The study of the social phenomenon of anomie and its reflection in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Arezou Dasta ¹
• Mohammad Hossein Djavari ²

¹ Department of French Language and Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages. University of Tabriz.

² Department of French language and literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages. University of Tabriz

10.22067/rltf.2021.70704.1011

Abstract

Using a socio-critical approach, the study explored the social phenomenon of anomie and its reflection in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossein, one of the contemporary American writers of Afghan origin. Through his realistic and literary power, he represents a society that suffers from the crisis due to war and suicide, and whose norms and values are questioned by the actions of its members. Hosseini's romantic universe, which sheds light on contemporary Afghan society, takes a stand in favor of women. The author puts women at the center of his work and paints, in the eyes of readers, a society in which women, as the main characters, are the victims of anomie. In fact, his work portrays social realities and females’ suffering in a prodigious way. First, by drawing on the ideas of sociologists and philosophers such as Émile Durkheim, Chazel and Guyau, the theoretical orientations which seek to elucidate the conception of anomie are identified. Then, to carry out the in-depth analysis, the absence of norms and values in the society in question are explored. It examines how Hosseini's romantic universe reveals different aspects of anomic society in the midst of a crisis. Finally, from the same perspective, the study looks at Zima's approach to support the transformation of the absence of norms and values into textual elements.

Keywords

• Khaled Hosseini
• A Thousand Splendid Suns
• anomie
• suicide
• discrimination

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