A thousand splendid suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns: The burqa as a symbol of both the social plight of women and a hidden sense of freedom
“Mariam had never before worn a burqa. Rasheed had to help her put it on. The padded headpiece felt tight and heavy on her skull, and it was strange seeing the world through a mesh screen. She practiced walking around her room in it and kept stepping on the hem and stumbling. The loss of peripheral vision was unnerving, and she did not like the suffocating way the pleated cloth kept pressing against her mouth” (65).
Khaled Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns” focuses on the plight of women in Afghan society. It is in this society that the burqa is used as a symbol of both the repressive nature of male dominance and the suffocating effects of submission. Much like in the novel “Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, women are seen only for their reproductive purposes. They are only considered a means by which to pass on the family name and business, not as loving caring individuals. In the “Handmaid’s Tale” they are forced to wear dresses of certain colors and have to wear special hats so that they can not see their peripheral vision. This lack of vision is a symbol not only for the experiences in life from which these women are cut off, but also for the blindness of society, which puts up its own blinders and pretends that treating women in this manner is acceptable. Offred, from the “Handmaid’s Tale”, is also suffocated by society. She is not allowed to speak unless spoken to and is not supposed to make eye contact unless commanded to do so. While Offred feels the suffocating ways of society theoretically, Mariam feels them literally as the cloth presses against her mouth, silencing her and making it difficult for her to breathe. These outfits are meant to show society the women’s roles in the family and make them submissive to the dominant male race. This scenario is the same for the burqas in “A Thousand Splendid Suns. The burqas are
“Mariam had never before worn a burqa. Rasheed had to help her put it on. The padded headpiece felt tight and heavy on her skull, and it was strange seeing the world through a mesh screen. She practiced walking around her room in it and kept stepping on the hem and stumbling. The loss of peripheral vision was unnerving, and she did not like the suffocating way the pleated cloth kept pressing against her mouth” (65).
Khaled Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns” focuses on the plight of women in Afghan society. It is in this society that the burqa is used as a symbol of both the repressive nature of male dominance and the suffocating effects of submission. Much like in the novel “Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, women are seen only for their reproductive purposes. They are only considered a means by which to pass on the family name and business, not as loving caring individuals. In the “Handmaid’s Tale” they are forced to wear dresses of certain colors and have to wear special hats so that they can not see their peripheral vision. This lack of vision is a symbol not only for the experiences in life from which these women are cut off, but also for the blindness of society, which puts up its own blinders and pretends that treating women in this manner is acceptable. Offred, from the “Handmaid’s Tale”, is also suffocated by society. She is not allowed to speak unless spoken to and is not supposed to make eye contact unless commanded to do so. While Offred feels the suffocating ways of society theoretically, Mariam feels them literally as the cloth presses against her mouth, silencing her and making it difficult for her to breathe. These outfits are meant to show society the women’s roles in the family and make them submissive to the dominant male race. This scenario is the same for the burqas in “A Thousand Splendid Suns. The burqas are