Book Report
Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Date First Published: 2007
Number of Pages: 299
Genre: Fiction
Setting: The story takes place during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s and then moves on to the year 2003. Throughout the story, it takes place in Gul Daman, Pakistan, Kabul and Herat, Afghanistan.
Summary of the Plot:
The story is about Mariam, who is a young girl growing up just outside of Herat, Afghanistan. Mariam lives with her mother, Nana, and only sees her father, Jalil, once a week because she was born as an illegitimate child. Because her parents were not married when she was born. Growing up, Marian resented her life and wished she could be a part of her father’s life more. On Mariam’s fifteenth birthday, she asks Jalil to take her to watch Pinocchio, a cartoon movie, for the first time. When he does not appear she goes and sleeps outside of his house. Mariam’s mother, believing Mariam had abandoned her, commits suicide. Jalil is forced to take Mariam in and she is happy at first, however she is then married off to a shoemaker named Rasheed, who lives in Kabul, forcing her to leave her hometown and move there with him. Mariam is unable to conceive a child because she would always lose the child due to her health complications. As the result of multiple miscarriages, the relationship grows into an abusive relationship.
The story then switches to the life of Laila, a girl who lives in Kabul, in the same neighborhood as Mariam and Rasheed. She lives with her parents and her brothers are soldiers in the war. Growing up, Laila is friends with a boy named Tariq. As their friendship grows stronger, Laila falls in love with him. Tariq and Laila are separated because...
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...cter in the story thrives for knowledge and even when she could no longer go to school, her father still tutored her at home. Laila also is very caring and selfless because when she could’ve ran away with Tariq and marry him, she chose to stay behind because she couldn’t risk leaving her parents behind. She is also very intelligent, this is shown when she and Mariam plan to run away from Rasheeds abusive behavior and go on the bus with a stranger they convinced to be their “muharam.”
Opinion: I did not enjoy the book A Thousand Splendid Suns because it was too dramatic and very confusing at times. However, I did like how the author,
Khaled Hosseini was able to smoothly transition from one scene to the next in the story. The story was also very emotional at certain scenes and very visual at the same time, allowing you to understand the situation much more clearly.
The author’s intention in the beginning of Mahtab’s story is to give the reader a descriptive introduction regarding the feelings and cricumstances of Mahtab’s journey. She uses descriptive language to inform the reader of Mahtab’s feelings of uncertainty as the “fog of darkness” (p.2) closes in on the family as they travel by truck through the Afghani mountains in a search for a better life.
The story begins with Titas birth prematurely when Mama Elena was chopping onions. Tita grows up with Nacha the most dominant figure in her life, and follows Mama Elenas routine of cooking, cleaning and sewing. At every incident she can, Mama Elena criticizes Tita and even beats her if she tries to speak up. One day Tita tells her mother that Pedro wants to come and ask for her hand, but according to the family tradition she cannot marry because she is the youngest daughter. Mama Elena tells Pedro he can marry Rosaura- one of her older daughters, and Pedro agrees to the arrangement just to be closer to his true love- Tita.
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
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The main character, Duddy Kravitz, is a young boy – not of age – from a Jewish community in Quebec. Duddy resides with his father, Max, who defines as being a pimp. Duddy’s mother dies when he is young and has no female role model in his life; he is raised by men. For example, “Then she turned her attention on Duddy and hoping to distract her, he talked about Yvette. ‘The Oedipus’ Aunt Ida said. (…) ‘Your mother was taken from you when you were young and all your life you will be searching for a woman to replace her. All boys want to have sexual relations with their mother’” (244). The loss of his mother effects Duddy’s behaviour and attitude towards women. Duddy unconsciously views Yvette as a mother figure; replacing the mother he is never able to know. The lack of compassion and sympathy – typically provided by a mother in a child’s life – from the men in his family, Duddy adopted as well. Duddy does not know or understand how he should be treating people, more specifically women. To continue during Duddy’s childhood, his
The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is set in Afghanistan. It covers about a 50 year time period from the 1950’s to the mid 2000’s. Hosseini uses allusions to actual Afghani events to depict the ever changing liberties that the women of Afghanistan endure with the lack of stability in Afghanistan’s government.
“Where is the rest of your family,” asked Masoud. Her father came back to bring her after a long time he left her. As a girl, she wanted to be with her family, but she thought about all the things, about her father, then she determined who knows if her father again abandons her. That was the reason she let her father go, and Jameela let all the pain go from her heart.
However, the main character’s reaction to the events might have been different if his uncle and teacher had paid more attention to the boy’s feelings. In this view, Araby is also the story of loneliness. As soon as the main character focuses on the desire to travel to the bazaar his usual course of actions is interrupted and ...
...d to exhibit the harsh treatments many citizens living there do in recent years. Moreover, Hosseini and Amir explain the importance of having a father figure who would be support their son’s interests in life and helping them thrive for success in the careers they would like to pursue. Neither Hosseini or Amir had a father who supported their long term goals. Hosseini’s and Amir’s high social class in their hometown Kabul, made life easier for them as they were growing up because they were able to afford education which helped them a lot in the careers they pursued in. When both Hosseini and Amir came to the United States, they had a tough time learning the lifestyles of an American, but for the most part, it brought them to how successful they became. Ultimately, Khaled Hosseini creates a protagonist in his novel who serves as a parallel to his own life experiences.
The story takes place in Los Angeles, and addresses people’s misconceptions about others which is woven into the shocking finale. The story line does not follow time consecutively, but weaves the story through narrative past and present through flashbacks, of how race assumptions keep people from seeing other people. An Iranian named Farhad asks his daughter “They think we are Arab. When did Persian become Arab?”
Afghanistan; Taliban controlled, discrimination and love everywhere yet nowhere at the same time. It’s a nation where culture and tradition are of immense importance, especially to the older generation. Over 53% of Afghan population is below the poverty line, making the country one of the Earth’s poorest. Life would be lived on a day to day basis, not knowing if it’s safe to be outside, when...
A breathtaking saga of a young girl’s tragic memories of her childhood. As with Ellen, Gibbons’ parents both died before she was twelve-years-old, forming the family. basis of the plot and themes of this novel. The fond memories she possessed of her mother and the harsh ones of her father are reflected in the thoughts and actions of Ellen. The simplistic and humble attitude that both Gibbons and Ellen epitomizes in the novel is portrayed through diction and dialogue.
The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns explores the plight of women in Afghanistan; the focus is put on three women Nana, Mariam and Laila. Women in Afghanistan often face difficult and unfortunate situations. In this essay we will examine some of these unfortunate situations for women.
The things one must give up in order to better another are widespread and is a commonality in the Afghan culture depicted in the novel. The theme is further developed with multiple sacrifices to help others in need throughout the book. “Laila already saw the sacrifices a mother had to make. Virtue was only the first.” (Hosseini 219). Laila had to endure Rasheeds tyrannical grip of his wives, all to provide for her and her child. She sacrificed her late teens and twenties to provide for he and her child while living under Rashed's heavy hand. “She thought ruefully of Nana, of the sacrifices that she too had made.” (Hosseini 289). Laila and Mariam are both seeing the sacrifices the sacrifices made for them and the sacrifices they must make for others. This assists in the development of the characters in the book. Laila goes from always being referred to as “The girl” before she married Rasheed, to a mother in a short period of time because of the sacrifice motif that is present in the book. Mariams brave sacrifice of life, to give Laila and her family a better life shows her true affection towards Laila being her only friend and Aziza being the closest thing to a child of her own that she was not able to have. “Did Mariam die for this? laila asks herself. Did she sacrifice herself so she, laila could be a maid in a foreign land.” (Hosseini 389). Laila's choice to act upon what sacrifices were
This story is focused on one family in the town of Kafr El Teen, especially on the woman of the family. Zakeya and Kafrawi are Brother and sister and the oldest of the house. Karfrawi's daughters also live with them, Zeinab, and Nefissa's. Also at one point Galal, Zakeys son lived with them ( also Zeinabs husband ). This family is put through many struggles mostly placed upon them by the Mayor of the town, who has an obsession with the daughters of Karfawi.