Justice In Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns

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.
The way that men are represented in A Thousand Splendid Suns begins with Hosseini’s characterization of Jalil, and his treatment of Mariam. Jalil’s concern with his image and reputation greatly outweighs his concern for Mariam’s well being when she is in Herat. Before he sends her away to an unfamiliar city with an unfamiliar man, when she tries to call him out, he gets defensive, “as if he were the one to whom something was being done.” (page

49) The purpose of Jalil’s behavior towards Mariam is to show the sense of entitlement most men have over women. While Mariam is in Herat, Jalil doesn’t see her as his daughter, or even as a person. To him, she is a harami, and a burden. The strongest emotion he feels towards her is pity, and perhaps some guilt for sending her away, but not enough to actually care. Jalil has to suffer great loss to finally see what he has done to Mariam and begin to make amends. He requires extreme grief to gain perspective and take responsibility for his actions. pg 55 quote. Later, when Jalil seeks forgiveness in his letter to Mariam, it is never read by her, showing his inability to rectify his relationship with her, and that some wrongdoings cannot be made right.
Rasheed’s misogynistic attitude towards women and his abusive behaviors shape Laila’s and Mariam’s live so they are controlled by fear. His character and actions are used to show how many young women in Afghanistan are treated by older husbands. By forcing Mariam to eat rocks when he is dissatisfied with her cooking, Rasheed demonstrates clearly his expectations for women in the household; he expects Mariam to be silent and submissive and provide for his every need. Rasheed also goes to great lengths to ensure that his wives cannot leave him. At the very beginning of his courtship of Laila, he kills any motivation she had to leave by tricking her into believing that Tariq has died. He is astoundingly cruel throughout his marriages, to the point where he means to kill both of his wives. Rasheed feels the same entitlement over women that Jalil does, but he is much more vocal and violent about it. He does not deny or make excuses for his hatred of women, and exerts control over Mariam and Laila with physical violence and intimidation. He is absolutely unapologetic in his beliefs, actions and behaviors. He makes no attempt to redeem himself because he sees nothing wrong with the way he treats women. In the end, Rasheed gets what he deserves: a shovel in his skull.
Babi, on the other hand, believes in better treatment of women, and holds the education of women in his country to be of very high importance.

However, nearly everyone in the country seems to disagree. Babi is fired from his job as a teacher when the Soviets take over to be replaced by communist propaganda teaching. Babi tries to continue Laila’s education, and takes her and Tariq to the Buddhas of Bamiyan to teach them about the history and culture of Afghanistan. Years later the buddhas are destroyed by the Taliban, symbolizing how all of Babi’s hopes for the future of his country are quite literally blown to smithereens. Through Babi’s character, we see a decent and honorable man experience years of turmoil: the loss of his job, the loss of his sons and eventually, the loss of his own life. This is paralleled with Afghanistan’s long history of turmoil and injustice, facing multiple invasions and the loss of its

culture.
Jalil and Rasheed both pay for their actions, although in different ways. Jalil attempts to right his wrongs after he suffers the loss of his wealth and family, while Rasheed makes no attempt to atone for his wrongdoings, or even shows any amount of remorse for his abusive behavior, and he pays for his actions with his life. Babi’s character is more about unjust fates of just people. Hosseini’s portrayal of male characters shows how their beliefs and actions are rewarded or punished creates themes of justice and injustice throughout the novel.