In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by the author Khaled Hosseini presents the tragedy that Mariam went through. Mariam the unwanted child for her father because he was not married to Mariam’s mother when she get pregnant from him. She lived in a village with her only family member, her mother. One day she left her mother and went to the city that her father lived in. Her mother felt abandoned and committed suicide because Mariam is all she had. After the death of her mother, Mariam moved with her father to Kabul. She was a burden to her father so after some weeks she was forced to marry a forty-five year old man when she was only fifteen year old. She moved to another city with her husband where she had to live with a man that she never
met before. Mariam loses her innocence when she is raped by her husband, Rasheed. She is abused physically and sexually by Rashid. Mariam had no one that could have helped her when she was going through the hardest time of her life. The archetype loss of innocence applies to Mariam in the novel because just a few days earlier she was playing in her backyard like a little child and she is then being treated like a woman. She is forced to give up on the excitements of being a teenager and skips all the stages of her childhood. Mariam had no choice but to become a mature wife and do whatever her husband asked her to. In male dominated countries, women are voiceless which causes them suffer until their death, often facing the loss of innocence early in life.
What is an ideal parent ? In A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini strenuously suggests a good parent is someone who shows affection to their child, shows attentiveness in their child’s life, encourages them to do marvelous things, and have a positive influential affect on their life. Throughout this book it’s exemplifies good parenting, and Laila’s father Babi is an example of an authoritarian parent. In the book , he spends all of his free time with Laila and always tells her how much he loves her even when her mother Fariba is secluding herself from Laila’s life this is clear when he says, “Sometimes , when your mother’s having one of her really dark days, I feel like you're all I have, Laila.” Good parenting also comes with the ability of being able to provide abundant amounts of attention towards the child and show interest in their life.
Literary value can be defined as a plot that follows the guideline that Joseph Campbell set before his theory of “monomyth,” inferring from the two videos and Foster’s ideas. Understanding this concept allows us to confirm that the book, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, contains an ample amount of literary value. Amir’s journey to Afghanistan serves as the prototype that Campbell constructed when producing his hypothesis. The two videos and Foster’s book lays out the conditions of a book containing literary value through Campbell’s ideas.
The Kite Runner is a powerful story of love and trust blended with elements of deception and human wickedness at its worst. The full beauty of the story lies in the sundry
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
Kite Runner depicts the story of Amir, a boy living in Afghanistan, and his journey throughout life. He experiences periods of happiness, sorrow, and confusion as he matures. Amir is shocked by atrocities and blessed by beneficial relationships both in his homeland and the United States. Reviewers have chosen sides and waged a war of words against one another over the notoriety of the book. Many critics of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, argue that the novel would not have reached a lofty level of success if the U.S. had not had recent dealings with the Middle East, yet other critics accurately relate the novel’s success to its internal aspects.
Mariam has built a mutual relationship with Jalil in her childhood, with weekly visits every Thursday. Mariam has hid behind a wall of innocence, and Jalil helped her get past the wall with the harsh realities of the world. Mariam was an innocent being at childhood: she was stuck indoors in Kolba. Mariam does not know what is going on around her home, because she has not experienced the outdoors as well as others. All she gets at is from Jalil’s stories, and Mullahs teaching. She does not understand that the world is not as as happy as it seems. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini uses Jalil’s character to show development in Mariam's life, in order to emphasize how significant the impact of trust breaks Mariam’s innocent in the story.
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.
Mariam’s strength is immediately tested from birth and throughout her whole childhood. She has been through a lot more than other children of her age, and one of those challenges is the hope for acceptance. She is looked at as an illegitimate child by her parents, and they say there’s no need to attend school. We learn right away what the word “harami” means when Nana uses that to describe her own daughter. She says, “You are a clumsy little harami. This is my reward for everything I’ve endured. An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harami” (Hosseini 4). Nana especially pushed Mariam away from pursuing her goals. She said there was no need for education and men always find a way to blame it on a woman. This pushed Mariam away from her mom and closer to Jalil, but he refuses to acknowledge her and his wives look at her with cold stares of disgust. Mariam only feels loved by Jalil through all of this, mainly because he brings her things and shows her some love. She asks him to do something with her outside of the kolboa and he first agrees, but never brings her because of his fear with his wives and the structures of Afghan culture that frown upon it. He starts to act as if she was a burden to him and Mariam’s hope for acceptance is crushed. She realizes the truth, especially once she reaches adulthood. In Afghanistan, marriage is not all about love for eachother, it is about traditional role...
Despite Nana calling Mariam “a harami” and “an unwanted thing”, she truly loved Mariam jo, “You know I love you, Mariam jo”. (15) Nana was constantly attempting to keep Mariam safe from all those who would judge her. Nana concealed Mariam from the world for both her own and Mariam’s sakes, “Nana made no secret of her dislike her visitors- and, in fact, people in general...” (15) Mariam had few connections with people outside a select few that Nana would allow in her life and this harmed overall because when Nana died there was no support for Mariam besides her cowardly father. Nana endured great pain physical and mentally for Mariam which displays her genuine love for her, yet she never lets Mariam forget the pain she felt, “It did not occur to young Mariam to… apologize for the manner of her own birth.” (11) Though Nana was present in the majority of Mariam’s childhood unlike Fariba, overall she caused Mariam more sadness than joy. Nana taught Mariam one worthwhile lesson in her adolescent years, “Only one skill. And it’s this:tahamul. Endure… Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have..They’ll say the most terrible things about you. I won’t have it.” (18-19) This little tidbit of motherly advice served Mariam well in her life- she endured physical and mental pain in her adult life.
The majority of the women, females of the age 14 and higher, are arranged to marry men much older than them, and in this case, at the age of fifteen, Mariam is forced to marry her husband, Rasheed, who is at least 35 years older than her. The first sign of dehumanization is shown when Rasheed, newly wedded to Mariam, rapes her in her bed and then leaves her to bleed. Although Mariam doesn’t experience much of dehumanization until she lives with her husband, her mother, Nana, was definitely a victim of it. Despite the fact that little Mariam loved her father, Nana always ranted about him to Mariam. She told Mariam that “like a compass facing north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always.” (Hosseini 7). She was also never shy about telling her daughter the truth about women in Afghanistan: “There is only one, only one skill a woman like you and me needs in life, and they don’t teach it in school . . . Only one skill. And it’s this: tahamul. Endure . . . It’s our lot in life, Mariam. Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have. Do you understand?” (17). Later on, Forty-year-old Mariam, suddenly realizes that her crazy mother was right. She grows bitter and slowly starts becoming like Nana. She collectively starts hating men, not only the ones she personally know, but also the men in the
Both Laila, the lucky girl with breathtaking beauty, whose luck suddenly vanishes, and Mariam, the unlucky and illegitimate daughter, whose luck goes from bad to terribly worse, become dynamic and complex characters. This transformation is brought about by the gradual revealing of Hosseini’s motivation. In fact, Hoesseini is evidently motivated to reveal the truth, and let the emotional and physical realities of Afghani women’s lives be known to the
“It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even in a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime…” –Khaled Hosseini. The comparison between the novel, A Thousand Splendid Sons, and movie, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is inevitable. In both cases, each character goes through changes, leaving what was once a part of their daily routines just a memory. The Kite Runner is a movie about friendship, betrayal, and the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of their lies. A Thousand Splendid Suns is an outstanding, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love. It focuses on two women; mothers and daughters, and their complications with living in Afghanistan. Despite the fact these stories aren’t sequels; there are several similarities and difference amongst the two, making some question if they are indeed linked together. “I also think that A Thousand Splendid Suns is, in some ways, a more ambitious book than my first novel [The Kite Runner]. The story is multigenerational, unfolding over almost forty-five years, often skipping ahead years. There is a larger cast of characters, and a dual perspective, and the wars and political turmoil in Afghanistan are chronicled with more detail than in The Kite Runner.” – Khaled Hosseini.
Next let us examine Mariam's plight. She is denied the chance to go to school. "What's the sense schooling a girl like you? It's like shinning a spitspoon." She lives with a cruel mother. "You are a clumsy little harami. This is my reward for everything I've endured. An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harmi"(4). She has a neglectful father. "Mariam kept thinking of his face in the upstairs window. He let her sleep on the street. On the street. Mariam cried lying down"(35). Her mother commits suicide and Mariam blames herself. "You stop that. These thoughts are no good, Mariam jo. You hear me, child? No good. They will destroy you. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault no". Mariam nodded, but as desperately as she wanted to she could not bring herself to believe him"(44). She is forced into marriage to a man she does not love. "I don't want to," Mariam said. She looked at Jalil. "I don't want this. Don't make me"(47). She is sent to live in a strange city were she does not know anyone. She has a physically abusive husband. "Then he was gone, leaving Mariam to spit out pebbles, blood, and the fragments of two broken molars"(104). Her husband is cruel and says hurtful words to her. She can not do anything right in his eyes. When he is not ignoring her he is being verbally or physically abusive towards her.
Grace Pulpit once said “A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.” True friends will always be present and have your back regardless of the circumstances. Amir and Hassan share a unique relationship; they are friends, brothers, and enemies. Growing up together, Hassan always had Amir’s back, but Amir did not always have Hassan’s. This developed a friendship that was one-sided, but the boys still had a close bond regardless. Amir says “…we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that…(25).” The relationship between the two boys is one that is difficult to fully comprehend. The bond they share is one that not many people get to experience. The boys are separated from each other after the Russian invasion, but it is Amir’s decisions later in life that show what Hassan truly meant to him. They share a relationship that had varying definitions, but in the end they both loved each other. Amir and Hassan share this diverse friendship because of Amir’s selfishness, jealousy, and cowardly actions.
But his three wives forced Mariam to marry a forty-five year old shoe-maker in Kabul, Rasheed to get rid of her. In Kabul, Mariam got pregnant seven successive times but is never able to carry a child to term. This created troubles amidst Mariam and Rasheed. He started domestic violence against Mariam because of her inability to carry a child, particularly a son. Part two introduces Laila, an intelligent and beautiful girl.