Masculinity In The Kite Runner

Mariam felt as ‘imposing and immovable as the Safid-koh mountains looming over Gul Daman,’ (Hosseini, 2007). Hosseini’s reference to the mountains ‘looming’ presence creates a shadow image over the village, creating dark imagery in which the shadows of the mountains cast over the villages, symbolic to the fear that always hangs as a threat over the women. Additionally, the mountains are described to be ‘immovable’ thus presenting the male domination as an ever present threat to female liberation as they it presents how man are set in their traditional views of the patriarchy. Moreover, Hosseini uses the mountains to describe the setting over the village, however when describing the setting in the more urban area of Kabul there is no sense of an ‘immovable’ male domination. Hosseini describes the ‘modern Afghan

In this view women are more open to the opportunities of improving their own status if overlooking the norms and rules set by society and rejecting submission to their male counterparts.

Moreover, violence through male oppression is also evident in the objectification of females in the Color Purple. Celie and other women’s worth are valued by their purity and their ability to work within the homes and on the plantations. When Mr Albert comes to ask Celie’s stepfather to ask for Nettie’s hand he refuses, saying that ‘make a schoolteacher’ (Walker, 1986) out of her and offers him Celie as she is the oldest and isn’t ‘fresh’ (Walker, 1986) because she ‘spoiled’ (Walker, 1986) twice referring to Celie’s two pregnancies as a result from her stepfathers abuse. Firstly the objectification is evident in the ownership the stepfather has over both Celie and Nettie and the unemotional approach to marriage. The refusal of ‘giving’ Nettie to Mr Albert is significant as