Suppression of Women in Afghan Society: A Subaltern Study of The Secret Sky by Atia Abawi

Abstract

Atia Abawi's novel The Secret Sky (2014), shows the repression of women in the patriarchal society of Afghanistan. The primary objective of the study is to gain an understanding of the oppression that women face in societies that exercise dominance. Drawing upon the notions propounded by Spivak (1988), the study has explored women's difficulties as well as the perspectives concerning the suppression on women and the stretches of power that are suppressed. The main characters of the novel fight for their independence and rebel against the chains and shackles that society has imposed on them. They escape and engage themselves in combat with the perpetrators of the crime committed on them. Findings of the study reveal that Afghani culture is patriarchal in nature and in this society, the oppression of women is mostly acknowledged as being acceptable in the name of culture, honor, and values. When it comes to creating resistance against the manufactured characteristics of patriarchal dominance and women's subjection, the female characters are found to be helpless in this regard.