Zohreh Mallaki

Unlike classical Persian literature, where the presence of women is rare or extremely limited, contemporary Persian literature—particularly in the novels and short stories of Iran and Afghanistan—reflects the lives and issues of women. The study of these novels provides a means to explore women's living conditions, societal attitudes toward them, and the challenges they face. Shouhar-e Ahoo Khanom by Ali-Mohammad Afghani and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, which portray Iranian and Afghan societies during two historically close yet distinct periods, exemplify such works. These two novels, adopting different approaches, depict women's issues within polygamous families and can therefore be analyzed through the lens of feminist criticism. This study employs a descriptive-analytical method with a feminist critique approach to compare and analyze the two novels in order to identify their underlying discourses. The results indicate that both novels reflect a patriarchal discourse in accordance with the prevailing social environment. However, while the author of Shouhar-e Ahoo Khanom reinforces this discourse, the author of A Thousand Splendid Suns seeks to challenge and change it. Gender stereotypes and the binary opposition of "woman/man" are present in both novels, yet Afghani endorses such stereotypes, whereas Hosseini considers them discriminatory. Overall, despite the relatively similar socio-cultural contexts of the two novels, they adopt completely different perspectives on women and their issues.