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. Nana and …show more content…
Mariam do not share a typical mother-daughter relationship.
When the reader is first introduced to Nana she is calling Mariam a “harami” which means an unwanted child, this comes across as very harsh but deep down Nana has Mariam’s best intentions in mind. Nana has gone through many things in her own life which makes her able to prepare Mariam for the reality of the real word and what is going to eventually come her way. The lessons Nana taught Mariam were things that she was able to carry with her throughout her whole life and this is why even after she was dead she made a positive impact and was a help in Mariam’s experiences. Nana is a very harsh woman. She was set to be married but was left by her fiance because of her epilepsy, she was left with a great fear of rejection, thus being why she is so harsh towards Mariam when she mentions her wealthy father. Nana is scared Mariam will leave her for a better life. Nana has a hard time effectively expressing her feelings to Mariam but they are most definitely there.Stuhr proposes that “ Her feelings for mariam are deep, but she
has not been able to express any such feeling to mariam” (Stuhr 58). Although Nana’s parenting style was very harsh at times she certainly prepared Mariam for the future. Nana gives Mariam countless lectures on men which Mariam comes to learn are very true in her marriage with Rasheed. In one of the lectures Nana says “Like a compass needle that always points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman” (Hosseini 7). Mariam comes to find this lesson is very true when Rasheed blames Mariam’s multiple miscarriages on her and is not empathetic. Ultimately Nana wants what is best for Mariam although she is a “harami”. Before Mariam goes to visit Jalil Nana gives her many warnings and tries to get her not to. She tells Mariam Jalil doesn’t care for her and she will end up hurt. “A man’s heart is a wretched, wretched thing, Mariam. It isn’t like a mother’s womb. It won’t bleed, it won’t stretch to make room for you. I’m the only one who loves you” (Hosseini 26). Nana is finally admitting to Mariam that she truly does loves her. Nana ends up being right and Mariam is hurt by her father but it is too late because when Mariam returns home Nana is hanging from the willow tree. Nana’s final profession of her love come to haunt Mariam as she comes to realize Nana wanted what was best for her and she should’ve listened all along. Rebecca A. Stuhr suggests “Nana has cared for mariam, providing her with the skills she needs to know to support and care for herself” (Stuhr 58). In many ways Nana was there for Mariam in ways no one else was or could ever be, she prepared her for the treck ahead and taught her some of the most valuable lessons that a mother could have taught their daughter in Afghanistan during this time. Mariam is very infatuated by her biological father: Jalil’s lifestyle and family, she dreams of becoming a part of it. Growing up she believes Jalil deeply cares for her but his true colours are eventually shown and she discovers all along he’s been a hindrance distracting her from the life she truly lived. “She gave herself over to the new life that awaited her in this city, a life with a father, with sisters and brothers, a life in which she would love and be loved back, without reservation or agenda, without shame” (Hosseini 29). Mariam is unable to see how Nana truly cares for her and that she is better off at home with Nana because she is distracted by the life she dreams of having with her father. Jalil gives Mariam false hope that she wasn’t harami and that she was really apart of his new family but then betrays her and disregards the plans they’ve made for her birthday and knowingly leaves her to sleep on his stoop. Mariam now comes to realize that all of Nana’s warnings were in fact true and that she had set her expectations to high. Stuhr suggests “The idealization of this much-dreamed-of life disintegrates as mariam approaches closer to what she believes to be its realization. after mariam sees her father’s face disappear behind a window curtain and she sleeps all night on his doorstep, the dream is gone” (Stuhr 58). When Mariam returns home to her life that she has a new appreciation for it’s too late because Nana has commited suicide. Jalil gave Mariam false hope and lured her in with his materialistic things and “perfect family” she spent little time with her mother and as a result of this her mother felt abandoned and killed herself. When Mariam’s only family member who truly loved her is no longer alive Jalil refuses to take her in and instead sells her to an arranged marriage. Mariam is then forced to pack up and leave for her new dreadful life her father has created for her. When leaving and saying her goodbyes she realized this “family” she had once longed to become a part of had little regard for her and wants nothing to do with her. Jalil made her feel as though she was one of them but crushed all her dreams by abandoning her and because of this she lost the one person who truly cared for her: Nana. By selling Mariam to an arranged Marriage Jalil created a life for Mariam that would be filled with other hindrances. Jalil created some of the biggest obstacles in Mariam’s life but the hardest one to overcome was being given false hope then being abandoned by her own father and sold into a marriage she would feel imprisoned in. In a marriage you are supposed to be able to overcome obstacles with your significant other. In Mariam and Rasheed’s relationship, Rasheed was the one to create these obstacles. Rasheed was the biggest hindrance in Mariam’s life. He created barriers that set her back and did not allow her to move forward. Mariam endured psychological and physical abuse throughout their entire relationship at the hands of Rasheed. Mariam became Rasheed’s puppet, being forced to obey all of his commands. She was very limited as to what she could do because of her demanding husband. Rasheed held Mariam back in many ways from allowing her to be her true self, instead he forced her to become what he envisioned in a wife; someone who will do as he pleases. When Mariam fails to prepare a meal that is up to Rasheed’s standards, Rasheed forcefully shoves rocks into Mariam’s mouth, “Through the mouthful of grit and pebbles Mariam mumbled a plea, tears were leaking out of the corner of her eyes” (Hosseini 104). This is only one of many occurences where Rasheed lays a hand on Mariam. It is evident he does not want what is best for her and does not care for her. Mariam is forced to proceed with her abusive relationship where her every move is controlled because she lives in fear of what Rasheed would attempt to do if she tried to leave. It is undoubtable that Rasheed has a huge power struggle and enjoys making Mariam feel as though she has no power at all. Rasheed works to limit Mariams self worth and how she sees herself. Rasheed forces Mariam to wear the burqa, something she has not had to do before. Mariam was unhappy but once again had to obey Rasheed’s command, “she did not like the suffocating way the pleated cloth kept pressing against her mouth” (Hosseini 65). Wali suggests that there is a deeper meaning to the cloth that covers her mouth when she wears the burqa, ““pleated cloth” is the animal dominance of man that presses on not only Mariam’s mouth but on mouths of a whole female layer of the society...In addition, it’s used a tool to silence and keep women obedient to the man” (Wali 89). In Afghanistan in this time it was quite common for men to be the hindrances in their wives lives. They create multiple limitations as to what their wives can do and it easily arguable that these women could have had the potential to flourish without the men in their lives creating obstacles to set them back. Both husband and wife in a relationship should provide each other with equal love, care and respect. In Mariam and Rasheed’s relationship, Mariam tries to provide Rasheed with these things at first and going into her marriage she believes these are the things she will receive from her husband. Yet she receives none of this, instead she enters a relationship full of abuse with a man who makes her life hell and creates all sorts of complications. Mariam is forced to live in fear of the man who is supposed to love her the most, something she never thought would come out of her marriage. Mariam misscaries several times which leaves her heartbroken, instead of Rasheed comforting her, he puts all the blame on her which breaks her heart even more. Rasheed’s constant mood swings drain Mariam, she is left to live a depressing life where she is never put first and it really takes a toll on her. “Mariam was afraid. She lived in fear of his shifting moods, his volatile temperament, his insistence on steering even mundane exchanges down a confrontational path that, on occasion, he would resolve with punches, slaps, kicks, and sometimes try to make amends for with polluted apologies and sometimes not” (Hosseini 89). Towards the end Mariam feels as though she is left with no other option but to murder Rasheed. She truly believes if she hadn’t murdered him first he would have killed her. Mariam is sentenced to death, this truly shows just how much of a hindrance Rasheed was in Mariam’s life. She ultimately chose to risk ending her life so she could end Rasheed’s because in her eyes a life where she had to endure all the abuse she had gone through and overcome all the obstacles Rasheed had created was not worth it anymore. Rasheed made her feel as though she had no other alternative but to kill him and to end the biggest hindrance in her life for good. When Mariam was born she was the unwanted “harami” but by the end of her life she becomes an independent and strong women. This is because all of the experiences she has gone through and all the relationships she has made being good or bad. Nana being the help in her life and teaching Mariam valuable lessons that stayed with her even after Nana’s death and Jalil and Rasheed being the hindrances. Those who created obstacles in Mariam’s life and did not allow her to flourish. Both help and hindrances can be very influential in one's life and are not always negative. Hindrances make you stronger and more independent while help pushes you and guides you in the right direction. In the end Mariam becomes an inspiring women and this is partly due to the helps and hindrances that entered her life. She would not be the strong, courageous and independent woman if they had not entered her life.
The intentions of Nanabush within the story are good, but in the process of achieving his goals he creates a lot of mischief in the surrounding community creating a bad outcome. Nanabush’s intentions involve helping Maggie, and because he is so infatuated with Maggie Nanabush definitely has no intentions of hurting Maggie. Nanabush had made a big promise with Lilian to bring magic into Vergil’s life, and many of the things he does are to fulfill this promise, but in the process stirs up many problems within the community. When Wayne and Vergil get involved they are rather aggressive, and because of Virgil’s Blindness to the truth he is convinced that Nanabush is bad, and that he must be stopped. Although this was to honor a promise Nana bush has just made himself more trouble. Nanabush’s Intentions are good, honoring a promise with Lilian, and helping Maggie, however his actions produce bad effects on the community at times like Wayne, and Vergil’s actions which oppose Nanabush, and slow himself from completing his own goals.
This novel uttered this through the reoccurring theme of mateship between the two main characters. Throughout the novel, the author has expressed no one will be able to overcome stress and mishaps in life, without a hold of mateship with one another. The relationships with people are interesting as many people in society go through the same thing. The author wrote this for the reason that it is the way humanity was born. No matter if ones cheat or get someone pregnant, people can always related and help you.
In all honesty, I truly believe that the narrator, with no name, has a huge weakness; and that weakness is that since she is discouraged by her mom, which caused her to be completely blind sighted about Raheem which made her so willingly to take him back even though she realized she was being abused and cheated on. “You aint no beauty prize”-Narrators mom. And: “He hooks his thumb through my gold hooped earring and pulls down hard……….But he don’t get far-I don’t let him. I apologized.” This shows that Raheem is abusive and that the narrator is very forgiving and blind-sighted. As the end neared, I felt as if the narrator did not really act realistic in the scene because
Mama said Maria was very pretty before the incident, and that she looked like a princess in her wedding dress at the altar, but after she was stood up, she lost her mind and beauty. Cofer describes her in her mind as a woman with a fat, middle-aged body, a wrinkly face with yellowed teeth like an old lady, and the demeanor of a child, hopping and skipping around. Cofer offers a description of Maria’s decline in beauty and mental health because that is what Mama believes will happen to a woman who is too trusting and does not choose her husband
The story opens up with Mariam’s mother, Nana, calling her a “harami” for breaking a sugar bowl. “Harami” means “bastard child” and Mariam was born out of wedlock, with her father being Jalil, a wealthy businessman. Although it was Jalil’s fault for having an affair with Mariam’s mother, Mariam gets the pain and backlash from her mother for being a “harami.” She did not understand what this meant, though, because she was
Although, it is a relief that Mariatu was lucky enough to have her family with her through most of her journey, she depended on them far too much. It seemed as though whenever they were gone her emotions became overwhelmingly unstable. She trusted people she should not have, because that was the nature of family and how people were on...
An example of this is “But Lourdes cannot face Enrique,” “It is January 29, 1989. His mother steps off the porch. She walks away. ‘¿donde esta mi mamá?’ Enrique cries, over and over. ‘Where is my mom?’ His mother never returns, and that decides Enrique’s fate.” (5) This shows the reader how important Lourdes was to Enrique. It made the reader feel sad for Enrique, and angry at Lourdes for leaving her children back home. I could also imagine Enrique crying all day, and screaming at the top of his lungs for his mother. This is the beginning of their rocky relationship. Another example is “Every year on Mother’s Day, he makes a heart-shaped card at school and presses it into her hand.” ‘I love you very much, Grandma,’ he writes. But she is not the mother.” (12) This part made me feel heartbroken. After reading that Nazario makes the reader feel sympathy towards Enrique. No child should go through this when they are growing
It has often been said that what we value is determined only by what we sacrifice. The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, includes one specific character who makes a sacrifice that demonstrates what she truly values in life. Mariam, a major character in the book, sacrifices her life in order to save Laila and her children. This sacrifice allows the reader to view what Mariam truly cares about: the survival of Laila, her happiness, and her children. Mariam’s sacrifice highlights her willingness to do whatever it takes to save the ones she loves, allowing for a deeper understanding of Mariam and how sacrifice is a major theme in the novel.
Naomi’s childhood, a terrible and brutal struggle for such a young delicate flower, yields to a blossoming adulthood of understanding and compassion. Although her wounds will never fully heal, Naomi has come to terms with her mother’s absence and her family’s silence. While Stephen does not adapt at all, and instead runs from his problems, Naomi allows herself to become immersed in the flood of her problems. Naomi Nakane spends the early years of her life trying to determine where in the confusion she will take her stand in the battle between verbal communication and silent acceptance, only to find that she has no choice and fate has decided that she will remain silent, longing to speak.
In Part three, a shift in this isolation occurs when Laila becomes a part of her life. An epiphany occurs where Mariam starts to realize the injustices that surround her; The amount of her life wasted with Rasheed, the physical and emotional abused endured from him, and the injustices she knows Laila is about to endure.Then as she starts to bond with Laila, Mariam feels a sense of purpose; the kids look up to her as a secondary mother figure and she has Laila as a companion. So when Rasheed had the intent to kill Laila, Mariam had to act. She has taken justice into her own hands by responding to Rasheed’s physical injustice and the injustices of equality rights towards women at the hands of the Taliban. She later tells Laila that she was simply “acting like a
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...
reflects upon the theme of the novel. As it highlights the fact that if people in the society
To conclude, the three major symbols throughout this novel are coming of age, jealousy and identity. The theme of identity was shown by the deep desire that Gene had to become more like Finny. Next, jealousy was displayed in A Separate Peace throughout the friendship of Gene and Finny. Third, coming of age was shown during the preparation for war and also the maturing of the boys who were currently attending Devon prep school. This novel has many common themes that people in the world have today such as jealousy. There are many people all over the world that are jealous of others surrounding them whether it is their own family member or even a close friend. Whether it is real life or a book coming of age, jealousy and identity are themes that everybody faces throughout their lifetime.
Another major role model in Marjane’s life was her grandm... ... middle of paper ... ... Marji to realize that the culture’s idolization of martyrs is completely warped. Throughout the rest of the novel Marji never truly escapes the pain that witnessing so much death has caused her, in Austria she tires drugs and love to comfort her, but nothing works the gruesome picture is never able to escape her mind. Marji is impacted be the courageous women came before her, the women that die unjustly, and even the women who attempt to take away her individuality.
Friendship can be shown through the words of anyone in any form, whether it is short or long, in a simple poem to a complicated novel, even in a simple common book such as, Bridge to Terabithia. The author, Paterson, uses many of reasonable literary elements in her book, such elements encompass: character, plot, setting, theme, style, point of view, and tone. These seven elements show us that friendship between the main characters, Jesse and Leslie, in Bridge to Terabithia, although interrupted by many everyday occurrences, can develop quickly, without one's realization. And that friendship, that was suddenly started, can be suddenly gone with the least suspected. In this instance, friendship is suddenly ended, there would be the realization of feelings that maybe there was something more then friendship; something not initially felt when the friendship actually once existed.