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Women In A Thousand Splendid Suns

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A Thousand Splendid Suns Essay What horrors and struggles did the women living in Afghanistan during a time of continuous fighting have to endure? In the historical fiction novel A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini, readers are able to understand the harsh oppression women faced. Mentioning times like the rule of the Taliban, and using characters like Laila and Mariam, he is able to show examples of life as a woman and the need for hope. Through his use of setting, characterization, and symbolism, Hosseini develops the theme of how important hope and endurance is when facing the effects of war and the unjust gender inequality of women, because it helped people persevere and continue forwards. Hosseini is able to use setting …show more content…

Hosseini uses the characterization of Rasheed to highlight what type of treatment was normalized. “We need to legitimize this situation… people will talk. It looks dishonorable, an unmarried young woman living here. It’s bad for my reputation”(214). Not only does this show how manipulative and controlling Rasheed was in the relationship he had with Mariam, it also showed how society viewed women more as objects rather than human beings. Not only did Mariam feel helpless in this situation, she also felt as though she had lost someone who was considered “her’s”. Through the years she has been drained out by Rasheed’s mistreatment to the point where she “dreaded the sound of him going home in the evening… these were the sounds that set her heart racing… there was always something, some minor thing that would infuriate him” (99). Rasheed would constantly abuse and torture Mariam, taking out any anger onto her and always trying to find ways to humiliate her. Readers get to observe the change in Rasheed’s attitude not only towards Mariam, but also towards Laila when both fail to provide him a son. With Mariam, anything begins to set him off, even causing him to force “ cold, hard pebbles” (104) into her mouth, and ridiculing Laila’s appearance, becoming cold and beginning to hit her as well. He beats and starves his wives, yet he still considers himself a hero, asking “do you know how lucky you two are to have a man who’s not afraid of shaitan himself?”(254). Using fear, knowing Laila and Mariam have nowhere else to go, to make himself look better, hiding the terrors he puts them

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Mariam states "Was this what he did then, those nights that she did not visit her room? Had she been a disappointment to him in this particular regard?", showing that Mariam is blaming herself for Rasheed's inappropriate acts. Mariam blames herself because her anxious ambivalent attachment style internalizes her guilty and leads her to believe that Rasheed is only doing that because she's not able to satisfy all his needs. Mariam's tendency to blame herself in situations that are not her fault in her relationship reflects her need for validation and fear of

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This distinction illustrates the imbalance of power between the two, and the fact of Rasheed’s voice being heard over Mariam’s is a symbol for how Mariam’s desires and beliefs are drowned out under his. Mariam’s unspokeness stems from the immense shame she’s carried with her since childhood—because Nana’s death had occurred after Mariam defied her instructions, she’s now afraid to make major decisions of her own, and especially to disobey her husband. Mariam is only ever able to overcome her shame when it’s for the sake of Laila or her children. Near the end of the story, when Rasheed strangles Laila nearly to death, Mariam finally realizes how her shame has limited her–it says “Mariam saw now in those same eyes what a fool she had been . . . Had she not given this man her youth?

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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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688 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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The truth of her words is reflected not only in Jalil’s mistreatment of Nana, but also in Rasheed’s mistreatment of both Mariam and Laila. In addition, Naghma’s story of the mullah’s son who betrayed her emphasizes how the use of women as scapegoats did not just occur in the lives of Nana, Mariam and Laila, but throughout Afghanistan. Hosseini proves that the mistreatment of women throughout the novel stemmed from the tendency of Afghani men to blame women for events or circumstances that the women could not control or for which they were not solely

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When Mariam unexpectedly killed Rasheed, Laila was terrified by what had happened and Mariam “had Laila lie down, and, as she

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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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1130 Words | 5 Pages

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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However, their very obstacle was man. Although, the women were often seen as unfaithful and inferior to men, Shahrazed portrays a feminist character by using her sneaky strategy and fearlessness of men to trick the king, save the women of the kingdom and help them overcome discrimination. If the king was to kill every woman after a night with them, this would have caused a population decrease and the kingdom would eventually run out of women for him to marry. This story makes the reader take sides of the women that the king is

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978 Words | 4 Pages

Rasheed blames Mariam many times such as her inability to become pregnant and for her bad cooking. It’s not her fault that she can’t have a baby and she tries to make good food for her husband but it could an excuse to hit or abuse her. When Rasheed is angry about this, he takes his anger on Mariam by beating her or such as forcing her to try to chew on rocks.

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1093 Words | 5 Pages

In the story, the women are oppressed by the society. This is narrated through the delivery of the main antagonist’s id, the gender inequality in enforcing laws and the marginalization of women. As a result of Rasheed’s id, Mariam and Laila are consistently physically and emotionally

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1317 Words | 6 Pages

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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To be honest, my winter holiday was flat. I had to look after my brother every single day. Of course, there was one thing that impressed me. On Feb. 19, I took part in a wedding, as a bridesmaid. This was my first time to be the bridesmaid which made me so excited.

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In regards to the historiography of gender politics in the Victorian era, the social position of women and femininity had become a problematic issue. Similarly, the gender apartheid instilled prior to the civil war in Afghanistan. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, initially published in 2007, is set in Afghanistan from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. In this, it explores the story of Mariam and Laila as the protagonists, who teach the reader the reality of life as a woman in a backward Islamic country. The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny seen from the perspectives of these two women and observes how they become to create a bond, despite having come from previously living in very different backgrounds.

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