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A Thousand Splendid Suns Compare And Contrast Essay

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Recommended: Critical Analysis Essay On A Thousand Splendid Suns

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 …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

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Laila states, "I wanted to escape, to leave behind the only world I had ever known". Mariam goes further by killing Rasheed, her oppressive husband, as she states "I did it for myself. And for you, too", The technique of irony is used here, as the reader knows that Mariam is not only referring to her own death but also to the death of her abusive husband, Rasheed. This creates a sense of tension and anticipation in the reader as they wait to see how Mariam will carry out her plan and how the other characters will react. Furthermore, the impact of this quote on the reader is significant as it represents a pivotal moment in the story.

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Bibi jo had mentioned that Jalil’s other daughters would be attending. Mullah Faizullah, Mariam’s tutor, asks Nana if Mariam can go to school, but Nana says there's no use. She says the only skill Mariam needs is endurance. Nana says, “It’s our lot in life, Mariam. Women like us.

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Do you understand?”(Hosseini 63). Journal Entry: (Q) What is it that causes Rasheed to hold to such beliefs? Previously, Mariam had much more freedom, but Rasheed is strict about her behaving in a way that he deems proper and wearing a burqa. After doing some research, I have found that it is commonly understood that women wear these burqas to demonstrate their religious devotion.

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Mariam now only cared about how she could get Laila and her kids out of the house and the area to get them away from danger. Mariam goes from a self-centered quiet girl to this person who would kill a person just for a person she loves so that that person and their kids would get out of trouble

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This distinction illustrates the imbalance of power between the two, and the fact of Rasheed’s voice being heard over Mariam’s is a symbol for how Mariam’s desires and beliefs are drowned out under his. Mariam’s unspokeness stems from the immense shame she’s carried with her since childhood—because Nana’s death had occurred after Mariam defied her instructions, she’s now afraid to make major decisions of her own, and especially to disobey her husband. Mariam is only ever able to overcome her shame when it’s for the sake of Laila or her children. Near the end of the story, when Rasheed strangles Laila nearly to death, Mariam finally realizes how her shame has limited her–it says “Mariam saw now in those same eyes what a fool she had been . . . Had she not given this man her youth?

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One similarity between Mariam and Laila is that both women, in one point of their lives, were aware of the things they could do in life. Mariam became aware when Rasheed took her out to Kabul for the first time they were married. While waiting for Rasheed, Mariam observed modern Afghan women and she thought how successful they all were. They made Mariam aware of how little she has accomplished and what she could if was given the opportunity.

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She was born into a somewhat stable life and a loving family consisting of Mami and Babi the teacher, but Laila’s life would soon turn that normality around. Her fond friend Giti blew up, Her parents had been hit and killed with a missile that also struck Laila but didn’t end her, and she ended up marrying Rasheed to save not only herself financially but her and Tariq's (a love interest who is now thought to be deceased) fetus. Once she would recover from the missile, she would endure the abuse of Rasheed, until her eventual escape from his wrath through the heroic sacrifice of Mariam. Laila would flee to Pakistan, then become a teacher following in her father's footsteps. Before becoming a teacher Laila goes back to Afghanistan even though she had endured so much suffering there.

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The injustice Mariam endures in the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, leads Mariam on a struggling journey impacting her future path in life. The injustice that Mariam endures leaves a permanent mark on her life and impacts her from the beginning. Life wasted no time throwing the cruel injustices of life at Mariam. Mariam was marked a harami, otherwise known as a child without a father, even though her father Jalil was alive, near, and well. “She understood then what Nana meant, that a harami was an unwanted thing: that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person that would never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance.”

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“A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini, takes place in the city of Kabul. A young women named Mariam was forced into an arranged marriage with Rasheed who she didn’t want to marry. Rasheed was abusive and controlling. Rasheed goes and marries another woman, Laila, and abuses her too. Mariam and Laila don’t get along very well at first

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Mariam’s character as being playful to Aziza and Zalmai shows that she is like a mother to them on the grounds that she played with them to bring about

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When Laila’s parents were killed and she was injured, Mariam took her in and sacrificed her time and space in order to take care of Laila (199). Mariam didn’t have kids of her own, yet took care of Laila as if she were her own daughter. She cared enough for the young girl’s well being to take her in and show her kindness. When Rasheed is about to kill Laila, Mariam hits Rasheed with a shovel so hard that it kills him (349). She viewed Laila as her own daughter, and she wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her daughter.

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Rasheed however asks her to wear a burqa before going out. He makes it very clear to Mariam and later on to Laila, that a “woman 's face is her husband 's business only”. However when Mariam fails to bear a child, after several miscarriages, Rasheed begins to torture her both physically and mentally. Rasheed also becomes cross on Laila when she gives birth to a girl child. Later on Laila gives birth to a boy, but this does not improve her status in front of Rasheed.

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Mariam longed to place a ruler on a page and draw important-looking lines”(Hosseini ). Mariam is an example of how women are banned from an education and whose life could have been changed by education. Instead of being educated, she is sheltered by her mother and lives the rest of her life without high expectations of herself. Nana teaches her that an Afghan woman has to endure the life that is chosen for her because she does not have a say. Nana even says "There is only one, only one skill a woman like you and me needs in life, and they don't teach it in school.

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Their bond was as if they were sisters. Mariam helps Laila raise her children’s. Whilst Laila plays the role of someone loving to Mariam, which Mariam had never experienced; she hadn’t ever experienced the love Laila shows towards her. We also find their relationship interesting because they share a loving bond as a mother and daughter relationship. Mariam fulfills her role as a mother by mentoring Laila, which she

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Laila on the other hand was raised by both parents except her mother did not focus much on her. She therefore had a strong bond with her father than her mother. The two grew up with the knowledge they were brought up with. My essay will focus on the comparison between Mariam’s relationship with her mother and Laila’s relationship with her mother and how these relationships prepare them for adulthood.

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