Journey from Resilience to Resistance

Women Struggle in Toni Morrison’s Paradise and Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns

Abstract

This study explores the journey of women from resilience to resistance in combating hard times in Toni Morrison’s Paradise and Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns through the theory of resilience by Ponomarov and Holcomb(2009), and theory of resistance via counter theory by Solorzano and Yosso(2002). The common troublesome experience of the women in both of these novels makes them resilient for living in problematic circumstances and fight against the oppression caused by hierarchies of gender and class. Resilience provides women strength for combatting the challenges of patriarchal domination and becomes a driving force to achieve a sense of independence and a life of their own choice. However, these novels expose the ubiquitous power of patriarchy and relevant dangers that women have to encounter with during this struggle against patriarchal forces. Khaled Hosseini concludes his novel on an optimistic note by showing a surviving woman achieving independence and successfully building a home for abandoned women in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Morrison ends her novel with the death of freedom seeker women but their death sends a message of resistance in the path of freedom. It highlights Morrison’s concern not only with African Women in America and Hosseini’s concern with resilient women in war ridden Afghanistan but their concern with voices of all deprived women in the world. Thus the women show resilience in hard times by making mutual bonds and then struggle for liberation. It signifies that both of these writers advocate feministic ideals of women freedom. This study paves a way for further research in resilience studies in combination with various dimensions of women resistance in these novelists.