A Thousand Splendid Suns Compare And Contrast Essay

William Underwood

World Literature

Compare and Contrast Essay

Date undecided

Modernization: Afghanistan Women Rise

In Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, the main characters of the novel are both young girls that get married to a much older, abusive man. Through much struggle and conflict, they both end up relatively happy. Mariam and Laila have similarities and differences as it relates to their family dynamic, their education, and their styles of living ultimately illustrating the effect of modernization.

Mariam's family dynamic is very different from Laila's. Mariam always thinks that Jalil is telling the truth and that he loves her when in reality he does not. She believes him and this causes resentment to build up against

Laila went to school. Mariam was not allowed to go to school because of her mother. Mariam wisdom shows when she just does what Rasheed wants instead of pushing back. However, Laila, who had a school education, fights back against Rasheed’s rules and wants which ends up getting her beat by him because he is very aggressive. Laila has a much larger vocabulary than Mariam, largely due to her time spent in school. The text states, “You thought you were so clever, with your books and poems”(Hosseini 283). This quote shows Rasheed, who is a traditionalist, almost chastising Laila for being educated and having a vocabulary. He believed that women should not go to school so Laila being educated disgusted him in a way. Another quote is, “I’m sorry, Laila Jo. I am not smart like you” (Hosseini 267). This quote shows Mariam struggling to answer the interrogator's questions largely due to her lack of education and real-world experiences. Due to Mariam not being allowed to go to school, she never had to deal with answering questions so she failed when the solider asked her things. However, Mariam has more life experience and therefore more wisdom than Laila. While Laila was being taught things about the world in worldly education, Mariam was taught about the spirit and religion and was taught verses from the Koron. These examples show the effect of modernization by showing that Laila, who lived in a more

Starting with the similitudes, Both of the girls ended up having to live traditionally under Rasheed's rule. Both were forced to wear a burqa under Rasheed. The text states, “ But I’m a different breed of man, Mariam… A woman's face is her husband’s business” (Hosseini 70). This was an exertion of power by Rasheed which would be relatively common in a traditional household. Rasheed enjoyed feeling like he was in charge and that he had the power so he forced the burqa onto Mariam and Laila to feel superior to them. Neither of the girls was allowed to work under Rasheed's rule due to traditional values. Both of the girls lived the same once the Taliban took over apart from Laila risking beatings to see her