A Thousand Splendid Suns By Khaled Hosseini

Critic Roland Barthes once stated that “literature is the question minus the answer.” Throughout A Thousand Splendid Suns, Barthes’ statement is displayed as author Khaled Hosseini raises the following question: How did Rasheem’s treatment of Mariam and Laila show how women were treated during this time in Afghanistan? Actions that most people would see as illegal were typical in Rasheed’s house and caused Mariam and Laila to be afraid of him. He would rape them whenever he wanted, force them to wear coverings that shielded them from men, and brutally beat them. As Hosseini describes the lives of Mariam and Laila, it is clear for the readers to see how these characters reflect ordinary women in Afghanistan during this time and their

Khaled Hosseini’s, A Thousand Splendid Suns, takes readers on a roller coaster of emotions, as it explores the tragic life of two girls, Mariam and Laila, in Herat, Afghanistan. Hosseini’s writing leaves a powerful impression printed in readers’ minds about the obstacles women have faced, but overcame with the strength of each other. Meriam and Laila come from two different lifestyles; Meriam is a “harami”,  the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy business man, who is shunned by the rest of the Afghan society, whereas Laila lives a normal life as an orphan who dreams about her lover Tariq and works hard at school. The similarities that bonds them both as women is their, compulsive/forceful marriage to Rasheed, an elder man who is dominant and abusive.

Without realizing it, many people are molded and shaped by their everyday surroundings. Pauline Hopkins once say, “And, after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as much as fate, destiny, or any supernatural agency.” This is exceedingly evident through out Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. A main component to the story of Mariam and Laila, the two main characters, is that fact that it takes place in Afghanistan. This a country where the culture oppresses women. The novel follows the separate lives of Mariam and Laila and then how their lives intertwine. The culture of the Middle East has a major impact on Mariam’s character and ultimately self-worth. In this novel the reader is able to culture of the

One important difference between the two girls lives is their education. In the book, education is a big theme in this story, especially surrounding these two characters. Thanks to the soviets, Laila was able to go to a school and learn, something that was only privileged for men and boys. Mariam on the other hand, was poor and considered illegitimate and not able to attend school like she wanted. In the book, Laila states "Babi had made it clear to Laila from a young age that the most important thing in his life, after safety, was her schooling." Laila's father, Babi, had always valued education. He had made sure Laila got the most out of her chance at education while she could before it was taken from her. After all, he had firmly believed that women could and should do what man can do as well. Mariam's mother, Nana, never allowed her to go to school or bothered educating her. She said how horrible school was and how learning was a waste of time. Though Mariam didn't see it this way, this was her mother's way of protecting her from having the same bad experiences as she had. Her intentions were good, but this only drove Mariam further away from her.

In this thesis the writer wants to analyse how the condition of the Taliban rules in Afghanistan and its impact toward female characters as pictured in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns.

The narrative switches to Laila, when she is 9 years old in 1987. Coincidentally, she lives right up the street from where Mariam suffers with Rasheed, they just haven’t met yet. Laila lives alone with her parents because her older brothers have gone to fight in the war. Between this and her intellectual father, she is mature for her age and wants to use her education to change the world. “‘By the time we’re twenty,’ Hasina used to say, ‘Giti and I, we’ll have pushed out four, five kids each. But you, Laila, you’ll make us two dummies proud. You’re going to somebody. I know one day I’ll pick up a newspaper and find your picture on the front page.’” (166). Her father knows that education is more important than marriage at a young age. “I know you’re still young, but I want you to understand and learn this now. Marriage can wait, education cannot. You’re a very bright girl. Truly,

When we witness the success and happiness of others, we rarely stop and think about what they had to do. We usually just notice what is already there, but the truth is, most people had volumes to endure. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, he shows us what everyday life in Afghanistan was like. Through the eyes of Mariam and Laila, Hosseini gives us an experience of what endurance for Afghan women was like. In order to endure with little freedom and stability, Mariam and Laila needed to have patience, sacrifices, and hope.

Imagine living in a society where men and women are embraced as equal, but then everything changes when outside forces invade, abolishing the old norms and leaving nothing left for women’s rights. That was the case for Afghanistan in the late 1900s and Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns gives the reader insight into what it was like to be a woman trying to survive in those trying times. Hosseini’s use of character development and setting, with it’s respected culture such as the city of Kabul, the people, and burqas, reveals the themes of the integrity of woman and the power of love.

Therefore, the family returns to Afghanistan, first stopping at Herat. Laila meets Mullah Faizullah’s son, Hamza, and sees where Mariam grew up. This is the reason Laila wanted to visit Herat: to be able to gain a more whole picture of Mariam, who was initially no more than the burqa-clad wife of Rasheed, and yet who became Laila’s closest friend. By visiting the kolba, Laila realizes how much she didn’t know about Mariam. But the visit also confirms for Laila just how admirable of a person Mariam was.

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini brings his story to life through Mariam, Laila, Rasheed, and Tariq. These four characters help Hosseini illustrate life in Afghanistan during the 1960s to the early 2000s.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is a powerful and moving piece of fiction literature. Khaled Hosseini, born in the city of Kabul in 1965, is a successful author and is skilled “in pulling his readers’ heartstrings”. The title of this 367-page novel derived from the poem “Kabul” by the 17th-century Persian writer Saib-e-Tabrizi. It was published in 2007 by the Penguin Group (Monteiro). A Thousand Splendid Suns is a heart wrenching story, creating a picture of patriarchal despotism, women relying on men to survive, and causes the reader to experience a series of emotions towards the countless horrific events occurring throughout the novel.

On May 22, 2007, Khaled Hosseini released the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns to the public. This fiction novel took place in Afghanistan from the 1960s to the 2000s and focused on the struggles that citizens, mainly women, and children, faced during this time. While reading A Thousand Splendid Suns you can most likely relate to at least one of the struggles that the main characters, Mariam and Laila, experience. Being able to relate to the characters and pieces of their lives gives you an overall positive impression of the book. So what was the purpose of this book? Hosseini wrote A Thousand Splendid Suns to help bring awareness to the Afghanistan refugee crisis. This book gives you an in-depth look at the suffering in Afghanistan and how

A Thousand Splendid Suns takes its title from the 17th century poem, “Kabul”, written by Saib-e-Tabrizi. This poem sings the praises of the Afghan city of Kabul (“Hosseini”). Khaled Hosseini uses the violent backdrop of an Afghanistan constantly at war to tell the story of two women from different places in life who are married to the same abusive man, and through them he paints a picture of the suffering, and strength, of women in Afghan culture.

Title: The title “The Kite Runner” is symbolic as fighting kites and the kite runnings are impacting moments in the novel. Hassan was the best kite runner in Kabul, if not the whole country, after Amir won the kite fighting the running of that last blue kite triggered the monumental changes for Amir. For the beginning of the story the kite running was associated with Hassan’s rape and Amir’s grief. As kites appear throughout the story, they begin Amir’s story and also end it. Amir flying the kite with Sohrab gave the first glimmer of hope to a better future, a smile from Sohrab. Amir then ran the kite for Sohrab repeating the words Hassan had said to him that winter day in 1975, “For you a thousand times over” (pg. 171 paragraph 6)

The Middle East is notorious for holding women to a lower social status than men. Middle Eastern women have not been allowed to flourish as individuals for hundreds and thousands of years. In her detailed journal on women in the Middle East, Haleh Afshar explains, “For too long, the analytical parameters for understanding citizenship, identity and the processes of war and migration have been set up by men” ( 237). Either these women rebel or protest against the discrimination, or they are forced to look from the bottom up at society. A Thousand Splendid Suns, written by Khaled Hosseini, narrates the lives of two Afghan women named Mariam and Laila who are