The Pain of Being a Woman

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Recommended: A thousand splendid suns critical analysis

Still to this day women struggle. It’s a part of life. In Khaled Hosseini's novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, two young girls; Mariam and Laila live out unbearable lives as woman in Afghanistan. Women are often viewed as vulnerable, weak, and occasionally worthless. This is all perfectly shown by Mariam’s story. She grew up with a mother who told her she was a huge mistake and her little harami, meaning bastard. Not only did she live in a house where she was constantly put down, she also lived without a father. Her father would visit once a week sharing stories with Mariam and telling her that Nana, her mother, is wrong and constantly lies. Mariam was constantly fed lies by her mother. Once Nana died Mariam moved in with Jalil until it was time for her to be married off. Rasheed, her new husband did not make her life easy. Iit only got harder for Mariam when Laila, a young girl who lost her family, moves in and marries Rasheed. Their lives with Rasheed were tragic times. In order to survive women need to endure and persevere to make it through their struggle some lives.
Not one day went by that Mariam has not endured from being a woman. Her mother told her that education is not important and will not get a woman anywhere in life. Being a woman means having endurance: “There is only one, only one skill a woman like you and me needs in life, and they don’t teach it in school… Only one skill. And it’s this: tahamul. Endure… It’s out lot in life, Mariam. Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have…” (Hosseini, 2007). To endure means to patiently suffer. That is what women had to do to survive, according to Nana. Women are not viewed or accepted as an equal so they struggle and fail to make a place in society. In Nana’s mind she feels n...

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... Laila and trying to save her life. In the end Mariam confesses to murdering Rasheed and she was killed for her act. Now if Rasheed would have confessed to killing Laila or Mariam in an act of defense he would have little to no punishment.
The women in this novel struggled. They never lived a full and fair life. They were constantly told what to do. They were threatened by the Taliban and their husband in the comfort of their own home. They hid themselves in burqas and stayed inside the house. Mariam grew up being told and believing she was worthless, however she died for the better life of a friend. Mariam suffered death for doing a heroic act, saving Laila. Women were the weak and vulnerable ones who were not allowed to stand up for themselves fearing what the consequences would lead up to. Laila and Mariam proved that women need to stick together to be stronger.

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