Gurnoor Babra ENG2DO Cave-Williams June 1st 2013 A revolting place “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, is a story written by Khaled Hosseini that focuses on the lives of two blossoming afghan women, Laila and Mariam, who face and conquer many mishaps presented throughout the book. To persevere is to continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no indication of success. Both Laila and Mariam have suffered greatly partly because of their gender; nevertheless still have managed to produce the strength to persevere. Despite the fact that the age difference of Laila and Mariam are a few years apart also have different styles of living, they are both forced to marry Rasheed, a man who they do not know and is almost twice their age, to be able to fabricate a living through themselves. Laila and Mariam in the eleventh hour digest to join sides as they tolerate Rasheed’s tender and physical abuse, and the rules presented for the women in afghan.
Shelley, the author’s mother died 10 days after giving birth, which could influence her writing and decision to make Caroline die after child birth also. Shelley became pregnant at 16 and then continued to be pregnant for the following 5 years, however only 1 child survived. This could have had a significant effect on her writing and the themes of birth and creation, as well as death. Victor’s obsession with science and the creation of a being stems from the death of his mother, Caroline Beaufort. Caroline becomes almost like a guardian angel as she attends to her ill father for several months and also adopts Elizabeth to give her the lifestyle in which she deserves.
Mariam, the elder of the two, is ‘a harami’ the illegitimate daughter of Jalil, a prosperous businessman and one of his housekeepers. After a tragic death of her mother, when Mariam is only 15, her father marries her off to Rasheed, a much older Kabul shoemaker. After a few relatively peaceful years, after it becomes apparent that Mariam will not bear Rasheed the son he expected, his behavior escalates into constant verbal and physical abuse. At this time her life intersects with Laila’s, whose parents were killed in a rocket attack, as the family was preparing to flee the country to Pakistan. When Mariam and Rasheed come to the girl’s aid, she is approximately the same age as Mariam at the time of her marriage to Rasheed.
“I won’t be thrown out. I won’t have you cast me out.” “I wouldn’t have fed you and washed you if I’d known you were going to steal my husband” (Hosseini 202). Laila also bears most of the problems, though Mariam has a fair amount, they are quickly forgotten, and Laila’s complications set in just as fast. In some aspects of Laila’s life, she remains relatively static throughout the story, but in other aspects, shows a great deal of change. First and foremost, she learns the importance of family bonds.
Her father wanted her to go to school and get an education before she thought about getting married (which was very uncommon for Arab fathers to say). Laila fall in love with her best friend Tariq and they wanted to get married, but the war caused Tariq and his family to move to Pakistan leaving Laila alone with her family. A rocket hits Laila’s home and kills her parents. Laila woke up with major injuries in her neighbor’s house.
It is a story of the indomitable spirit of a people and individuals seen through the eyes of two resilient women. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a must read for those who wish to understand the modern history (1964 - 2003) of Afghanistan, which is told eloquently through the eyes of Laila and Mariam (our second heroine). Life is an unending search for love, family, home, acceptance, a healthy society, and a promising future. You can go home again, even if "home" has evolved and been transformed. As home is transformed one adapts and maintains what one can of tradition.
Marian was 11 years old and her parents forced her to marry a blind, 41 years old. Her price was $1,200. When she was living with her husband and his mother, they began to beat her when she failed to conceived a child. After 2 years of abuse, she sought help at police station in Kabul after the police delivered her to a residential neighborhood " Women's shelters", something that was unknown in Afghanistan before 2003. Marian said she felt fortunate to have found refuge.
Jing-mei really does know who her mother is, but must be pushed into this understanding so that she can change her thinking patterns and grow. She is prevented from knowing her mother by believing that cultural differences kept them apart. Once she meets her
The film is about young girl whose mother wishes she were a boy so that she will help the family. She does in fact was dressed like a boy a night while she was sleeping as her grandmother said that “the sufferings of men and women were equal because the sexes themselves are equal” and also saying that “ a girl with short hair, looks like a boy” which lead her to conclude that they may be also interchangeable, and that the idea can help the family from dying of starvation (Scott, 2004). Between 1979 and 1989, as a part of the American Cold War, millions of Afghan left the country to Pakistan, Iran or other neighborhood countries. As the fighting continued in Afghanistan among the various groups, the Taliban gain control of a large percentage of Afghanistan (“Osama”, 2009). According to Wood (2013),
Because my dad was too busy raising and caring for his own family, he did not give himself enough attention and as an effect to his diabetes, he became extremely violent, which almost caused my parents to divorce. This consequence would not have only affected my father but his entire family as well. It is from this experience that I learn to better self-assure my health and well-being. This, however, does not mean I do not plan to marry in the future, but from my experience I learn that I should also worry about myself. Judging from my past, I’ve decided that before I marry I will assure well standing health in myself so I can manage to have a less stressful marriage, making it overall, more successful.