A Thousand Splendid Suns Essay

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Laila is the most resilient character because she has to make decisions that will put her life in danger, but also putting in the factors of her current pregnancy and how her decisions will affect her child’s future. We can see this when she chooses to get married for the sake of having a home for the child that she knew was on the way. As we see in the book, Laila is faced with the hard decision of getting kicked out, or getting married to Rasheed. She does not want to get married to Rasheed, and wants to live her own

Mariam endured many long years living with Nana in their small house in Herat. Nana had a short-tempered personality and a very negative outlook on life, so she repeatedly verbally abused

By beating Rasheed with a shovel and killing him with it, Mariam reveals that she has finally decided to stand up to Rasheed for Laila and herself. Because Mariam stood up to Rasheed and killed him, now Mariam and Laila have lifted a huge burden off their shoulders and Laila can live with Tariq and her children. Mariam learns that if she wants to be happier in life she has to make her own decisions, like killing Rasheed. If she had not defended Laila, Rasheed could have killed Laila, and Mariam would have continued to live a stressful life. Throughout the book, Miriam endures on-going violence and abuse and she begins to make poor choices; she also begins to act out violently as means of learning to cope with her surroundings. Her actions drastically changed the course of her life for herself as well as others for worse and for better.

Zunaira actually attains her goal of becoming a magistrate, and thus, she experiences a greater sensation of loss. Mariam and Zunaira combat the oppression in different ways but they suffer the same pain and isolation. Oppression induces a negative change in both characters. In addition, the women have coping mechanisms to deal with the sorrow in their lives. Their ability to cope is affected by family members. Mariam remembers her mother's story, "where each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the World. That all the sighs drifted up in the sky, gathered in the clouds, and then broke into tiny pieces…" (Hosseini, 91). Mariam is submissive in her abusive relationship because her mother has taught her by example, that Afghani women solely have to endure the pain and suffering in their lives. She makes no attempts to change her situation in her marriage because she lives by her mother's teachings. Perhaps, if Mariam were to stand up for herself or stir up chaos during one of Rasheed's beatings, Rasheed would not turn to violence against her so easily. Also, Mariam could have searched for alternatives to escape Rasheed before the Taliban implemented the harsh laws. Over the years, Mariam becomes increasingly helpless and miserable under Rasheed's rule, as she follows the model of her mother's teachings. Also, she deflects her anger and sorrow 2

Additionally, Mariam is courageous. When Mariam sees that Rasheed had the intention of killing Laila, she takes matters into her own hands. A typical woman during the Taliban era would be much too afraid to even think of touching their husband without permission. While Rasheed was choking Laila, she scratches Rasheed and ends his life ultimately with a shovel. She then sacrifices her life by turning herself to protect Laila and her children instead of fleeing out of the country with Laila. She accepted her fate and her consequences of being the inferior gender even if she felt that it was not just. “No. It was not so bad, Mariam thought, that she should die this way. This was a legitimate end to a life of illegitimate belonging” (Hosseini 359). In other words, she did not keep what she did as a secret. She was proud to die for what she did.

One cultural facet of Afghanistan that really stood out was what controlling husbands do to their “unimportant” wives which Hosseini was quite candid about. Firstly, in one example, Rasheed is so upset with Mariam’s cooking, that he goes out, brings some pebbles in, and forces her to chew on them until her molars crack (Hosseini 94). This scene shows that husbands were in complete control in nearly every household, and the wives could not do anything. Secondly, when Laila and Rasheed are having an argument about what to do with their daughter Aziza (because they have become poor and it is hard to support all of them as it is), Rasheed becomes extremely infuriated and puts the barrel of his gun down Laila’s throat (Hosseini 267). After reading this, one can easily infer that in a controlling relationship, especially in Afghanistan, the husband can literally do whatever

The relationship between Mariam and Laila grows overtime into an unbreakable love. Mariam is a vulnerable character that experienced hardships and negativity throughout her life. Her reliance on faith and religion gave her hope. Laila however, has had a positive upbringing from modern parents. Her education is what made her a strong and intelligent girl. Their personalities contrast to bring the best out of each other. However at first, in fear of being overshadowed by Laila, Mariam says “If [Laila] thinks [she] can use [her] looks to get rid of me, [she is] wrong. [Mariam] was here first. [She] won't be thrown out” (225). As Mariam has never been a priority to anyone in her life she was very defensive over her role in the house. As jealousy embarked upon Mariam,

For many years, women have been oppressed and treated as property. The opinion of a woman did not matter, being obedient to her husband was all that is required. Even if they were obedient to their husbands, women were property and only for the pleaser and likening to the husband. Mariam did all the her husband required of her, however there was one thing should could not. Which was give her husband, Rasheed, a son or any child. In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Hosseini reveals the social issue of physical abuse and mental abuse by his use of imagery, diction, and dialogue.

Explosions, Death, Loss, Fear- all are great symbols for war in A Thousand Splendid Suns. In this novel, Khaled Hosseini uses tumultuous environments to bring up some of the most interesting characters in the 21st century. The three strongest examples are Laila, Tariq, and Aziza. From losing your parents, to losing your leg, Hosseini uses these types of characters to almost make a connection with them. Because we see weakness in them it truly makes their triumph that much greater. War is a raging bull charging through the lives of many, but for some, it makes them stronger.

Everyone has relationships, whether it be with parents, friends, or even the special someone. It is also true that those relationships can change in an instant.. Authors show that truth in their work. Khaled Hosseini is no exception; including his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. The main character Mariam does not see her dad, Jalil, except once a week. She loves him, but Jalil does not treat Mariam as well as he does his other children. When Mariam goes to Herat and wants to see Jalil,she ends up not being allowed into his house. This is when Mariam starts to dislike her dad, but Jalil only grows in his love for Mariam. Their relationship changed because of this one event. In the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns , Khaled Hosseini uses character relationships to show that relationships can change or develop as a result of one event.

Martin Luther King Junior once stated, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals”, in agreeance that justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle, Khaled Hosseini, author of A Thousand Splendid Suns writes about the struggle to achieve justice amongst to characters. Mariam and Laila had very different upbringings, yet they where destined to meet one another through a man, Rasheed, who disrespected women thus advocating injustice.

However, Mariam changes after Laila comes into her life. At first, her hatred towards Lails shows Mariam’s change, her beginning to understand that she is allowed to fight against injustice. She asks Rasheed not to take her in that “in all her years this was the one thing she asked of him.” (?) The fact that Mariam asks at all depicts her growing courage to stand up to her abusive husband. She also defends herself against this injustice of Rasheed marrying Laila, loving Laila over her, by demanding her authority over the younger girl. However, it is when Mariam and Laila become companions that Mariam’s understanding truly alters. This is because she begins to love Laila and the children that Laila have. Laila has provided her the one thing that “she

The Five suns is creation story of the Aztec based on the mythological account of space, time, universe, people, animals and the world they lived in, as they understood it. The myth explains life’s unknowable obscurities to the Mesoamerica Mexica and Azteca people and it deeply rooted in their culture. Per the Archaeologist Nicoletta Maestri, “they believed their world had been created and destroyed four times before, and the current age, the fifth sun, would also end in violence at the end of the calendric cycle.” The mythologies claims that human have the responsibility of making sense of their surrounding as well as live by the god’s rule who have made human existence possible by sacrificing their blood and bones. The story begins with the primary maternities couples named Tonacacihuatl and Tonacateuctli known as Ometeotl or the gods of duality. They created the nine level of the universe and instructed their four

One of the first instances of such rebellion was when Rasheed, the greatest obstacle to the women’s regaining of power over their lives, was preparing to beat Mariam with his belt. Laila was not willing to succumb to the power Rasheed exerted upon them with violence, so she lunged at Rasheed herself, preventing him from harming Mariam. This small victory against Rasheed was the beginning of several events that marked the women’s attaining of power. Another example of how Laila rebelled against Rasheed’s possessive, controlling nature is when

Growing up and living in Afghanistan as a woman has its challenges. Parents choose who can marry you and they choose everything for you. In this book, Laila and Mariam both show the struggles it is to be a girl, and how much disrespect they get in Afghanistan. Both Mariam and Laila are married to the same man, and he is abusive to both of them. They also live under Taliban rule, and the rules that they set are very unfair for women. In Khaled Hosseni’s novel, he has many different themes but the most prevalent one is of woman inequality, and that is shown through multiple accounts of abuse, disrespect, and unfairness.