Examples Of Imagery In A Thousand Splendid Suns

Every individual has experienced an environment where they have had to make tough decisions and navigate challenges. Khalid Hosseini’s novel A Thousand Splendid Suns takes place in Afghanistan, where two main characters Mariam and Laila, grow up and learn to navigate challenges and survive. In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khalid Hosseini uses motifs and imagery to suggest the environment in which people live influences the choices they make and the unmeasurable lengths they resort to for survival.

Throughout the novel, Hosseini uses imagery to show how Afghanistan's culture influences the choices women make to fit in. This can be seen when Nana lives in a hut away from everyone, and Jalil makes weekly visits to the hut to see Mariam:

An example is when Laila chooses to stay and marry Rasheed and not run away: “But suddenly leaving was no longer an option. Not with this daily retching. This new fullness in her breasts. And she is aware, somehow, amid all of this turmoil, that she has missed a cycle” (219). Laila is exhibiting all the signs of pregnancy with her nausea and “fullness in her breasts” (219). Laila notices all of these signs “has missed a cycle”. Laila has to now take into consideration the child she is expecting. Laila chooses to stay and marry Rasheed because if she doesn’t find Tariq in the refugee camp, which is not an ideal place to have a child and get married, her child is a harami. Therefore, Laila chooses to stay and protect her child even though she doesn’t want to marry Rasheed. Additionally, Laila faces consequences when she visits Aziza in the orphanage: “That time Laila went home. She lay on her stomach, feeling like a stupid, pitiable animal, and hissed as Mariam arranged damp cloths across her bloodied back and thighs. But usually, Laila refused to cave in” (321). Rasheed won’t take Laila to the orphanage to see Aziza, and a woman needs to be accompanied by a male family member to go outside. However, Laila goes to see Aziza without Rasheed and faces beatings. Laila’s “bloodied backs and thighs” (321) are representative of the sacrifice she is making

A prime example is when Mariam and Laila run away and are brought back to face Rasheed: “There was no cursing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten, the thump, thump of something solid repeatedly striking flesh, something, someone, hitting a wall with a thud, cloth ripping” (268). Miriam and Laila unsuccessfully run away from Rasheed and are brought back where Rasheed punishes both of them. Mariam doesn’t react to the beating; there is “no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps” (268), Mariam is used to enduring this treatment to the point where she doesn’t fight back. Mariam is forced to endure this treatment because she knows there is no other choice. Her recent hope of escaping was unsuccessful, and this further proves that Mariam has to endure Rasheed’s actions because she wouldn’t be able to make it on her own in the streets with strict laws regarding women and little money. A concluding example is when Rasheed withholds necessities in order to punish her for running away: “Azan rang out a second time, and still Rasheed had not given them any food, and, worse, no water. That day, a thick, suffocating heat fell onto them. The room turned into a pressure cooker” (270). Laila has no choice but to endure and try to get through this period of “no water” (270) and “suffocating heat”