The struggle for independent status of two women characters in Khaled Hosseini’s a thousand splendid suns novel

As human, women and men are always have problems in their life. To some extent, women’s problem can even more complex and problematic than man. Surprisingly, women often show strong effort to face the problems. It s indicated in Khaled Hosseini`s A Thousand Splendid Suns novel. In this sense, this paper examines the factors caused the two women’s characters struggle to get their independent status based on feminist views and efforts of two women’s character to get their independent status in this novel. The problems are in line with the feminism theory, the factors caused and the women's struggles can be revealed. In this study, the theory of feminism is Simone de Beauvoir’s theory in her book The Second Sex through the concept of the other. This research uses qualitative research. Qualitative research is a research procedure that generates the data descriptions in the form of words. The data of this research is the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. The other, in Beauvoir's theory, can be meant that as someone who claimed cannot be superior, because women are regarded as second-class human beings in society. The story in the novel is filled with the values of women struggle to get their independent of action and opinion, and to be regarded as human beings who have equal footing with men. The researcher discovers the factors that caused these two women characters struggle to get independent status. Beauvoir herself mentions that these factors cannot be separated by cultural and social conditions around the novel, in this case environment or country. After analyzing and researching A Thousand Splendid Suns novel according to Beauvoir's feminist theory, the researcher finds four factors which cause of two women characters struggle, such as: patriarchy system, the rules where man is dominated and women are the other, eliminated. Marriage system, Mariam and Laila have restraint and torture from their husband, they are like slave in their marriage. War condition and social status also become the factors because women are eliminated by the conditions in their country. Because of the pressure from these factors, researcher finds the efforts or the struggle of two women to get independent status. Researcher categorized it in accordance with two women’s characters, there are Mariam`s efforts and Laila's efforts, each has differences and similarities in conducting their efforts. Finally, at the end of the research, the results of the analysis showed that factors causes of two women’s character to get their independent status are patriarchy system, marriage system, war condition and social status. And efforts of two women’s character struggles to get their independent status divided into two parts; first, Mariam’s efforts to get her independent status are adaptation as a housewife, protest with act to against her husband. And second, Laila’s efforts to get her independent status are get education, get equal with man, and want to show that women are not the other