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Women's Rights In A Thousand Splendid Suns

797 Words4 Pages

Women all across the world, for centuries, have always been viewed as inferior to men, second-class citizens. In the U.S., women were given the ability to vote only about 90 years ago, and that’s in a developed country. Afghanistan, a country war-torn to this day, fails to give women the rights they deserve. In the book A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Mariam and Laila were limited to a very restrained life because of Afghanistan’s societal norms before and after the Taliban’s rule. Mariam and Laila are deprived of the right to go to school or work, making them dependent on Rasheed. When Rasheed lost his job and could not make a living, he made Laila send Aziza to the orphanage. Laila had to do as Rasheed said because she …show more content…

During one of Laila’s and Rasheed’s fights, he threatened to tell the Taliban about Aziza—how it’s not his child but Tariq’s. “I could go to the Taliban one day, just walk in and say that I have my suspicions about you. That’s all it would take.” Rasheed says, “Whose word do you think they would believe?”(Hosseini 252) Rasheed knows that the Taliban will trust his words more than Laila’s, simply because he is a man. This shows how in the Taliban's eye, a woman’s opinion is as light as a feather compared to a man's. Mariam and Laila are placed in a state where people belittle their opinions and doubt whatever comes out of their mouths, causing them to feel little self-worth. This makes it especially difficult for women to speak out about the injustices they faced and fight for what’s right. Following Roe v. Wade's overturned, many women are unable to find the care they desperately need. But it’s hard to voice your opinion when only 28% of the congress are females. Creating an environment where women's voices are equally heard benefits all, and stops mistakes from A Thousand Splendid Sun from

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1169 Words | 5 Pages

Laila fondly recalls listening to the women gossip, their hopeful talk of the boys' return from war, and the matchmaking they'd do. In real-world Afghanistan, the theme is reflected; is through the inequality and discrimination women face. The Taliban's tendency to restrict women's rights and opportunities demonstrate the gender roles in Afghanistan that often favor men and discriminate against women. "The Taliban’s inclinations will be to weaken women’s rights, further tighten cultural restrictions on women, and shrink socio-economic opportunities for them, even if the Taliban in government did not formally embrace as brutal a system for women as in the 1990s," (Allen and

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874 Words | 4 Pages

I wasn't shocked to know that Rasheed, a sixty or more years old man, with white hair and sagging skin, wants to marry another woman. The fact that shocked me is that that woman is Laila, the fourteen year old young lady. Rasheed isn't seeing anything wrong with this and claims that he is actually doing Laila a favor. This quote deals with the part of the book where Laila has had sex with Tariq, and tries to feel guilty about it, but can not control the thought that she is happy to have it.

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683 Words | 3 Pages

They work together to free themselves from Rasheed. However, they are only friends because of the abuse both have endured. After Aziza’s birth, Laila had been lowered to Mariam’s rank and was starting to be abused just as harshly as her. Rasheed wanted a son, but Laila had given birth to a baby girl.

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1077 Words | 5 Pages

In this scene Laila was bold because she was a small woman going up against a strong man. Laila sacrificed her relationship with Rasheed just to save Mariam which in the future would strengthen her relationship with Mariam. It is obvious that Laila throwing herself in the middle of Rasheed and Mariam was the best reaction because it helped Laila and Mariam’s future connection. Another example of Laila’s sacrifice is when she had to take Aziza to an orphanage because they were running low on money. The Taliban didn't let women go out on their own so if Laila wanted to visit Aziza she had to take Rasheed with her.

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1488 Words | 6 Pages

Taliban is not going to change its beliefs towards women any time soon and sadly some people it is starting to get worse. The Taliban is "a group of radically militant terrorists that reign terror on Afghanistan and more places" (Nguyen). In real life Afghanistan the Taliban basically go around and take things and wreak havoc on small villages and major cities. Afghan people’s lives have been affected greatly due to the Taliban. Health care has gone down greatly, and public security is unheard of.

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2071 Words | 9 Pages

From the earliest of times in society, females have had to consistently fight for equality in society. The mistreatment of women often included violence, abuse, financial inequalities, harassment, voting inequalities, and many more inequalities that men have not had to face compared to females. These unacceptable actions that are often seen as “normal” in society are a grim reminder of what women endured and still have to endure today. Many women never had a platform to fight for change and call out injustice in fear of their safety, shame from others, and the threat of breaking “social norms”. However, many influential women risked many things for the basic rights that men have been enjoying for centuries.

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1335 Words | 6 Pages

Women have always been faced with harsh and unfair regulations, for example, they were tortured while under the Taliban’s rule. In the novel, Under the Persimmon Tree, the author includes connections on how women were mistreated by the Taliban. The author uses literary elements to display a conflict between her female characters and society. Throughout the book, the author combines reality and fiction in order to give a voice to the women who suffered under the Taliban rule. As seen in the novel, Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples, the harsh and unjust treatment of women under the Taliban rule is clearly depicted, the author connects fictional and realistic elements to help better understand real world situations.

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1495 Words | 6 Pages

Hosseini portrays how this treatment of women was accepted in Afghani culture because men’s superiority was derived from tradition. He depicts a culture in Afghanistan where wives were seen as mere possessions, so their husbands found fault with them for the inconveniences they experienced. Hosseini demonstrates the mistreatment of women in Afghanistan through the multiple examples he provides where men laid blame with women for circumstances beyond the women’s control or for which were not solely to blame for, just as Nana had warned Mariam that they were prone to do. The first instance in which Nana’s statement rings true is when Nana found out for herself how easily women in Afghanistan could be held completely accountable for things that were not solely their responsibility.

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727 Words | 3 Pages

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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861 Words | 4 Pages

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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1256 Words | 6 Pages

Neither of the girls was allowed to work under Rasheed's rule due to traditional values. Both of the girls lived the same once the Taliban took over apart from Laila risking beatings to see her

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878 Words | 4 Pages

With the insult the men of Afghanistan face being a simple education for their very own daughters, it is quite clear that women are degraded within society and treated as lesser human beings. The thought of denying one a right as simple as an education is what is really holding the society of Afghanistan back and blatantly exposes women's unequal rights. With these rights being

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468 Words | 2 Pages

Her husband happens to become Rasheed. He finds Laila unconscious after a bomb went off, dissipating her entire family. Rasheed then takes her in and nurses her back to health. He feels that because he saved her, he should be rewarded, “The way I see it I deserve a medal”. Rasheed later practically forces her to have sex with him.

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476 Words | 2 Pages

Women’s place and role in the society is something that has been discussed and changed over time. Should their rights be the same as men’s? Should they be superior? Inferior? The world faces a dilemma on weather they should be or not equal as men.

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1539 Words | 7 Pages

This highlights the importance of how these acts of cruelty Mariam and Laila faced; ‘fear of the goat, released in the tiger’s cage’ is what ultimately defines their inner feminist strength, ‘over the years/learned to harden’ which shows that Mariam and Laila’s past indirectly prepares them for The Taliban’s arrival. The Taliban take away the basic rights of Mariam and Laila ‘jewellery is forbidden’, but they fail to do so. Ironically, it is the society itself that gives them the strength and platform to strike back against Rasheed, who is a cruel, male-dominating character who symbolised and reinforced everything the term ‘anti-feminist’ stands

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