A Subaltern Reading of Nadia Hashimi’s The Pearl That Broke Its Shell and Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns

Abstract

Modern Afghan author Khaled Hosseini addresses social, political, and cultural issues, especially those affecting women, in his fiction. Hosseini's novels have been translated into more than 70 languages and have sold more than 40 million copies around the world. Hosseini grew up in Afghanistan, so his fascination with the country and its women is probably grounded in his own experiences there. A Thousand Splendid Suns has been the subject of a wide range of critical examinations. The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi is similar to works by Khalid Hosseini in both style and subject matter. Both Hashimi and Hosseini experienced the bitterness of migration, although Hashimi left for the West first and lived there for the bulk of her life. Their writings are significant because they combine the tales and sorrows of women with historical events. The works of both authors examine the lives of women in different historical eras. Similar themes of patriarchal violence and the imposition of unsavoury cultures on women can be found in both books. Both novels are analysed in this thesis through the lens of subaltern theory.

Keywords

• Khaled Hosseini
• Nadia Hashimi
• A Thousand Splendid Suns
• The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
• Subaltern

References

1. Abbady, A. (2022). Afghanistan’s “Bacha Posh”: Gender-Crossing in Nadia Hashimi’s The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. Women’s Studies, 51(2), 242–253. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2021.2023531
2. Abbasi, F., & Gossman, P. (2021). ‘I thought our life might get better’: Implementing Afghanistan’s elimination of violence against women law. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2021/07/afghanistan0821_web.pdf
3. Abirafeh, L. (2006). Freedom is Only Won From the Inside: Domestic Violence in Post-Conflict Afghanistan. Women’s UN Report Network. https://wunrn.com/wp-content/uploads/112106_afghnaistan_domestic.pdf
4. Afzaly, H. (2022). Media Framing of Marriage Practices in Afghanistan [Master of Arts]. University of Northern Iowa.
5. Agnello, M. F., Todd, R. H., Olaniran, B., & Lucey, T. A. (2009). Afghanistan and multiculturalism in Khaled Hosseini’s novels: Study of place and diversity. Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, 3(2), 96–111.
6. Ahady, A.-H. (1995). The Decline of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan. Asian Survey, 35(7), 621–634. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645419
7. Albrow, M. (2003). Sociology: The Basics. Routledge.
8. Al-wazedi, U. (2023). The Trade of Giving Up Being A Woman: A Transnational Antiracist Reading of Nadia Hashimi’s The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. In F. Jussawalla & D. Omran (Eds.), Muslim Women’s Writing from across South and Southeast Asia (pp. 73–83). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003248064

9. Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2013). Subaltern. In Postcolonial Studies: The Key Concepts (Third edition). Routledge.
10. Asif, M., Rashid, R., & Saleem, M. (2020). Marriage As An Oppression of Women: An Analysis of Khaled Hosseini’s Novels. Journal of Qualitative Social Sciences, 2(3), 1–13.
11. Awitor, F. E. (2022). ‘Could the Subaltern Speak?’ Patriarchy and Gender-Based Violence in Ben Okri’s Dangerous Love. Journal of Gender, Ethnic, and Cross-Cultural Studies, 1(1), 40–58.
12. Barez, S. (2010, March 1). Mullahs and religious elders tapped to promote women’s rights. UNAMA: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. https://unama.unmissions.org/mullahs-and-religious-elders-tapped-promote-women%E2%80%99s-rights
13. Blumenthal, R. (2012). Looking for Home in the Islamic Diaspora of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Azar Nafisi, and Khaled Hosseini. Arab Studies Quarterly, 34(4), 250–264.
14. Cahall, F. (2015, November 13). Boundary Breakers Afghan Women’s Cycling Team. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/afghan-women-cycling-team
15. Chattopadhyay, A. (2021). "At the Crossroads of Central Asia”: Analyzing the Varied Aspects of Afghan Society and Its Representation in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Nadia Hashimi’s When The Moon Is Low. Quest Journals Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, 9(1), 23–28.
16. Corboz, J., Gibbs, A., & Jewkes, R. (2020). Bacha posh in Afghanistan: Factors associated with raising a girl as a boy. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 22(5), 585–598. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2019.1616113 Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
17. Downing, N. E., & Roush, K. L. (1985). From Passive Acceptance to Active Commitment: A Model of Feminist Identity Development for Women. The Counseling Psychologist, 13(4), 695–709. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000085134013
18. Dupree, L. (1973). Afghanistan. Oxford University Press.
19. Elphinstone, M. (1815). An account of the kingdom of Caubul. Longman. https://www.loc.gov/item/14015132/
20. Fadhilah, F. F., & Handayani, T. (2022). Domestic Violence Againts Women Portrayed in Khaled Hosseini’s a Thousand Splendid Suns. Insaniyat : Journal of Islam and Humanities, 7(1), Article 1.
21. Fatma, M. (2022). Women’s Predicament and Harassment in A Thousand Splendid Suns. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD), 6(5), 1104–1108.
22. Fauzia, N. S., & Rahayu, A. C. (2019). Women’s Struggle against Patriarchy: An Analysis of Radical Feminism Through Nadia Hashimi’s A House Without Windows. ANAPHORA: Journal of Language, Literary and Cultural Studies, 2(1), 1–9.
23. Hamidi, N., Vaughan, C., & Bohren, M. A. (2021). “My father told me ‘child, there is no son in this house, so you should wear these boy clothes’”: Perspectives on gender norms, roles, and bacha posh among Afghan migrant women in Melbourne, Australia. Journal of Migration and Health, 4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666623521000313
24. Hashimi, N. (2014). The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. William Morrow.
25. Hoare, Q., & Smith, G. N. (Eds.). (1971). Selections From The Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. International Publishers.
26. Hope for Afghan Women Traded to End Feuds. (2017, January 17). Institute For War & Peace Reporting. https://iwpr.net/global-voices/hope-afghan-women-traded-end-feuds
27. Hosseini, K. (2007). A Thousand Splendid Suns. Riverhead Books.
28. Huang, R. (2022, August 14). ‘I’ll be sacrificed’: The lost and sold daughters of Afghanistan. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/8/14/ill-be-sacrificed-the-lost-and-sold-daughters-of-afghanistan
29. Humm, M. (1995). The Dictionary of Feminist Theory. Ohio State University Press.
30. Hunnicutt, G. (2009). Varieties of Patriarchy and Violence Against Women: Resurrecting “Patriarchy” as a Theoretical Tool. Violence Against Women, 15(5), 553–573. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801208331246 In Search of Justice for Crimes of Violence Against Women and Girls. (2020). United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/AF/UNAMA_OHCHR_Violence_Women.pdf
31. İşçi, V. (2021). Representations of the Turks in Twentieth Century British Travel Writing on Asia Minor. Tarih Dergisi, 73, 249–276. https://doi.org/10.26650/iutd.751171
32. İşçi, V. (2022). Failed Marriages and Spinsterhood as Symbolic Feminist Concepts in the Victorian Novel. Bingöl Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 24, 325–332. https://doi.org/10.29029/busbed.1118437
33. Jabbra, N. (2013). Women, Words and War: Explaining 9/11 and Justifying U.S. Military Action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 8(1), 236–255.
34. Jahan, R. (2018). Glimpses of Pashtunwali in Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hashimi’s A House Without Windows and Ackerman’s Green on Blue [Master’s Thesis]. University of Regina.
35. Jasim Mohammed, R., & Ahmed Rasheed, L. (2022). A Non-Western Representation of the Third World Women in Nadia Hashimi’s A House without Windows. Arab World English Journal For Translation and Literary Studies, 6(3), 113–127. https://doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol6no3.8
36. Karaman, N. B. (2022). Subaltern Portraits in Waiting for the Barbarians, Sea of Poppies and The Afghan Girl. Overtones Ege Journal of English Studies, 1, Article 1.
37. Kumar, H. A. (2022). Explicating Violence and Suffering in Nadia Hashimi’s The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES), 4(2), 154–156.
38. Limaye, Y., & Thapar, A. (2021, September 8). Afghanistan: Women beaten for demanding their rights. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58491747
39. Meera, M., & Yekta, K. (2021). The Challenges to Political Participation of Women in Afghanistan: Historical and Cultural Perspectives. Asian Studies, 9(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2021.9.1.65-91
40. Mohanty, C. T. (1984). Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses. Boundary 2, 12/13, 333–358. https://doi.org/10.2307/302821
41. Monish, J., & Kannadhasan, M. (2021). The Struggle Of Women Against Oppression – A Study Of Nadia Hashimi’s The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. Journal of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 23(9), 1207–1215.
42. Morton, S. (2003). Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Routledge.
43. Nadia Hashimi: 2016 National Book Festival. (2016). [Video recording]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVReae6muUw
44. Pashtun. (n.d.). In Britannica. Retrieved 27 September 2023, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pashtun
45. Pourjafari, F. (2022). The Concept of Identity and Subaltern in Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Journal of New Trends in English Language Learning, 1(1), 21–26.
46. Principe, C. (2013). Spivak’s Fantasy of Silence: A Secular Look at Suicide. Journal for Cultural Research, 17(3), 234–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/14797585.2012.737151
47. Qaderi, H. (2020). Dancing In The Mosque: An Afghan Mother’s Letter To Her Son (Z. S. Stanizai, Trans.). HarperCollins.
48. Rural Afghan Girls Continue To Fall Victim To ‘Baad’ Marriages. (2015, July 28). Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-baad-marriages-rural-girls/27157104.html
49. Rzehak, L. (2011). Pashtunwali – tribal life and behaviour among the Pashtuns. Afghanistan Analysts Network. https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/special-reports/pashtunwali-tribal-life-and-behaviour-among-the-pashtuns/
50. Safa, O. (2022). Afghan Women through Generations: A Feminist Analysis of Nadia Hashimi’s The Pearl That Broke Its Shell (2014) [Master’s Thesis, Université 8 Mai 1945 Guelma]. http://dspace.univ-guelma.dz/jspui/handle/123456789/13597
51. Schueller, M. J. (2011). Cross-cultural Identification, Neoliberal Feminism, and Afghan Women. Genders 1998-2013: University of Colorado Boulder. https://www.colorado.edu/gendersarchive1998-2013/2011/04/01/cross-cultural-identification-neoliberal-feminism-and-afghan-women
52. Seierstad, Å. (2003). The Bookseller of Kabul. Back Bay Books.
53. Shameem, B. (2014). Living On The Edge: Women In Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns. Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL), 2(4), 62–66.
54. Shapiro, L. B. (2010). Middle Eastern Women’s Issues, An Analysis of A Thousand Splendid Suns and The New York Times [Master’s Thesis]. University of Florida.
55. Shihada, I. M. (2019). Revisiting Women Rights in Khaled Hosseini‟s A Thousand Splendid Suns. International Journal Of English: Literature, Language & Skills, 7(4), 25–40.
56. Shinde, M. (2021). Ethnicity in Afghanistan Literature: Khaled Hosseini, Nadeem Aslam, Yasmina Khadra and Latifa. Prestige Books International.
57. Siber, M. (2022). The Intersection of Gender, Disability and Social Status in Nadia Hashimi’s The Pearl that Broke its Shell. Rocky Mountain Review, 76(2), 261–288.
58. Silvester, J. D. (2017). A Study on Human Relations in the Novels of Khaled Hosseini and Atiq Rahimi. Language in India, 17(12), 131–136.
59. Skinner, P. (2014). The Gendered Nose and its Lack: “Medieval” Nose-Cutting and its Modern Manifestations. Journal of Women’s History, 26(1), 45–67. https://doi.org/10.1353/jowh.2014.0008
60. Smith, D. J. (2009). Decisions, Desires and Diversity: Marriage Practices in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU). https://www.refworld.org/docid/4992cc722.html
61. Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture (pp. 271–313). Macmillan.
62. Suryani, S., & Febianingrum, A. (2022). Redefinition of Power by Rahima in Nadia Hashimi:“The Pearl That Broke Its Shell”. PARAFRASE: Jurnal Kajian Kebahasaan & Kesastraan, 22(2), 213–220.
63. Thakur, P. (2019, August 29). Fossilization of Gender Identities in the Hindu Social Structure: A Study through the Marriage Hymns of Atharva-veda. Proceedings of The 3rd International Academic Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences. 3rd International Academic Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.33422/3rd.iachss.2019.08.483
64. The Forced Virginity Testing of Women in Afghanistan. (2018, November 21). UAB Institute for Human Rights Blog. https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2018/11/21/the-forced-virginity-testing-of-women-in-afghanistan/
65. Thomas, P. D. (2018). Refiguring the Subaltern. Political Theory, 46(6), 861–884. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591718762720
66. Trading of Women Rife in East Afghanistan, Report Claims. (2013, March 30). TOLOnews. https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/trading-women-rife-east-afghanistan-report-claims
67. United Nations General Assembly. (1948, December 10). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3712c.html
68. Vale, G., Margolin, D., & Akbari, F. (2023). Repeating the Past or Following Precedent? Contextualising the Taliban 2.0’s Governance of Women. International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT). https://doi.org/10.19165/2023.1.01
69. Veena, M., & Mirza, H. S. (2011). “There is nothing ‘honourable’ about honour killings”: Gender, violence and the limits of multiculturalism. In M. M. Idriss & T. Abbas (Eds.), Honour, Violence, Women and Islam (pp. 42–66). Routledge.
70. Wahedi, M. S. (2021). Depiction of Women’s Life and Suffering in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns. The Refereed & Peer Review International Journal, 8(104), 43–49.
71. Weaver, J. (2002). Inside Afghanistan: The American Who Stayed Behind after 9/11and His Mission of Mercy to a War-Torn People. W Publishing Group.
72. Yeasmin, F. (2020). Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns: A Saga of Afghanistan. Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL), 8(3), 381–390. https://doi.org/10.33329/rjelal.8.3.381