaray’s identity criticism. Besides, it analyses the different ways of two women who have different education backgrounds to construct female subject. It draws a conclusion that and female discourse and sisterhood play important roles in constructing female subject; Chapter Four compares the three couples in the novel using Irigaray’s “To Be Two” theory and points out that men and women ought to establish an equal and harmonious relationship based on the gender difference. The thesis draws a conclusion that men and women shouldn’t be opposite but fair and harmonious. Women not men’s enemies and they can be men’s guides. It is the love and the respect for difference that make men and women don’t feel lonely any more. Under the guidance of love and difference, men and women can posses their identity and be harmonious.