The plight of women in patriarchal Afghanistan in Yasmina Khadra's the swallows of Kabul (2002)‎ and Khaled Hosseini's a thousand splendid suns (2007)‎

Abstract EN

From 1979 to 2002, Afghanistan witnessed long years of a destructive war with thousands of people killed.

Yasmina Khadra's the swallows of Kabul (2002) and Khaled Hosseini's a thousand splendid suns (2007) describe the horrors that characterized the period.

they also describe the fate of Afghan wives.

considered of lower social status than men, Afghan wives, in the two novels, are systematically and severely beaten by their husbands for the smallest reason.

their lives are filled with pain and fear.

the present article intends to shed light on the way political and social processes in the two selected novels support patriarchal domination and the use of force against wives.

the latter, in the two novels, are beaten savagely.

things get worse when these women are unable to give birth to children / sons.

the violence becomes not only physical but psychological as well.

the end is dramatic.