Harriet Coates
Profesor Wilfong
World Mythology
4/19/15
World Mythology Paper
Introduction
Thousand Splendid Suns is a novel by Khaled Houseeni. The novel explores the lives of two Afghani women, Mariam and Laila, as they journey through hardships in the late twentieth century. The first half of the novel focuses on Mariam, the bastard child of a successful businessman. When she runs away from home to her father, he rejects her and her mother commits suicide. She goes on to marry Rasheed, a widowed storeowner in Kabul. The second half of the novel focuses on Laila. She is an intelligent, well-educated young woman and has a flirtatious relationship with her neighbor Tariq. War breaks out and Tariq’s family flees while Laila’s family is killed and she taken in by Rasheed. She marries him and Mariam and Laila slowly become friends. Through a series of events, Mariam ends up killing Rasheed to protect Laila and is subsequently executed. Tariq and Laila end up together and Laila goes on to be a teacher in her hometown. Though the novel focuses on their experiences, it also shows and sets up the history, culture and mythological system of both Islam and Afghanistan during an extremely horrific and turbulent time.
Overview of Mythic Elements In the Islamic system, there is a male God, Allah. He is seen, in the novel, when various characters pray.
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Islam is a monotheistic religion that is revealed through the prophet Muhammed using the Quran. It consists of five pillars, shahada, which is a confession of faith, salat, which is prayer, zakat, which is charity or giving, sawm, which is fasting and hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. These are the foundations of the religion. Zakat, sawm and hajj are not seen in the novel but shadaha and salat are. Shahada means Allah is their only God and there are no other gods before him. This is seen in the novel when they destroy the buddha statues because they think it is
A Thousand Splendid Suns takes place in Afghanistan, more specifically in cities like Kabul, Irat and Muree. The story of this novel happen on a long period of time, approximately from 1974 to 2003. What should be retained from those facts is that the story is going in the Middle East, a Islamic country in which the religion has a major influence in the culture and that Afghan society is known to be misogynist. Also, during the
In 1,000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, a girl named Mariam lives in a small shack with her mother Nana in Afghanistan. Mariam’s father is a wealthy cinema owner who she adores even though Jalil, the father, has numerous wives and children. He only visits Mariam once a week and tells her stories and brings her gifts. “Nor was she old enough to appreciate the injustice, to see that it is the creators of the harami who are culpable, not the harami, whose only sin is being born” (Hosseini 4). From the beginning of the book, Mariam was not wanted by either her mother or father, giving her an unstable home life that further affected her outside life. In the novel, Mariam is forced to marry a man named Rasheed who becomes verbally and physically abusive towards her. Rasheed and Mariam take in a woman named Laila to help
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.
Justice and perception are words that often overlap. What is seen as justice by one generation can be seen a hateful act of violence by the next. The point is, justice can only truly be construed by the one perceived as the victim. In A Thousand Splendid Suns a picture of sorrow and desperation that grasp Afghanistan is painted as the backdrop to the story. Mariam, a harami, was taught by her mother to endure. That her sole purpose as a woman was to endure the suffering that a man causes. Then, one day, she takes justice into her own hands and kills her abusive husband to save her sister wife and only true companion in her life. This crime leads to her execution; even her final moments a sense of purpose fulfills her because she knows that by sacrificing her life and saving Laila’s, Laila can start anew.
“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.
Islam the complete ‘surrender to Allah’ is a living religious tradition with the principal belief in one God – Allah. Islam has remained the same in its principle beliefs of Allah, His Angels, His Prophets, His Books, The Last Day and his complete authority over destiny and has also changed over time to ensure that Islam remains a living religious tradition. Over its history Islam has had many significant people including Al Ghazali and Aisha Bint Abu Bakr who have ensured that Islam remains living in the hearts and minds of its adherents. In addition to significant individuals participation in the Five Pillars e.g. the Hajj ensure that Islam will continue to be the living religious tradition that it is.
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.
There are some men in the Afghan society, who believe women are their property. Women’s purposes, according to them, are to produce sons who will carry on the family name and keep their husbands happy. Throughout this novel, we see this predominantly through Mariam and Rasheed. He considers the Taliban’s rule v...
Imagine a wasteland, crater-ridden with rocket-filled skies, living under the constant threat that the ones you love most may be the next victims. Now imagine being subjected to the will of another person, completely at the mercy of his whims, basic freedoms and expression denied. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini tells a story of pain and despair, but also one of hope, courage, and perseverance, with these traits embodied by no one better than the protagonist, Mariam. As she undergoes the many trials of life, she consistently demonstrates the strength and the will needed to stay afloat. Though haunted by demons, both real and imaginary, she gathers the strength to pull through for herself and others.
Islam is a religion that is based on the submission oneself to the will of God, who is called Allah. Muslims are the people believe in that, regardless of their culture, background or ethnicity. It is believed that God’s prophets brought a message for the people to worship one God without intermediaries and that prophet Muhammad was the end of G...
In one’s life many friendships and relationships are formed with several different people. Some people end up making a positive impact in another’s life, while others create a negative impact and a person is left to overcome the obstacles that another has created for them. Whether the relationships in one’s life are helpful or cause hindrances, in the end all that is important is the content of one's character and how their character is influenced by these relationships. In A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini there are many characters that impact Mariam's life and shape her into the valiant woman she came to be. Some characters being like Nana who help her by preparing her for the harsh realities of the real world and what is to come. Then there are characters like Rasheed and Jalil who are hindrances in Mariam’s life creating barriers and obstacles.
A thousand splendid suns (2007) is a novel written by the Afghan-American author Khaled hosseini. The novel addresses both aspects, which he evaluates and points out to his readers. Hosseini tries to point out two young women in the following way. Mariam is an illegitimate child, and suffers from both the stigma surrounding her birth along with the abuse she faces throughout her marriage. Laila, born a generation later, is comparatively privileged during her youth until their lives intersect and she is also forced to accept a marriage proposal from Rasheed, Mariam's husband.
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.
Since I started reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, it has been like playing a guessing game determining what is going to happen to the characters along way. For example, when Mariam first moved in with Rasheed there were endless possibilities I could think of when it came to her future as a wife — would Mariam obey Rasheed and become a good wife? Would she rebel and fall into depression? Or would she be abused by him and pressured into what he wanted? It did not take for Rasheed long to explain to Mariam what his definition of good wife was and for him to start abusing her once she did not obey him.