Afghanistan:a Land Of Hidden Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini is a promising Afghan-born American novelist and the publication of his second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns in2007wins him an implausible popularity. This story happens in Afghanistan, and Hosseini opens a "literary window" through which the real Afghanistan is accessible to people all over the world. This novel spans a period of over half century from1950s to2000s when Afghanistan was in a state of constant turmoil, which was a disruption of the peaceful life of the ordinary people. Mariam’s illegitimate birth and the turbulent environment lead to her tragedy and her life ends up with a death sentence. Laila, another protagonist, fortunately survives and returns to Afghanistan to join in the reconstruction after the sufferings of her family’s death, lover’s leaving and violence from her husband and Taliban. Their sufferings are the sufferings of the vast masses in Afghanistan, including those who have died in the turmoil or have left their homeland. Their stories also make the Afghan women’s distinct experience known to the public.Based on the theoretical foundation related to ethics, Professor Nie Zhenzhao proposes ethical literary criticism, a new critical approach to interpret literary works from the perspective of ethics. He claims that literature is the art of ethics in nature, as it is the special expressions of ethical ideas and moral life in a particular historical period. Thus, literature bears a responsibility of depicting the change of ethical order and the moral issues that the change brings about, so as to provide experience and instruction for the progress of human civilization.Hosseini’s ethical ideas are abundant in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. As almost all of the ethical problems are relevant to ethical identity in some sense, this thesis first focuses on the analysis of the changes in the ethical identity of the two protagonists. Then the author explores some aspects of the ethical disorder which breaks up the peaceful life of people and causes great confusion in Afghan society. At last, the author discusses Hosseini’s suggestions for reconstructing a new ethical order in Afghanistan.Ethical literary criticism helps us better understand Hosseini’s severe criticism of the ethical disorder and his strong sense of social responsibility, as well as his efforts to reconstruct the ethical order. Hosseini is optimistic about the future of Afghanistan with the support of people all over the world and the cooperation of all Afghan people.