A JOURNEY FROM RESILIENCE TO RESISTANCE: THE 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 have a life of one’s own choice. However, these
novels expose the ubiquitous power of patriarchy and relevant dangers. 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. The women
exhibit resilience in difficult times proving them to be strong and brave. This study
paves a way for further research in resilience studies in association with various
dimensions of women resistance in these novelists.