A Thousand Splendid Suns Movie Analysis

No matter how somber or lighthearted the content of a film or novel, most of them end up in the best possible scenario considering the prior circumstances of the characters. While this type of ending can be very enjoyable to read or watch, it can appear to be unfitting, unrealistic, and incredibly predictable. In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini writes about two young middle eastern women living their lives in a society amongst oppression. The novel filled with times of heartbreak, anger, and fear, concludes in a pleasantly-unpleasant manner. Despite the popularity of this type of storyline, some directors and authors choose to pursue the most realistic storyline, no matter how unpleasant. The director of the film Osama resembles

one of these people. Unlike Hosseini’s novel, the film Osama contains realistic solutions to the problems of oppression in the Middle East, which ultimately better informs the reader or watcher of the severity of oppression. Discrepancies between the film and novel take place within the topics of love and marriage, life and death, and the overall endings of the film and novel.
In both the novel and the film, discussions of young love and marriage ensue, however, A Thousand Splendid Suns and Osama convey the reality of the situations differently.

In the novel, Mariam never loves anyone outside of her family because of the isolation of her home and the fear that Nana attempted to instill in Mariam. The most recurring lesson Nana tries to teach Mariam is that her father and all men lack devotion and respect towards women. Once, Nana explained, “Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam” (Hosseini 7). Such a statement held true meaning, however, Mariam failed to understand how it applied to her until Jalil, Mariam’s father, pressured her into an arranged marriage. On the contrary, in Osama, while facing sentencing for dressing as a boy to collect income for her family, Osama avoids execution to instead be married to a man significantly older than her (Moinfar, Osama). Unfortunately, situations like these closely resemble the reality of today in which women are forced into marriage, to have children, and are treated as possessions for the rest of their lives. The next example is an instance in A Thousand Splendid Suns where Hosseini forms a relationship of unrealistic circumstances. In the novel, Laila grows up next to her neighbor Tariq. Over the years they grow more and more fond of each other until they fall in love (Hosseini, 113). A true relationship happens to be a very rare occurrence in this society, therefore, including this relationship in the novel might possibly give readers a false-sense that arranged marriages are infrequent

incidents.
Life and death is a common theme throughout the novel and in some situations, the most unlikely of the two occurs. In the novel, Rasheed, the abusive husband to Mariam and Laila, decides he is going to kill them both after he finds out about Tariq’s visits. A fight breaks loose and Mariam grabs a shovel from the toolshed and hits Rasheed in the temple, nearly killing him. Right before he is killed, Mariam reflected upon her relationship with him. Mariam thought that “...maybe he saw some trace of all the self-denial, all the sacrifice, all the sheer exertion it had taken her to live with him for all these years, live with his continual condescension and violence” (Hosseini, 310). It is extremely doubtful that a wife would be willing and physically able to kill a strong man like Rasheed who continually abuses Laila and Mariam. Thus, Hosseini chose to pursue the most unlikely outcome. Next, in the novel, Tariq travels out of the war in Kabul with his family to help from worsening his father’s health, however, he ends up in jail. Later in the novel, Tariq makes an appearance at Laila’s home to let her know that he survived the past years despite what she was told. During their conversation, Laila said “I thought you were dead. I felt so alone and scared. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have agreed to marry Rasheed. I wouldn’t have…” (Hosseini, 303). The odds that Tariq would have realistically survived in Pakistan, stayed in jail, and then made it back to Laila are near zero. To the reader, this may seem as if more freedom is provided to the people in this society then there actually is and they do not seem as oppressed as they truly have been. In the film, Osama is pardoned from execution but she does not walk free, she remains oppressed under another man (Moinfar, Osama). This occurrence is one that, sadly, would happen in this time period. Women are frequently forced into marriage and are brought to sentencing for the most insignificant “crimes.” Although it seems lucky that she escaped the death sentence, she faced a sentence just as bad. As the lives of character’s end, both the novel and film begin to conclude as well, and in a few cases, in an improbable manner..
The endings of films or novels tend to be those similar to a fairytale, however, while neither of the stories are fairy tales, the novel ending remains significantly more joyous than the film. In the novel, Mariam felt at peace with herself before her execution for killing Rasheed. Mariam believed she lived the best life she could with Laila and Laila’s children. Just before Mariam’s execution, Hosseini wrote “She thought of her entry into this world, the harami child of a lowly villager, an unintended thing, a pitiable, regrettable accident. A weed. And yet she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back” (Hosseini, 329). Mariam’s ending, although unfortunate, greatly illustrates the flip-side of her oppressive surroundings, making for a bitter true end to her story. Also in the novel, Laila, Tariq, and the kids move to Kabul and live happily ever after, Laila works as a teacher and is pregnant, and the drought just so happens to end (Hosseini, 364). Laila’s ending remains by far the happiest and most unrealistic. Clearly, Hosseini felt that he needed to accommodate for Mariam’s ending by making Laila’s less devastating to the reader. In contrast, Osama never sees her family again and is taken as the new addition to a stranger’s family. Her mother and grandmothers plan to get more income for the family by dressing Osama as a boy completely backfired on them. Now there is no possibility her mother and grandmother will earn enough income to support themselves (Moinfar, Osama).
Clearly, the novel is more joyous than expected. As a result, it does not provide the best examples of oppression that may have otherwise existed if Hosseini had not concealed the current examples that exist in today’s society. Informing the readers or viewers of oppression and how Muslims have to face it under the strict laws of groups like the Taliban is a huge responsibility. Both the film and the novel are meant to inform the reader or viewer of oppression in the Middle East but the film does it more effectively. The film purposefully does not skip over parts of the storyline to make the viewer better like the film. Instead, the story is told as it would happen in this society. The film avoids all sugar-coating of reality and as a result, better informs people of how oppression shapes those living amongst it.