While Mariam wasn’t comfortable with Rasheed, he was still her husband. In her eyes, Laila was a new, younger, and prettier girl, which added to Mariam’s insecurities. Mariam wasn’t able to resist Rasheed’s abuse or his news of a second wife. Her bottled up emotions made her a resentful and bitter
The reason Khaled Hosseini wrote A Thousand Splendid Suns was to tell the abuses that the people of Afghanistan, mostly women, had to endure. Hosseini shows the readers this by using the lives of Mariam and Laila. He made these women to help the reader understand the sadistic part of the world. Hosseini gives us a new lease on life, from the horrible lives these women had to live through. I would have liked to recommend A Thousand Splendid Suns to anyone, but because of such adult themes like abuse and murder I think it shouldn’t be given the faint of heart and to anyone younger than thirteen years old.
Laila is the representation of the woman yearning to be something more, resisting the control that is over them. Time has changed Mariam's perspective. Unlike her mother, Mariam had forgiven the faults of those who had mistreated her in the past. She has matured and learned to thank the little things in
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.
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?
What makes one willing enough to sacrifice her own life for others? How difficult can it be to willingly die for what one believes? What does it take to be a Christ-figure? Khaled Hosseini emphasizes the concept of sacrifice in A Thousand Splendid Suns. In this novel, Hosseini presents Mariam as a Christ-figure through her qualities and sacrifice.
With Mariam growing closer to Azzia, the readers see a shift in how she acts and feels. Mariam evolves more throughout part 3, growing closer to Laila and Azzia. Laila and Mariam's relationship was rough at first, but Mariam sees Laila as a daughter to her. Mariam reasons “Had Mariam been certain that he would be satisfied with only shooting her, that there was a chance he would spare Laila, she might have dropped the shovel. ”(Hosseini 349).
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.
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.
In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, the author Khaled Hosseini emphasizes the importance of education in woman. With the importance of education in women comes the endurance of woman. Hosseini displays the endurance of hardships that women face in Afghanistan through his female characters in the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Mariam wants to go to school and be able to learn like other children,“She pictured herself in a classroom with other girls her age.
A Thousand Splendid Suns Essay Women in the 1990’s had it rough after the Mujahedeen take over. After his takeover, an increased number of laws were made to limit the freedom of women when before, women were happy, they could get educated and roam freely. The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini demonstrates the life of an Afghan woman before and after the Mujahedeen take over. Babi, the father of Laila tells the reader that women were lucky to be living during their time, “It’s a good time to be a woman in Afghanistan.”
Hardships endured by Two Afghan women. If we could all put our problems in a pile and see other people's; we'd take ours back. According to Sighn (2013) "women in Afghanistan have been going through gender equity in its severe form since ages. Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns depicts the plight of women behind the walls of Afghanistan during several invasions in the country".
Danielle Hall Dr. Dale Bailey English 233G August 23, 2017 A Thousand Splendid Suns The A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini introduced many cultural differences from what I am used to in the United States. Many of these differences are the men in this country marry multiple women and has multiple children.
A Thousand Splendid Suns follows the lives of two Afghani women who meet during the Taliban takeover. They bond to overcome struggles of starvation, brutality and fear, with their newfound uncovering of hope and love. Hosseini successfully communicates to the audience the importance of the transformation of the women’s values through literary devices such as vivid imagery, repetition and extended
In regards to the historiography of gender politics in the Victorian era, the social position of women and femininity had become a problematic issue. Similarly, the gender apartheid instilled prior to the civil war in Afghanistan. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, initially published in 2007, is set in Afghanistan from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. In this, it explores the story of Mariam and Laila as the protagonists, who teach the reader the reality of life as a woman in a backward Islamic country. The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny seen from the perspectives of these two women and observes how they become to create a bond, despite having come from previously living in very different backgrounds.
