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How Does Mariam Change In A Thousand Splendid Suns

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Imagine being all alone in a world full of people. Having a bad relationship with your parents, being isolated from the world, no one you can genuinely trust. Mariam has always been alone. She never had a true and loving relationship with her parents she was seen as a disgrace, a mistake. Having no friends and being married off to a horrible person, she never experienced real love. In Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini uses imagery and inner dialogue to depict Mariams evolving feelings about relationships from a negative perspective to a positive. Toxic relationships throughout Maraims life lead her to be a very closed-off person, this is shown through the imagery of the novel. When Mariam was young she always had a toxic …show more content…

As the novel progresses we get to see Mariam change in opinion about relationships as she builds a healthy relationship with Laila. The author uses inner dialogue to show how empathizes with Mariam’s change throughout the novel “Mariam bounced stiffly, a half-bewildered, half-grateful smile on her lips. Mariam had never before been wanted like this. Love had never been declared to her so guilelessly, so undeservedly”(Hosseini 252). Mariam is finally getting a sense of what 'it's like to be loved, she's not seen as a burden in Azzia’s eyes. 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). As Mariam contemplates whether it's worth risking it all, it really emphasizes how much her feelings about relationships have changed. Mariam is willing to do anything for Laila and her children even if it means risking the rest of her

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Mariam's sacrifice in "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a powerful commentary on the social and historical context of the novel. Her decision to kill Rasheed and face severe consequences from the Taliban ultimately leads to her death, but it enables Laila to escape the oppression of the Taliban. The use of past tense in Hosseini's writing emphasizes the finality of Mariam's passing and creates a sense of distance from the character. However, the repetition of "a" in the phrase "a woman," "a friend," "a companion," "a guardian," "a mother," and "a person of consequence" highlights the different roles Mariam played in her life, and her legacy will endure beyond her death. Moreover, the use of the verb "loved" and the adjective "loved back" signifies the depth of Mariam's relationships, indicating that she was not alone at the end of her life.

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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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But in a matter of seconds that changed, she was orphaned and brought in. She was later forced to marry a man she never really knew and begin a life with him, a complete stranger. Laila was no longer really loved, until her and Mariam gained each other’s trust. She was just

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Rasheed treated Mariam as property instead of an actual spouse. Mariam had no voice of her own, Rasheed controlled every aspect of her life, from what she wore to where she went. Mariam could not carry out a pregnancy causing Rasheed to build anger against Mariam, this led Rasheed to lash out and abuse her. Mariam dealt with endless beatings from Rasheed, over the simplest mistakes, because she was too afraid to stand up for herself or leave Rasheed. “It wasn’t easy tolerating him talking this way to her, to bear his scorn, his ridicule, his insults, his walking past her like she was nothing but a house cat.

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Mariam sacrifices her freedom for Jalil by marrying Rasheed. In the novel, when the wives told Mariam they found a suitor for her, she tells Jalil to say something and he says “‘Mariam don’t do this to me’”(49). Even though Mariam did not want to marry Rasheed, she knew Jalil wanted her to and so she did, forever surrendering her freedom to him. Marrying Rasheed deprived Mariam of her freedom because when Rasheed tells Mariam “‘a woman’s face is her husband’s business only’”(70), it indicates that she is his and he controls her.

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(Hosseini 96). Her final act of heroism is going to jail to save her friend, Laila, and her two kids, Zalmai, and Aziza. She wanted to save them from getting executed because of the death of Rasheed. Mariam wanted to show her apologies for earlier in life when Laila first came and they showed their hatred for one

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In the novel, Hossieni speaks about Mariam’s mother, Nana, having an affair with Jalil, Mariam’s father, and Mariam being conceived by accident. Mariam, on the other hand, lived with her mother since her father was ashamed to be around her; therefore, she was left with her mother. Her mother was forbidden from speaking about Jalil since doing so would be viewed as sinful, especially given the Taliban's government. As a result of the silence and her daughter's developing independence, she becomes emotionally stressed and committed herself. " Mariam saw.

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When she is married off by her father and his wives, she attempts to find comfort with the situation. Mariam falls pregnant and it is expressed that “when Mariam thought of this baby, her heart swelled inside of her. It swelled and swelled until all the loss, all the grief, all the loneliness and self-abasement of her life washed away” (Hosseini 80). From birth, she was outwardly made to feel ashamed of her presence by her mother as well as subtly by her father. This causes Mariam to possess very little self worth, so much so that she clings to the slightest bit of fulfillment within her dire circumstances.

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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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And yet, in the end, when Mariah’s husband divorces her, it becomes apparent that Mariah has an inability to recognize or prepare for more than trivial, existential, or the un-realistic: “Mariah did not know that Lewis was not in love with her anymore. It was not the sort of thing she could imagine. She could imagine the demise of the fowl of the air, the fish in the sea, mankind itself, but not that the only man she had ever loved would no longer love her” (location 691). By being placed in such an idealistic life, the ability to recognize and deal with the harshness of reality becomes apparent. This relates to the relationship she has with Lucy, as well; Mariah is unable to see the reality of the situation and friendship she has with Lucy until the end.

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She knew how much of an abomination killing her husband would be to society, but she loved Laila enough to risk the punishment. Instead of running away from Kabul with Laila, Mariam stayed behind so that Laila would never get in trouble for killing Rasheed. She was then arrested and later shot for murder (371). Mariam sacrificed her own life so that Laila could marry Tariq and live happily and freely with her family. She gave up everything, even her life for those whom she loved, even though they biologically were not her children.

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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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Mariam is raised by an angry and bitter mother and an absentee father who only visits her occasionally. Her relationship with the two is quite different. Her absentee father makes her feel special and she enjoys every moment they spend together, always looking

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Maria is trying to grow up too fast and she put her family to the side instead of being grateful. In this story, conflict, characterization, and symbolism all have an effect on the overall theme.

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“I admit to what I did, brother,” Mariam said, “But, if I hadn’t, he would have killed her. He was strangling her” (P365). This shows that Mariam is willing to take responsibility for her action she knew that there would be conscious, but she also knew that what she did was to save Laila and her children. Mariam’s actions would lead to this moment, “Kneel here, hamshira. And look down.”

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