Top mark a level English literature NEA Essay. Just over 3000 words. Title of the essay: '"Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman." To what extent is this true of the way in which Atwood and Hosseini explore the entrapment of female characters in their...
“Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman.” To what
extent is this true of the way in which Atwood and Hosseini explore the entrapment of the female
characters in their novels?
In both The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007), the mistreatment of women
due to oppressive patriarchal values is explored. As John Berger points out in his seminal text, Ways of
Seeing,1 women in modern society are essentially “born within an allotted and confined space, into the
keeping of men.”2 This idea can be perceived through the experiences of each of the female protagonists
within these novels. The women are controlled and coerced by men in almost every aspect of their lives,
from the process of childbirth to the control of their intellect and even through to the clothing they are
forced to wear. It is therefore true that when casting blame, it is frequently the female characters in these
novels who are made to take on the burden of guilt by the male characters. This results in the presentation
of societies where women live in an atmosphere of paranoia, constantly fearing punishment from men. A
Thousand Splendid Suns was set in Afghanistan in the late 1970s to the early 2000s, a tumultuous period of
Afghan history which saw attitudes towards woman change dramatically: Hosseini exploring the
suppression of women as a result of the Taliban regime. The Handmaid’s Tale was inspired by multiple Cold
War totalitarian regimes, from Soviet East Germany to Ceausescu’s Romania, both of which are examples
of legislation restricting the rights and health of women.
Both The Handmaid’s Tale and A Thousand Splendid Suns explore the role of religion in perpetuating
misogynistic and patriarchal views which trap women. In the latter part of A Thousand Splendid Suns,
Hosseini explores the Taliban’s enforcement of the harsh Islamic Shari’a Law on women, and how it
dictates their worth and treatment. Similarly, Atwood examines the impact Christianity has on the
treatment of women, and how Gilead’s sexist policies have a biblical precedent. As Church argues, Atwood
uses “biblical symbolism (…) as a means of establishing the theme of control.” 3 For example, Atwood
clearly reveals how Gilead has its roots in St Augustine's teachings on human nature. Augustine cast the
guilt on Eve for Adam’s eating of the fruit from the Garden of Eden and attributes the subsequent Fall of
Man from grace to her. As such, he suggests that women are easily corruptible, and it is their desires and
lust which has caused the corruption of humanity. His teachings used biblical scripture to justify his
reasoning, specifically Genesis 3, with the quote “she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also
unto her husband with her: and he did eat.”4 Biblical or scriptural reasoning is presented as dangerous in
both novels, as it can be twisted or used to justify controlling policies against women that are rooted in
misogyny. For example, the role of women as Handmaids first originated in the Bible, which Atwood draws
attention to in the epigraph of The Handmaid’s Tale: “Behold my maid Billah (…) and she shall bear upon
my knees, and I shall have children by her.”5 The epitaph sets up the idea of entrapment of women, by
placing them in “clearly defined roles,”6 and suggesting that their subjugation is a natural and sacred part
of society. This is further supported by the practice of The Ceremony, which reduces sex simply down to a
sacred act of procreation untainted by lust. Offred is physically held in her role by Serena, “She holds my
hands,”7 whilst the Commander maintains his role by engaging in no intimate interaction with his
1
John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London: Penguin, 1972)
2
Berger, Ways of Seeing, 46.
3
Thomas Church. Food as a Means of Control and Resistance in The Handmaid’s Tale. EMC no. 88. (2020).
4
3. Gen. 3:6 KJV.
5
Gen. 30: 1-3. KJV.
6
Church, Food as a Means of Control and Resistance in The Handmaid’s Tale.
7
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, (London: Vintage, 2018), 100.
, Handmaid other than the action of procreation, “kissing is forbidden.” 8 The cold detached tone Offred uses
to describe the sex taking place further enforces the idea that is an act of higher religious significance
rather than one of desire and emotional fulfillment. Similarly, in A Thousand Splendid Suns, Rasheed
justifies his rape of Mariam through his knowledge of scripture, arguing that “There’s no shame in this
Mariam. (…) It’s what the Prophet himself and his wives did.” 9 This seems to suggest that the action of sex
is to fulfil scriptural precedence, although it is clear that scripture is only being used here to support
violence against women and justify their subsequent entrapment. Atwood similarly uses religious names,
scattered throughout the text, from the ‘Rachel and Leah Centre’ to the shops named ‘Milk and Honey’ 10 to
highlight, that everything, from procreation to the mundane, must “fulfil a higher religious purpose.” 11
Hosseini also explores how scripture is used to support the misogynistic laws implemented by the Taliban
in the latter part of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Here, they use the Shari’a Laws, which come from a strict
reading of the Quran. However, before the Taliban, religious views in Afghanistan were much more liberal,
coming down to personal interpretation rather than state implementation. We can see this in the novel
through Laila’s father Hakim, who provides a contrast to Rasheed in his liberal views and modern attitudes
towards women. Hakim considers the education of girls more important than an early marriage, and even
teaching Laila himself when it became too dangerous for her to attend school (“He took over the teaching
duties himself (…) every day after sundown”12). Indeed, while Rasheed considers society strongest when its
women are subservient, Hakim argues that “a society has no chance of success if its women are
uneducated, Laila. No chance.”13 Later in the novel when the Taliban take control, they brand the Soviets as
atheists and unfaithful to the religion of Afghanistan and turn to a much stricter and harsher reading of the
Quran in response. Hosseini reflects this when he describes how women were to be “severely beaten” 14 if
the set interpretation of scripture is not followed. This influences Rasheed, who justifies his violent
treatment of Mariam using the “idea of ‘nang and namoos’ – honour and pride,”15 a scriptural idea that the
honour of a man is directly related to the decency of his wife. Rasheed inflicts harsh punishment on both
Mariam and Laila when he believes they have disgraced him, forcing Mariam to eat pebbles when she
overcooks rice (“Mariam struggled against him but he kept pushing the pebbles in” 16) and beating Laila
(“Laila didn’t see the punch coming” “It was if a car had hit her at full speed” 17) after she tries to escape
him with Aziza and Mariam. Rasheed’s superior position over his wives is highly important to him, and he
criticizes men who have “lost control of [their] wife.” 18 Mariam and Laila are helplessly trapped in a cycle of
violence which forces them to live in a state of constant fear. This highlights how men and the totalitarian
regimes presented use scriptural justification to trap women into strict roles and justify their violent
mistreatment of them. By using scriptural precedent and references, the totalitarian societies, and male
characters of both The Handmaid’s Tale and A Thousand Splendid Suns avoid the blame for any extreme
actions against the women under their control, casting the blame like a ‘compass needle’ instead onto the
women.
8
Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, 102.
9
Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018), 76.
10
Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, 31.
11
Church, Food as a Means of Control and Resistance in The Handmaid’s Tale.
12
Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, 174.
13
Ibid., 114.
14
Ibid., 271.
15
Lucy Hinchliffe. Uncovering Afghanistan’s Women through Narrative in A Thousand Splendid Suns. EMC no. 78. (2017).
16
Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, 102.
17
Ibid., 261.
18
Ibid., 69.
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