A Thousand Splendid Suns Identity Analysis

Culture influences identity greatly and this can be seen in “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini. When looking at all of the characters in this book there always seemed to be one that stood out to me more than all of the other characters. This unruly character that made so many decisions and executed so many actions that I would never even dream of doing or hear of others doing. Rasheed is proud of his culture and embraces it with open arms, he is not a man of change and refers to some of the changes around him disgustingly as “modern”. Making it very clear that he is not and never will be like those revolting “modern men” and that he is on a much higher level than them.
This is clearly seen when Rasheed is speaking with Mariam of

the rule that she will always wear a “burqa” and never show anyone but him her face. “Sometimes they even put their feet in front of me, the women do, for measurements, and their husbands stand there and watch.They allow it….They think they’re being modern men, intellectuals, on account of their education, I suppose.” (Hosseini 70). Not long after this happens Rasheed speaks down upon their neighbor Fariba on how she is one of these women that are sinister and is not too happy when one day talking a walk Fariba waves hello at Mariam. “Fariba must have recognised her, walking in buqa beside Rasheed, She waved, and called out, ‘Eid mubarak!’.... ‘So you know that women, the teacher’s wife?’ Rasheed said…. ‘Best you stay away. She’s a nosy gossiper, that one. And the husband fancies himself some kind of educated intellectual.” (Hosseini 80). Rasheed speaks down upon the Fariba implying that she is just a pest that should be dealt with, or in his beliefs covered from head to toe. He even goes to such lengths as to add comments about her husband and the way she acts.
Rasheed makes it clear again and again that they are wrong because they don’t believe in the same ideas and standards as him.

Later on in the book the Taliban have control over Kabul and have enlisted a lot of rules upon all citizens but mostly the women and the way they can act, talk, look like, be treated, and more. Rasheed is almost pleased with the new rules especially since they go hand in hand with exactly what he believes in. Although his younger wife Laila is not so keen on the new rules “ ‘They can’t make half the population stay home and do nothing,’ Laila said. ‘Why not?’ Rasheed said. For once, Mariam agreed with him. He’d done the same to her and Laila, in effect, had he not?.... ‘This isn’t some village. This is Kabul. Women here used to practice medicine; they held office in the government-’ Rasheed grinned. ‘Spoken like the arrogant daughter of a poetry-reading university man that you are. How urbane, how Tajik, of you.” (Hosseini 279). He not only talks down about her beliefs but her culture and family that she was raised in.
So much happens throughout the book and yet Rasheed’s mindset never changes from the mindset that his culture had taught him to have. He died fighting because he couldn’t let go of even just a little bit of his beliefs to let new ideas sprout and grow. Instead he was stubborn and paid the cost in the end, everybody that knew him knew his ways and yet they never tried changing his beliefs because honestly he would have to become a whole

different person to do such an impossible feat.