Abstract

The intended research analyzed and compared the works of Khaled Hossieni, the Afghan- American best-seller writer with the works of Shashi Deshpande, the Indian female writer. The research focused on how the issues of women in two cultures have been tackled and treated with and how the two writers have succeeded in increasing women’s self-awareness with respect to their rights and identities. The study examined the works of these writers from both male and female viewpoints and from a feministic perspective as well. The rationale behind this study lies in the significance of the issue. Women have been marginalized and oppressed in male-dominating societies now and then and writers advocating the rights of women have constantly portrayed these issues in their novels and literary works. Among these writers, Khaled Hosseini and Shashi Deshpande from opposite sex have vastly dealt and reflected on the issues of women as marginalized part of soceity, domestic violence, arranged and forced marriages, patriarchy and male dominance which have deprived women from their basic rights. Khaled Hosseini reveals the bitter truth behind the walls of Afghanistan about women. Women have been suffering deprived of their basic rights let alone other human rights. The issues have been reflected in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and in And the Mountains Echoed and his other works too. On the other hand, Shashi Deshpande mirrors the life of particularly middle class Indian women in the patriarchal society of India. She writes of the hot topics that unfortunately entangle Indian women. This research paper discussed the subject in an analytical and comparative method. It applies qualitative and textual analysis.

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