Soviet Union Regime ANALYSIS

24

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

This chapter discusses the effects of regimes on women in three different regimes. Every regime which is discussed in this study gives many good and bad effects. In this chapter, I focused on Mariam and Laila as the representative of women in this novel.

A. Soviet Union Regime

Soviet Union started the invasion in Afghanistan since 1979 until 1988. In fact, Soviet Union had started to come in Afghanistan in. The novel also gave brief description when Soviet Union came to Afghanistan for the first time. This situation below was taken from Mariam’s point of view, On April 27 1978, Soviet Union came to Afghanistan. Mariam’s heard crackling sounds and intense, sudden roars. She could see military planes zooming past, heading north and east. Their deafening shrieks hurt her ears. In the distance loud booms resonated and sudden plumes of smoke rose to the sky 99. When Soviet came to Afghanistan, Afghan people responded differently. Many of them had a great enthusiasm, some of them rejected it and few of them did not understand what communist was. One example was shown in the character of Mariam. She still did not understand what Soviet Union and communist were. She even asked Rasheed what communist was, “What’s a communist?” she asked. Rashed mumbled that it was someone who believed in Karl Marxist 97. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI There were many reforms which had been made in the new government in Afghanistan. There were some good effects that women had during Soviet invasion such as, education, work, and freedom to unveil their hair. Many educated women live in Kabul and they were allowed to work side by side with men. The number of educated women had been increasing since the unveiling was allowed in this country. Laila was one of the fortunate women who could have a good education. She could go to school when she was a child. Her father was a teacher therefore he wanted her to be an educated woman. Many women worked as teachers, nurses and midwives. Under the communist rule, women had more rights to have education and work at the office with men. they also had right in marriage. The novel also gave an example of a woman, who could work as a teacher. Khala Rangmaal was Laila’s teacher. Khala Rangmaal did not wear makeup or jewelry. She did not cover and forbade the female students from doing it. She said women and men were equal in every way and there was no reason women should cover if men didn’t. She said that the Soviet Union was the best nation in the world, along with Afghanistan. It was kind to its workers, and its people were all equal 111. This example of Laila’s teacher showed the freedom of women during Soviet Union invasion. Laila’s father also said the same thing to Laila. He was a teacher and he wanted his daughter to have a better education. He thought Soviet regime gave many opportunities for women. Babi, Laila’s father, said, “women have always had it hard in this country, but they’ve probably more free now, under the communists, and have more rights than they’ve ever had before. Almost two-thirds of the students at Kabul University were women. Women who were studying law, medicine, engineering” 133. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI In reality, there was a reason behind the opportunity that Soviet gave. Soviet Union wanted to reeducate the young generations in Soviet beliefs and values. The content of the novel also showed the same thing. Khala Rangmaal, Laila’s teacher, taught the children to lend their hand to defeat the primitive nation or the rebels. Jihad was the forbidden word in her class. I also found another proof that Soviet tried to reeducate the young generations. The curriculums of the school were written for all levels. The students also had to attend the political classes and had to learn Russian. Although many good opportunities had been arising during soviet invasion, there were some people in tribal areas who opposed the new rules. Since many people in the village still adopted ancient law, there were no freedoms for women in the village. Khaled Hosseini stated clearly in the novel, In Kabul women taught at the University, ran schools, held office in the government. In the tribal areas, women were rarely seen on the streets and only then in burqa and accompanied by men. Men who lived by ancient tribal laws had rebelled against the communists and their decrees to liberate women, to abolish forced marriage, to raise the minimum marriage age to sixteen for girls 133. The people who opposed the new rule under communism formed a group named Mujahideen. Mujahideen succeeded in increasing their number of people. At last, there were a war between Mujahideen and Soviet Union, then Kabul became like a war zone. Finally, Mujahideen succeeded to make Soviet left the country. That was the story of Soviet Union and the effects that the women got. The good effect could be seen from the increasing of educated women such as Laila. The other effects that the women got were the freedom to go to work side by side with men and the freedom to unveil. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

B. Mujahideen Regime