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Sexism In A Thousand Splendid Suns

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Imagine waking up as a 15 year old girl, you think it's going to be a normal, ordinary day, but instead you get sold away to a man old enough to be your father. Life in the 1970’s to early 2000’s was a much different time than it is now. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, written by Khaled Hosseini, many questions arise as the story goes on such as, are all men as selfish and sexist to their wives as Rasheed is to Mariam and Laila? The answer is no, some men are kind and trusting while others beat and shun their own wives. Rasheed worked at a shoe store. He saw many people everyday, and everytime he came home he would tell Mariam how disgusted he was at the men who come in with their wives. “...Men, who bring their wives to my shop. The women come uncovered, talk …show more content…

Rasheed was happy with Laila, but until Mariam got to know her, she thought Laila was a no good husband stealer. As the story progressed and Rasheed began to shun Laila as well because she gave him a baby girl instead of a boy, Laila and Mariam teamed up and protect each other instead of fighting one another. Rasheed had gotten more brutal even with a baby in the house. Laila and Mariam had enough of Rasheed's horribleness towards them, they decided to run away and start a new life, but soon were turned into the police and returned to Rasheed who did terrible things to them. “She was being dragged by the hair… He let go of Laila's hair, and she felt the toe of his shoe connect with her left buttock…. She saw Rasheed leading Mariam across the yard but the nape of her neck. There was blood on his hands, Mariam's face, hair, neck and back.” (Hosseini, 240) Because of Rasheed, Mariam and Laila ran away, because of Rasheed, they were being tortured for multiple days, they had no food, no water and it was over one hundred degrees, and because of Rasheed, their lives were

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Laila states, "I wanted to escape, to leave behind the only world I had ever known". Mariam goes further by killing Rasheed, her oppressive husband, as she states "I did it for myself. And for you, too", The technique of irony is used here, as the reader knows that Mariam is not only referring to her own death but also to the death of her abusive husband, Rasheed. This creates a sense of tension and anticipation in the reader as they wait to see how Mariam will carry out her plan and how the other characters will react. Furthermore, the impact of this quote on the reader is significant as it represents a pivotal moment in the story.

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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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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.

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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.

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The first official reaction of Rasheed’s abusive attitude was in the last chapter of part one. As if the author wants to stress on the fact that starting from the next part, the reader shall see the real violent cruel husband, one of the principal reasons of Mariam’s character development towards a desperate, afraid, self-destructive and angry wife. Part one ends with Mariam as a pathetic wife who suffers from a violent angry husband and his “faultfinding” that leaves her with “self-doubt”, hence physically and psychologically destroyed. (Hosseini 107). Rasheed criticizes the rice she cooked by every mean he could; he “chewed once, then twice, before grimacing and spitting it out”( Hosseini 109).

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They make common cause and endure degradation, starvation and brutality at the hands of their husband until they are forced to take up a desperate, joint struggle". After being severely beaten, locked up and starved by their husband, Laila and Mariam's differences lead to a conflict that ends in Rasheed's death and Mariam takes the blame; and is killed by the Taliban for killing his husband. This novel deals with many deep topics under the surface, mainly feminist issues, I have critically discussed the statement that says "A Thousand Splendid Suns shows the social and cultural- and, ultimately political structures that support the devaluation, degradation, and violence endured by Mariam and Laila". This was done by focusing and taking into consideration the events that take pace in the novel; which include the decisions that the two women made that led to their conditions that they find themselves in, and the hardships that the women went through, throughout the

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Twelve maybe thirteen years old, I held a piece of glass to his throat and took his blanket from him. I gave it to my mother””. The ultimate love filled sacrifice would be Mariam. Mariam’s sacrifice was made for the protection of Laila, Aziza, Zalmai, and Tariq. She knew what the punishment would be if she killed Rasheed, but she had to in order to keep him from killing Laila.

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Rasheed treats her lovingly and assures her that she will get whatever she needs. He says, “anything you need done just ask Mariam and she will do it for you.” “And if you fancy anything, I will get it for you” (Hosseini, 2007, p.

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