A Thousand Splendid Suns Sacrifice Essay

A Thousand Splendid Suns and Mother: Freedom Is Never Free

The cost of a sacrifice to further another person's life is the true sign of affection, and is a well developed theme through these two works of literature, A Thousand Splendid Suns and Mother. By making a sacrifice there is a cost and the good that comes of this sacrifice can be limitless. The poem Mother, by Maurice Yvonne, shows a mother's sacrifice for her son. The book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, written by Khaled Hosseini, shows the sacrifices many characters make to survive in Afghanistan.

In the poem Mother, by Maurice Yvonne, the theme developed by the motif sacrifice is developed by the sacrifices a mother must make to protect and provide for her child. She makes these sacrifices

no matter what she must endure to display her love through sacrifice. “Before setting foot upon the long way - her conscience enquired,’Are you sure this is the right path? It will be difficult, full of pain’” (Yvonne). The mother has the choice before she embarked on the long journey many of us call life, to bring her child to the top of the mountain with her. This is a strenuous journey as a mother sacrifices everything including her happiness to reach the top of the mountain, archetypally symbolizing the insight she has passed to her child as they climb the mountain of life. “Storms came on dark days with thunder and lightning but, she kept her child dry and secure, Winters came with cold days and masonic winds but, she kept her child warm and protected” (Yvonne). The environmental forces driving against the mother and child represent external conflicts. Others in life that try to hinder the mother and child bond from reaching their full potential at the top of the mountain, but a mother will protect her child from the evils of life. “‘Thank you mother - I would not have got here without you, you can let go now. I think I will be OK from here’”(Yvonne).With the assistance of his mother and all the sacrifices she made his life was better, and he was ready to enter the world.
This same theme is portrayed in Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns.

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

made for her led to her thinking on how Mariams sacrifice would be remembered. This action led to Laila help rebuild Kabul. “Laila is happy here in Murree. But It is not an easy happiness. It is not a happiness without cost.” (Hosseini 380). Mariam’s sacrifice came with the highest cost but in the end her actions showed that she loved Laila and her family, which made her feel she finally did the right thing for once in her life.
While the two texts differ in context and in interpreted meaning, the two coincide with the development of a similar message.

In the poem Mother there was a main idea of a mother's sacrifice for her child. In A Thousand Splendid Suns all the characters made sacrifices for their children, friends and family. Some of the sacrifices were for the good of their child like Laila living with Rasheed to provide for Aziza or the opposite, for example when Mammy sacrificed her relationship with her daughter Laila by always sulking in her room forfeiting her relationship with her only daughter. In the poem the mother protects the child from the elements that symbolize external conflicts. Nana tried to do this with Mariam by warning her of Jalil’s promises he could not keep and his evil behind his facade of love for Mariam. In the poem when it says, “Demons seduced her beloved - leaving her alone”, this says that she raised her child by herself, this is like Nana, she raised Mariam alone, making the same sacrifices. There are also some differences, for instance when Mariam leaves Nana, Nana commits suicide. In the poem the mother embraces when her child leaves,"Son you only learn from losing" (Yvonne). Also in the poem the mother and child pair made it to the top of the mountain alone. This leads me the the inference the setting is in a westernized country where the individualism lifestyle trumps the eastern collectivism shown in the novel by Khaled Hosseini. In A Thousand Splendid

Suns there was a group effort to reach the top of the “mountain”, to try to make a better life for their children. Or the poem mother could show the independence of a woman and her love for her child.
Both texts show how helping one another, in the face of adversity and fear, will prevail over any foe. Sadly, these life saving acts of kindness and compassion can come at a cost, whether that may be a loss of a life or a loss of a memory, it will always remain in the minds of those who are affected. The poem Mother and the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns demonstrate the theme of, the cost of a sacrifice to further another person's life is the true sign of affection, and how true relationships are built upon sole desire to help others in times of desperation, no matter the cost.