When people picture a feminist woman, typically a doctor, a lawyer, or a working independent woman comes to mind but rarely a mother. Modern-day feminism evolved since its creation from the ideals and separated itself from feminine traits associated with the traditional role of a housewife. The novel, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini, explores the perspective of two Afghan women, Miriam and Laila, and how they navigate life as women in a strictly religious country during war-stricken times. Hosseini examines motherhood through a feminist lens by presenting two viewpoints, traditional family dynamics, and the cultural dimensions of gender roles within the context of Afghanistan. Given two points of view throughout the book, the …show more content…
The time that separates them doesn’t dull the motherly love between them and the affection they show the children. The two perspectives explore their sacred bond with the initial grudge Miriam holds against Laila because she views Laila as a competition for Rasheed’s affection and favor. Her initial resentment evolves into an alliance when Laila stands up for Miriam and defends her from Rasheed. From their husband trying to pit them against each other, even his manipulation couldn’t stop the two women from being “enemies no longer” and into something more beautiful (Hosseini 250). Laila introduces a spark to Miriam’s dulled life by giving the older woman a sense of youthfulness and hope, while Miriam gives Laila wisdom and strength. A nurturing mother Laila never received from her biological mother, who isolated herself from Laila and her husband, because her sons had left. Their sacred bond couldn’t be unshaken by the unhealthy masculinity that Rasheed put in, even with his strict family …show more content…
Her husband wanted Miriam to produce a son and treated her horribly after her miscarriage and inability to provide him with a male heir. He also has a second wife, Laila, who is also unable to produce a male heir which causes Miriam and Laila to bond over their husband’s utter lack of compassion towards either of them. The two women find their voice together and even after Miriam’s passing, her voice is ever so strong in Laila. Motherhood remains an important part of our society, which is shown by the multiple perspectives shown in “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” as well as the cultural differences that are painted by the author, which enable the reader to see the story through a feminist lens. The basis of society was established by women, but women are still disrespected and seen as a burden to men. From the perspective of Middle Eastern countries such as Afghanistan, women have little to no rights and are forced to subjugate themselves to the power of men. Terrorist groups such as the Taliban are known to be extremely degrading towards women, even keeping women as hostages in order to fulfill their own selfish
Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, tells the stories of women in Afghanistan in the late twentieth century. Hosseini shows the women’s strengths, weaknesses, tribulations and accomplishments through their own actions, and how they are treated by other characters in the book, particularly the male characters. Hosseini portrays men in A Thousand Splendid Suns to create themes of justice and injustice within the novel. The justice, or lack thereof, served to the male characters is a result of their treatment and attitudes toward the female characters in the book and towards women in general.
Every person stands for a single quality. It is then up to the human psyche to make-up what the individual stands for. The archetypes from Carl Jung are portrayed by the characters in “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hossieni. Through out the novel the archetypes begin to be revealed through the characters emotion, actions and ambition. Firstly, Mariam’s heroism is shown by her unusual circumstances of birth helping others, sacrificing her life and living through traumatic events; secondly Rasheed is portrayed as the shadow by reeling others into being fearful of what they believed was once right; finally, Rasheed’s self-centeredness and interest in only achieving his goals demonstrates that he is the trickster as well. These archetypes not only eventually evoke the deep emotion within the characters, they become apart of the human psyche bringing out the good and evil within all.
The systematic victimization of women by patriarchal societies is extremely prominent throughout the book “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, written by Khaled Hosseini. For example, Mariam has been victimized since birth with her father not being around, her not getting a proper education, she is outcasted by everyone around her. This patriarchal society allowed her to be married off to Rasheed at the age of 15. Another way this theme is displayed is through Laila. She was a young girl that was living a fantastic life but once her father and mother were killed she was taken in by Mariam and Rasheed, which then lead to her becoming a victim. Rasheed abused her mentally, and physically with no remorse. She had to abide by his
One of the main controversies in this book is the plight of women and men’s struggles. Although both experienced different kinds of inequalities, women were the target of the Taliban. In 1978, women in Kabul were demanding their rights during the Afghan Women’s Year. The president who was in charge then was president Daoud, and he decreed, “The Afghan woman has the same right as the Afghan man to exercise personal freedom, choose a career, and fins a partner in marriage” (53). This decree was absolutely invalid when the Taliban expelled a humanitarian organization that was run by women, and because of that, the Taliban took over Kabul. Women were not allowed to work outside of home. Because of that, Latifa mentions that women in Kabul usually just bake bread, do embroidery,
“A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini is a historical fiction novel that unveiled the horrific struggles that both women and young girls faced in Afghanistan between the 1960s to the early 2000s. In the novel, the struggles are shown through the eyes of two women. Hosseini wrote “A Thousand Splendid Suns” to bring insight to the forgotten people of Afghanistan.
The Islamic women of Afghanistan are denied many of the same liberties that Americans take for granted everyday. Although the religion that they have faith in, according to Janelle Brown’s “Terror’s First Victims”, “guarantee[s] women status in society as individuals and religious d...
Khaled Hosseini, an inspirational author, has experienced and wrote books based on the society and culture of Afghanistan. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, the main protagonist, Laila, is in the middle of a war-fighting country. At one point, her father says to her, “marriage can wait, education cannot” (Hosseini 103). Her father urges her to take the advantages of knowledge rather than jumping into marriage. Marriage is a life-long process that according to the Quran, bids a woman to follow her husband. All in all, it’s general knowledge that love, respect, and trust is what keeps the strong bond between man and wife. There have been too many times where they have been caged and looked down upon. Women deserve the same equality as men. It won’t happen immediately, but the change is happening, slowly. One way to gain that right, is to create an organization and promote the idea of women being able to get a job, education, and not being married at an early age in Afghanistan. The organization would be able to collect money for two buildings. One building will be for a school, so that women get the education they deserve. The other building opens up for opportunities for a job. Those jobs could range from sewing to cooking. Women are more than just a trophy to just sit there and act as though they do not have a voice. The challenge may be a struggle but not
The women of Afghanistan have been through every hardship imaginable. Khaled Hosseini uses his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns to show his readers how women’s rights changed through out the last half of the 20th century and how the different governments affected the women differently.
In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini illustrates the morals and ethics used in the treatment of women by men throughout the lives of the main characters. This demonstration allows Hosseini to quickly transition the novel between two women, Mariam and Laila, from their childhoods, and the interactions with the men in their lives. In doing so, the author creates a strong connection between the reader and the characters. This bond allows the reader to become part of the novel, and feel the experiences as the character would. Since the novel is told from the character’s perspective, Hosseini portrays the brutal treatment of Afghani women and their hardships from a deeply personal narrative told from the third person.
Khaled Hosseini, author of A Thousand Splendid Suns, is indisputably a master narrator. His refreshingly distinctive style is rampant throughout the work, as he integrates diverse character perspectives as well as verb tenses to form a temperament of storytelling that is quite inimitably his own. In his novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, he explores the intertwining lives of two drastically different Afghani women, Lailia and Mariam, who come together in a surprising twist of fate during the Soviet takeover and Taliban rule. After returning to his native Afghanistan to observe the nation’s current state amidst decades of mayhem, Hosseini wrote the novel with a specific fiery emotion to communicate a chilling, yet historically accurate account of why his family was forced to flee the country years ago.
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.
In architecture, contrast is used to create a dramatic entrance. The observer moves from a small, dimly lit space to a grand room full of light where they feel the impact of the room because of its contrast with the previous one. Similarly, authors, the architects of a book’s plot, use contrast to emphasize a character’s struggles and triumphs. In both The Space Between Us by Thirty Umrigar and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the authors use the contrast between two lives to emphasize the power of money, education, and gender within Afghan and Indian society.
In the book a thousand splendid suns a young girl named Mariam lives with her mother in Afghanistan, and her father is not in the picture ;besides the one day out of the week he comes to bring her presents. Nana was a poor house keeper and jahlil is a wealthy businessman. The two had an affair, one thing Mariam does is believes everything her father says which nana does not agree with like for example "he arranged for nana to be taken to a hospital to prepare for Mariam's birth but wound up having to give birth on the floor at home",while he wound up being at a certain place to go horse back riding. Jalil had three wives, and nine biological children. They all live with him except for Mariam and nana because she was his side girlfriend so he sent her to live in a hut where nobody can find them.
In a nation brimming with discrimination, violence and fear, a multitudinous number of hearts will become malevolent and unemotional. However, people will rebel. In the eye-opening novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini, the country of Afghanistan is exposed to possess cruel, treacherous and sexist law and people. The women are classified as something lower than human, and men have the jurisdiction over the women. At the same time, the most horrible treatment can bring out some of the best traits in victims, such as consideration, boldness, and protectiveness. Although, living in an inconsiderate world, women can still carry aspiration and benevolence. Mariam and Laila (the main characters of A Thousand Splendid Suns) are able to retain their consideration, boldness and protectiveness, as sufferers in their atrocious world.
I am writing to enlighten you on how your novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, is truly a piece of literature that can be applied to the lives of many, still to this day. In 2012, CBC’s The Fifth Estate released a documentary, “The House of Shafia”, taking a deeper look into the household of the Shafia family, in which four girls were murdered. Mohammed Shafia married Rona Mohammed, who was unable to have children. As a result of this unfortunate case, he took it upon himself to marry another woman, Tooba Yahya, as it is allowed in Afghanistan. Tooba gave birth to seven children, the entire family then moving to Canada in 2007.