Unveiling the Elements of a Fairy Tale: An Exploration of Proppian Narrative Functions in A Thousand Splendid Suns

In contemporary literature, Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns has often been celebrated for its everlasting appeal of storytelling. This study aims to identify the narrative functions of a fairy tale existing in the structure of the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. To serve this purpose, the study examines the plot of the novel through the lens of Vladimir Propp’s narrative theory presented in Morphology of Folktale. The current research maps the plot development of the novel onto Propp’s narrative schema. Hence, through the rigorous examination of the plot’s schematic description, the findings of the study discern the presence of twenty-one out of twenty-two archetypical functions of a fairy tale. Moreover, the key features of fairy tales, i.e., absentation of parents from their children’s life and the lack of parental affection, are also salient characteristics of this novel, as they play a major role in the progression of the plot. Lastly, by highlighting the subtle existence of fairy tale(s) structures in the plot, the paper foregrounds the domination, yearning and hope for fairy tales in the real life of human beings. These findings imply a deeper cultural and psychological significance, as they reveal how traditional fairy tale structures continue to resonate with contemporary narratives, bridging timeless storytelling patterns with modern societal issues. This suggests that such structures provide a universal framework for understanding human experiences, emotions, and resilience in the face of adversity. Finally, the study would be beneficial for all those who want to study and conduct research in the field of Structuralism and narratology. References: Barry, P. (2002). Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory. Manchester University Press. Baskara, K. (2010). Fairy tales and anti-fairy tales: Pride and Prejudice and Middlemarch (UMI No. 1504312) [Master’s thesis, College of Graduate Studies-Texas A&M University Kingsville]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. Benjamin, B. (2006). The case study: storytelling in the industrial age and beyond. On the Horizon, 14(4), 159-164. https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120610708069 Choi, M.H. (2004). Recasting Vladimir Propp’s formalist method through traditional Asian narratives (UMI No. 1421762) [Master’s thesis, Faculty of the Graduate School University of Southern California]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. Daiches, D. (1979). A critical history of English literature. Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Erlich, V. (1980). Russian Formalism: History-doctrine. Mouton Publishers. Garza, V. A. (2011). An exploration of the transition from short story to film and the evolution of storytelling (UMI No. 1507889) [Master’s thesis, College of Graduate Studies-Texas A&M University Kingsville]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. Griffin, M. (2018). Once upon a genre: Distant reading, the Newbery Medal, and the affordances of interdisciplinary paradigms for understanding children’s literature (UMI No. 10751036) [Doctoral dissertation, University of South Florida] ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. Hamilton, D.L. (1996). The mind of mankind: Human imagination-the source of mankind’s tremendous power. Suna Press. Harries, W.E. (2001). Twice upon a time: Women writers and the history of the fairy tale. Princeton University Press. Hosseini, K. (2007). A thousand splendid suns. Bloomsbury Publishing. Milligan, I. (1983). The novel in English: An introduction. Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Milne, P.J. (1982). Narrative structure in Daniel 1-6: an analysis of structure in a group of Old Testament texts, based on Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of Folktale [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University Canada. Nichol, A. H. (1981). Vladimir Propp and the structural analysis of folktales: An application of the Morphology of the Folktale to fairy tales from Perrault, the brothers Grimm and French and German folklore [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Department of Comparative Literature, The University of Alberta Canada. Onega, S., & Landa, J. (Eds.). (2014). Narratology: An introduction. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Piaget, J. (1970). Structuralism. Basic Books. Propp, V. (1968). Morphology of folktale. University of Texas Press. Thornham, S., & Purvis, T. (2005). Television drama: Theories and identities. Palgrave Macmillan. Tomascikova, S. (2009). Narrative theories and narrative discourse. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov, 2(51), 281-290. http://webbut.unitbv.ro/BU2009/BULETIN2009/Series%20IV/BULETIN%20IV%20PDF/46_TOMASCIKOVA.pdf Wake, P. (2006). Narrative and narratology. In S. Malpas & P. Wake (Eds.), The Routledge companion to critical theory (pp. 14-27). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Yilmaz, R., Erdem, M., & Filiz, R. (2018). Handbook of research on transmedia storytelling and narrative strategies. IGI Global.

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