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Jealousy In A Thousand Splendid Suns

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It is a common problem for people to find themselves jealous of somebody they know. While some people will become hostile when interacting with others, others might harness that jealousy to become better people and to motivate themselves to change. Where people struggle is walking along the fine line between being thankful for what they have and being too jealous. Some people will go to the point where they drive to have everything someone else has. Although Hosseini’s novel suggests jealousy worsens people’s behaviors, Achebe’s book asserts that jealousy motivates people to change for the better or the worse. (We talked about this; I believe this is all you said I needed to fix it.) In Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, the main …show more content…

Okonkwo not giving Nwoye the love that he needed, led to the relationship between the two down the road. Okonkwo was pleased with the progress in Nwoye’s development, however, he still didn’t give the love that Nwoye deserved. All Okonkwo was worried about was Nwoye being able to grow into a tough man and rule his father’s household. This would lead the reader to feel that Okonkwo isn’t supporting (which he barely does) Nwoye for the right reasons. Okonkwo was comparing Nwoye to other children that had already grown up and become strong young men. This is why it was unfair for Okonkwo to be jealous of the other ‘children’. Okonkwo was ultimately jealous of his son not being as good as the other young men of the village; the jealousy caused Okonkwo to become a worse father for Nwoye. We know that Nwoye was making decent progress, however, Okonkwo feels that Nwoye still has a long way to go before he is ready to rule a household of his own.
Early on in Hosseini’s novel, Jalil’s (Mariam’s father) other wives tried to get rid of Mariam. The sensible reader knows that it came down to jealousy towards Nana. Jalil’s other wives were younger and prettier than Nana, however, Nana had a child born out of wedlock. This would make perfect sense why the women were jealous of Nana. Jalil, for lack of better words, broke a custom for Nana. This made the other women think she was special. These other ladies were never nice to her and always made her feel ashamed of herself. What made matters worse was that they took things out on Mariam. Hosseini

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Mariam used to love her father, but that changes when he marries her off to a man named Rasheed. A quote supporting this is when Mariam is on the bus leaving for Kabul she says, “I used to worship you” to Jalil. This articulates how far Jalil has fallen in relation to Mariam because he went from being at the center of Mariam’s life to her refusing to speak to him after he marries her off. This is contrasted with Laila’s father whom Laila feels admiration and love toward. This is illustrated when Laila, Babi, and Tariq are on top of the Bamiyan Buddhas and the text says, “A wave of affection overcame Laila.

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