In the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, the author Khaled Hosseini reveals the constant struggles and the sacrifices of motherhood through comparing the lives of each female character in the book; Fariba, Nana, Mariam and Laila to show how motherhood and sacrifice are connected. In the specific quote on page 358, Hosseini has one of his main characters, Mariam, realize that she must make sacrifices as a mother to save the lives of the people she loves the most, “It’s fair,” Mariam said. “I've killed our husband. I've deprived your son of his father. It isn't right that I run. I can't. Even if they never catch us, I'll never . . .” Her lips trembled. “I'll never escape your son's grief. How do I look at him? How do I ever bring myself to look …show more content…
Despite Nana calling Mariam “a harami” and “an unwanted thing”, she truly loved Mariam jo, “You know I love you, Mariam jo”. (15) Nana was constantly attempting to keep Mariam safe from all those who would judge her. Nana concealed Mariam from the world for both her own and Mariam’s sakes, “Nana made no secret of her dislike her visitors- and, in fact, people in general...” (15) Mariam had few connections with people outside a select few that Nana would allow in her life and this harmed overall because when Nana died there was no support for Mariam besides her cowardly father. Nana endured great pain physical and mentally for Mariam which displays her genuine love for her, yet she never lets Mariam forget the pain she felt, “It did not occur to young Mariam to… apologize for the manner of her own birth.” (11) Though Nana was present in the majority of Mariam’s childhood unlike Fariba, overall she caused Mariam more sadness than joy. Nana taught Mariam one worthwhile lesson in her adolescent years, “Only one skill. And it’s this:tahamul. Endure… Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have..They’ll say the most terrible things about you. I won’t have it.” (18-19) This little tidbit of motherly advice served Mariam well in her life- she endured physical and mental pain in her adult life. …show more content…
Sacrifice by definition is an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy. Motherhood and sacrifice go hand in hand, hence why a person really cannot be a mother without having to make sacrifices. The connection between Mariam and Laila, Mariam and Laila’s kids, and Laila and her kids displayed sacrifice through motherhood over the course of their relationships’ development. Although these characters endured struggles that hurt them, these sacrifices were not necessarily negative; they saved the ones they loved and bettered their lifestyle through taking these risks. In a contrast, Nana and Fariba showed their different traits of motherhood through their influence on their daughters. Although their influence was negative, these selfish women, raised two wonderful women who were incredibly strong, leading two different lives, but met in the middle for a short period of time, and saved one another. Despite Laila’s and Mariam’s childhoods where Fariba was absent and Nana being ridiculously cruel, if these mothers had acted differently, Mariam and Laila would not have been brought together through fate, thus it is difficult to categorized Nana and Fariba’s impact on their children’s lives as positive or
Hosseni’s application of spousal abuse in the novel inflicts a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for Mariam and Laila. Mariam and Laila are victims of abuse in a patriarchal society. In their polygamous relationship with their husband Rasheed, he oppresses them emotionally, verbally, and physically. After Laila is brought back from the police, Rasheed promises that if she ever tries to run away again, he “swear[s] on the Profit’s name [he] will find [her]”(272) and if he does, he will
How much are you willing to sacrifice for another? Whether they are a family member or a complete stranger. In the novel The Kite Runner Baba was was willing to risk his life when he had stood up and was trying to stop the Russian soldier from rape the young woman as payment for letting them pass through one of the checkpoints. Then there had been Amir it was when he had suffered extreme injuries, nearly losing his life when he had fought Assef, so that he could save Sohrab for the abuse he was suffering from the Taliban. Both Character Baba and Amir were willing to sacrifice themselves for another person, regardless of who they were. Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, teaches the reader sacrificing your life can lead to another person’s happiness through Baba saving the woman from the Russian soldier and Amir fighting Assef.
Are all mothers fit for motherhood? The concept of motherhood is scrutinized in the stories “The Rocking Horse Winner” and “Tears Idle Tears”. In “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H Lawrence the mother, Hester, unpremeditatedly provokes her son into providing for her through gambling. In the story “Tears Idle Tears” by Elizabeth Bowen, Mrs. Dickinson disregards her son’s emotions and puts more emphasis in her appearance than her son’s wellbeing. Hester and Mrs. Dickinson both were inadequate mothers. Both the mothers were materialistic, pretended to love their offspring, and their dominance hindered their children’s progress in life.
The story opens up with Mariam’s mother, Nana, calling her a “harami” for breaking a sugar bowl. “Harami” means “bastard child” and Mariam was born out of wedlock, with her father being Jalil, a wealthy businessman. Although it was Jalil’s fault for having an affair with Mariam’s mother, Mariam gets the pain and backlash from her mother for being a “harami.” She did not understand what this meant, though, because she was
order to care for her mother in old age becomes a thorn in Tita's flesh. Her unwillingness
In the very beginning of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Nana is introduced. Nana has faced her share of prejudice and disapproval with being ill with “jinn” and also giving birth to a “harami”. This child out of wedlock instantly changed the way the world saw her, now she is doomed to be thought of with nothing but shame. The most tragic thing is that Nana herself believed this herself; she even, “wished my father had had the stomach to sharpen one of his knives and do the honorable thing. It might have been better for me.
In the novel “Before We Were Free” by Julia Alvarez many sacrifices were made throughout the novel. One of the most important ones is the sacrifice that Anita’s family makes which is to try to overthrow el jefe which was a sacrifice of freedom. Anita was affected by this because of what her mother and father took part in overthrowing el jefe, now she has to be hidden from the SIM. Anita’s father was impacted by this sacrifice where he is now involved in the act of killing el jefe, so he goes to jail and is eventually killed. Tio Toni tried several times to overthrow the dictator el jefe where for the rest of his life he has to be hidden from the SIM.
Mariam’s strength is immediately tested from birth and throughout her whole childhood. She has been through a lot more than other children of her age, and one of those challenges is the hope for acceptance. She is looked at as an illegitimate child by her parents, and they say there’s no need to attend school. We learn right away what the word “harami” means when Nana uses that to describe her own daughter. She says, “You are a clumsy little harami. This is my reward for everything I’ve endured. An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harami” (Hosseini 4). Nana especially pushed Mariam away from pursuing her goals. She said there was no need for education and men always find a way to blame it on a woman. This pushed Mariam away from her mom and closer to Jalil, but he refuses to acknowledge her and his wives look at her with cold stares of disgust. Mariam only feels loved by Jalil through all of this, mainly because he brings her things and shows her some love. She asks him to do something with her outside of the kolboa and he first agrees, but never brings her because of his fear with his wives and the structures of Afghan culture that frown upon it. He starts to act as if she was a burden to him and Mariam’s hope for acceptance is crushed. She realizes the truth, especially once she reaches adulthood. In Afghanistan, marriage is not all about love for eachother, it is about traditional role...
Her selfishness has been proven more then multiple times in the text “as the family was traveling in the car she was putting her make up on, where she denies to help her little daughter to pain her figurea nails” (Lahiri 996). Her cruelty just did not stop there she also denies to share her food with her daughter and there seemed no motherly feeling when she decides not to take her little four year old daughter to the
From start to finish, one could see how much Mariam values Laila, Aziza, and their friendship. The first example is when Mariam vows to help Laila while they are in the hospital for Laila’s unborn child: “I’ll get you seen, Laila jo. I promise” (287). This simple promise is a deep portrayal of Mariam’s desire to help Laila find a doctor and deliver her baby. Additionally, one can see Mariam’s love for Laila when she protects her from Rasheed’s grip of death, “‘Rasheed.’ He looked up. Mariam swung. She hit him across the temple. The blow knocked him off Laila” (348). Rasheed was going to kill Laila, but Mariam steps in and knocks him off of her with a shovel to save her life. Mariam forms a tight-knit bond with Laila, and when Hosseini includes their relationship, one can see how Mariam values Laila enough to kill another man. The author also describes their relationship after Mariam and Laila discuss plans for leaving: “When they do, they’ll find you as guilty as me. Tariq too. I won’t have the two of you living on the run like fugitives.” … “Laila crawled to her and again put her head on Mariam’s lap. She remembered all the afternoons they’d spent together, braiding each other’s hair, Mariam listening patiently to her random thoughts and ordinary stories with an air of gratitude, with the expression of a person to whom a unique and coveted privilege had been extended” (358). The love Mariam has for
For example, one of the hardest sacrifices that Minerva makes is the sacrifice of her own motherhood. Around nineteen fifty-nine, Minerva and her husband Manolo had a baby boy, Manolito. At around the same time, the underground’s efforts finally started to partake and the revolution against Trujillo was spurred. Minerva being one of the lead revolutionaries had a lot on her shoulders and was faced with the tough decision of choosing between the revolution and staying at home to take care of her child. According to Patria, when Minerva was approaching her to hand her child over, “That tense silence came upon her and then haltingly, as if not wanting to say more than she had to,”(Alvarez 155), she told Patria that she would be on the
Our mothers were the flames and we were the blaze” (35). Not only do sacrifices occur in mothers and daughters, but also in mothers and sons, as presented in “Night Women,” the fourth chapter of the book. The unnamed “night” woman displays the sacrifice of her own innocence to preserve her son’s innocence. She is prepared to lie, if it means protecting him and his innocence: “Should my son wake up, I have prepared my fabrication. One day, he will grow too old to be told that a wandering man is a mirage and that naked flesh is dream.
The characters of Nana and Mariam show the archetype of a mother by sacrificing to make their children’s life better. Towards the beginning of the book Nana describes Mariam’s birth to Mariam and mentions, “ I cut the chord between us myself. That’s why I had a knife.”(11). As Nana mentioned she sacrificed throughout her pregnancy though the pain and separated the umbilical chord herself because she wanted her child to have the best chance that she could. She also mentions the knife, which could have been use to kill the baby, similar to what Laila almost did with the rusty bicycle spoke. In addition, the knife could have been used to kill herself to end her suffering. Nevertheless, Nana does not carry out this plan and instead she decides to give up her feelings for the child’s. Mariam too goes through moments where sacrifice is necessary. For instance, when the drought hit and Rahseed looses his shoe store she realizes that in order for her family to survive she must ask Jalil, her father, for money. In order to contact her father she travels in the hot sun, calls the mayor, and says, “I know you have important things to tend to, but it is life and death”(310). Mariam swallows her pride and begins to realize her negative reaction towards her father w...
Next let us examine Mariam's plight. She is denied the chance to go to school. "What's the sense schooling a girl like you? It's like shinning a spitspoon." She lives with a cruel mother. "You are a clumsy little harami. This is my reward for everything I've endured. An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harmi"(4). She has a neglectful father. "Mariam kept thinking of his face in the upstairs window. He let her sleep on the street. On the street. Mariam cried lying down"(35). Her mother commits suicide and Mariam blames herself. "You stop that. These thoughts are no good, Mariam jo. You hear me, child? No good. They will destroy you. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault no". Mariam nodded, but as desperately as she wanted to she could not bring herself to believe him"(44). She is forced into marriage to a man she does not love. "I don't want to," Mariam said. She looked at Jalil. "I don't want this. Don't make me"(47). She is sent to live in a strange city were she does not know anyone. She has a physically abusive husband. "Then he was gone, leaving Mariam to spit out pebbles, blood, and the fragments of two broken molars"(104). Her husband is cruel and says hurtful words to her. She can not do anything right in his eyes. When he is not ignoring her he is being verbally or physically abusive towards her.
A simple definition of sacrifice is to give up something for the sake of something else, whether it is for another human life, for an idea, or even for a belief. “She was 17 years old. He stood glaring at her, his weapon before her face. ‘Do you believe in God?’ She paused. It was a life-or-death question. ‘Yes, I believe in God.’ ‘Why?’ asked her executioner. But he never gave her the chance to respond. The teenage girl lay dead at his feet.” (DC Talk 17) This example of a sacrifice really happened at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, on April 20, 1999. In the story Iphigenia and in today’s society, justification can be found in favor of the sacrifice of life for the lives of others, for the sake of one’s country, and for one’s religious beliefs.