Women's Roles In A Thousand Splendid Suns

In the 1970s, Afghanistan was going through a massive change both politically and culturally, with the invasion by the Soviet Union. This change was especially relevant to women in Afghanistan as their was a big conflict between the place of the a woman in Afghanistan and the place of a woman in the western world. The inequality women faced their became more obvious, and this oppression of women is a major theme in A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini. With problems like forced arranged marriages, strict expectations from husbands, and women’s education facing adversity, women like Mariam faced a lot of problems. For an illegitimate girl like Mariam, being married off at a young age is common. To their families, they’re seen as nothing but a huge burden, and marrying a child off means ridding yourself of that “burden.” This is why Mariam was married off at the age of fifteen. While Mariam

While Mariam was denied an education, and her husband is very against the ideals of women’s rights, Laila is growing up under much different circumstances. Both the ideals of her father, and the changing ideals of Afghanistan have allowed her to go to school and to pursue things in life beyond marriage. Here we see all that Mariam has lot; supportive friendships, knowledge, and an ability to grow up experiencing life for herself. In fact, Rasheed looks down upon Laila’s father, Babi, for not further controlling his wife. It’s a tragedy that Mariam was never even given a chance to grow to her full potential, being the bright and positive young girl she was, due to both her marriage and societal opinion about women’s education being an unnecessary thing, even a thing that is looked down upon by men such as Rasheed. Had Mariam grown up like Laila, she would most definitely not be stuck as she is right