Examples Of Perseverance In A Thousand Splendid Suns

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, the author Khaled Hosseini shows us that characters show hope, courage, and perseverance by always taking on the challenge ahead of them. Mariam and Laila have had rough lives and through everything they have been through, still they choose to keep going and continue with their lives no matter what comes their way through hope, courage, and perseverance. Hope. Hope is a foundational attribute to A Thousand Splendid Suns in ways that characters like Mariam and Laila have very different lives than what we call life in the U.S. Mariam was born as a harami, (Illegitimate child) while Laila had a better childhood growing up but after her house was bombed Mariam and her suffer the same below standard living conditions.

After Rasheed is killed, Laila has to lie to Zalmai that her father is just on a trip even though he is dead. “Laila knows that this shameful lie will have to be told again and again and again. It will have to because Zalmai will ask, hopping down from a swing, walkin' from an afternoon nap, and, later, when he’s old enough to tie his shoes, to walk to school by himself, the lie will have to be delivered again”. In the quote, we can see that Laila must repeatedly lie to Zalmai about her father's death. We can see perseverance here because even though Laila must lie to Zalmai, she overcomes the challenge for happiness and protection from the pain and sadness that would come from Zalmai learning about her father's death. We can also see perseverance in Mariam's life being a Hirami. “The years had not been kind to Mariam. But perhaps, she thought, kinder years were waiting still. A new life, a life in which she would find the blessings that Nana had said a harami like her would never see.” From page one of the book, we can see that Mariam will have a rough and unfair life being a Hirami. (Illegitimate child) In Afghanistan, being a harami, people treated Mariam differently and unfairly. She had to persevere through this her whole life and even to her death towards the end of the book, it is still one of the key personality traits of Mariam. “The years had not been kind to Mariam. But perhaps, she thought, kinder years were waiting still. A new life, a life in which she would find the blessings that Nana had said a harami like her would never see.” We can see here that despite being a Harami, she chooses to continue with life, endure the rough times, and seek new adventures despite the adversity she faces each