The novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, takes place in Afghanistan during war time, under the rule of the Taliban. Mariam is the first character introduced in the novel. She is a young girl living with her mother, while longing for the affection and approval of her father who is living with his wives and legitimate children. The way Mariam is treated by her parents leads her to lose trust in society and affects her long into her adult life, however once Mariam experiences love for the first time, her previous identity as a "harami" disappears and she becomes a loving, mother figure to Laila. As a child, Mariam is never shown unconditional love. She is forced to grow up watching her mother, whom she calls Nana, resent her father, Jalil, for making Mariam an illegitimate child. Nana works for Jalil as a maid, until she conceives Mariam. Jalil then kicks Nana and his unborn child out of his house and finds them a house in another village, at the request of Nana, “She said she wanted to live somewhere removed, detached, where neighbors would not stare at her belly, point at her, …show more content…
She finds herself unwelcome in his home and she is locked away by Jalil’s wives. Once again Mariam is living in home where she is unloved, unwanted and more of a burden than a member of the family. They soon find Mariam a suitor and she is once again passed to another home, destroying any trust she has developed for Jalil and his family.
At first, Mariam is happy, thinking her arranged marriage is a good thing, She even conceives a child with her husband, Rasheed. When she miscarries the child, Rasheed becomes furious and blames Mariam for the death of their unborn child. This puts strain on their relationship, Rasheed even becomes abusive, but because Mariam has grown accustomed to being mistreated, she doesn’t recognize the abuse and blames herself as