WOMEN’S ATTITUDES TOWARDS GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN KHALED HOSSEINI’S A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

Abstract

This research is a feminism analysis which aims to reveal the kinds of gender discrimination faced by women, and the attitudes of women towards gender discrimination in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns. This study is a qualitative research employing content analysis method. Data analysis was conducted through six steps: organizing and preparing the data, reading and re-reading the data, coding the data, sorting the data, interrelating the description, and interpreting the meaning of description. The findings related to the first objective show that women in the novel experience four kinds of gender discrimination. They are (1) violence: sexual, psychological, and physical violence; (2) subordination: women are alienated in a remote place, sons are preferred from girls, women are forced to get married, women’s ways of dressing are restricted, women’s mobility is limited, and women are treated unfairly in polygamy; (3) stereotype: women are foolish and submissive; and (4) marginalization: from health facility and education. The second result is related to women’s attitudes towards discrimination. Being influenced by many factors, three female  characters  show  different  attitudes.  Nana  shows  her  acceptance  by  having  no resistance toward Jalil the oppressor, wreaking her anger on Jalil’s children, and becoming self-destructive. Meanwhile, Mariam and Laila show their struggles by working in sisterhood to escape from Kabul, fighting Rasheed the oppressor, and using education to end discrimination