The transformative subaltern in Afghanistan with reference to khaled Hosseini's the Kite Runner and a Thousand Splendid Suns

Abstract EN

The concept of the subaltern is pivotal in the novels of Khaled Hosseini (b.

1965).

In his two selected texts- The Kite Runner (2003) and A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) Hosseini depicts the conditions of Afghanistani in general and the subaltern in particular, during the tremulous era (1973 - 2004).

In The Kite Runner, Hosseini focuses on the conditions of Hazaras as a subaltern marginalized minority, oppressed by the Pashtun majority.

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, the poor, villagers, women and children are portrayed as additional examples of the subaltern groups in the Afghani restrictive patriarchal classist society.

Some of these groups work industriously to promote their conditions, and therefore they are called transformative subaltern, in Gramsci's terms.

The paper aims to present a total picture of the subaltern groups in the country, elucidating their relative transformation.

The paper adopts a Marxist subaltern approach according to Gramsci's views.