Suffering In A Thousand Splendid Suns

When one thinks of enduring they may think of big life changing events but that is not the only thing that one may have to endure. Enduring is to remain firm under suffering. In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossenini the protagonist Mariam has endured her whole life from living in a secluded house with her Nana to having to live in an abusive home with her husband Rasheed. Even after her husband's death she still must endure the choices she made in order to protect the ones she loves. Liala and Aziza are the only people to ever show Mariam love and she is willing to give them anything she has. When Mariam was little, Nana told her “Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have,” this really sets the tone for Mariam's life.

At this point in her life only Jalil’s weekly visits were the only thing she would look forward to because “The truth was around Jalil , Mariam did not feel like a harami [bastard or fatherless child]” (Hosseini 5). In Nana's attempt to make mariam less attached to her father Nana continually calls her a harami which causes her to become more dependent on Jalil. Nana’s opinion on Jalil does not change so when Mariam leaves for Jalil's house one night after Nana tells her not to. That night Mariam is forced to sleep on Jalil's doorstep then is taken home to find “The rope dropped from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it”(Hosseini 36). Nana believed that Mariam was going to like the life she found when she went to Jalil’s and not return back home. There has never been a time in Mariam's life that she has not had to endure from childhood to her