1000 Splendid Suns Essay

Women are people too and should receive the respect that they are entitled to, however, some cultures hold contrary opinions. 1000 Splendid Suns, a novel by Khaled Hosseini, follows the lives of two Afghan women: Mariam and Laila. Both women are victims of oppression by a patriarchal society. They are both married to their cruel husband: Rasheed, who often abused them emotionally and physically. Continually throughout the novel, men always seem to blame women either to protect themselves or, out of pure frustration.

Adultery is especially frowned upon in the Afghan culture; for both the man and woman. Jalil, (Mariam’s father), has an affair with Mariam’s mother Nana who at the time was a servant for Jalil. Jalil— being a successful businessman—

Sharia Law was an extremely strict set of religious laws in Kabul, The Taliban would often beat or kill women who violated this code which regulated the behavior of women. Some of the violations which warranted a beating included a woman exposing her ankles, laughing too loud, wearing shoes that made noise when walking, or wearing the wrong type of burka. If a woman was to run away without a male family member; she would be killed. This was the case for Naghma, a woman who Mariam had met in her prison cell. Naghma’s father had promised her to a tailor, but she fell in love with a young man who she ran away with. When they were caught and sent back, the young man was flogged and he later repented declaring that “Naghma had seduced him with her feminine charms. She’d cast a spell on him”(363). The young man clearly used Naghma as a scapegoat to prevent any further punishments from being inflicted upon him. Even with a ridiculous excuse; a man can manage to shift the blame on to a woman. By blaming Naghma, he managed to save his own skin instead of confessing to what had really happened. Consequently, The Taliban punished Naghma with death for only wanting to escape a relationship that she had no say