Hardship In A Thousand Splendid Suns

Shad Helmstetter once said, “Choosing to live your life by your own choice is the greatest freedom you will ever have.” It is important that people are able to choose the paths of their own lives. As the quote suggests, the ultimate freedom is choice. Nonetheless, many people are denied this ultimate freedom. In relation to Afghanistan, many women are denied the ability to choose the course of their lives. The oppression of women in Khaled Hosseini’s, A Thousand Splendid Suns, subjects them to total control by men, however, when the prominent woman characters in the novel, such as Mariam and Laila, are able to maintain a sense of control, they pave the paths of their own lives.

Mariam’s alienation prompted by her mother, father, and husband, in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, reveals the oppression and shame around being a woman in the society of her native Afghanistan. Mariam’s countless, inescapable struggles throughout her life were all regulated by the systematic dehumanization of women in a patriarchal society, which resulted in her living in constant shame and fear. Starting from her birth, she was seen as a bastard because she was conceived out of wedlock, from both her parents, Jalil and Nana, and her society. In her childhood, Mariam is marginalized, by living in a cottage far off from the public eye, because of her father’s fear of humiliation and her mother’s fear of Mariam experiencing the

The laws made for Afghan women were much more brutal than those for men. Women could show very little to no skin if they were ever to go out in public. If they were to have a reason to go out in public, then they would need to have a mahram to escort them. If a woman was ever seen without a mahram, she could be punished in a number of ways.

Those families allow them to roam freely as boys, with the tacit acceptance of others in their communities which I think is not right to do. I feel that they have to stick with their sex gender and not because of pride which in this case is the main reason why those families do that. At adolescence, most designate young boys are switched back to young women, a transformation that can be traumatic for those accustomed to their assumed male identities in my opinion. I slowly came to the conclusion that the birth of a son is cause for celebration and the arrival of a daughter is often mourned as misfortune.“The Underground Girls of Kabul” does not seek out the stereotypically oppressed, but rather shows Afghan women as active agents navigating a culture that often disadvantages them and making the most of their limited options for freedom and

“I do not wish for women to have power over men, but over themselves” Mary Wollstonecraft. In the vast majority of places around the world, men have the upper hand over women, whether it is in the household, workplace, or government. Even in America, the land of the free, women are still discriminated against to a slight extent. A man and woman could have the exact same job, but the man would bring home a greater salary than the woman. In spite of the fact that this is unfair, at least women in America are permitted to work. Khaled Hosseini brings awareness to the women of Afghanistan who are victims of the inhumane and unjust laws of the Taliban. In his novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini uses agonizing scenes and imagery to analyze the ways Afghan women continue to subsist in an oppressive and discriminatory society from the 1950s to today.

Many families only allow their daughters to attend all-girls schools close to their home and not many of these schools exist. Other families believe it is unnecessary for girls to be educated because the woman’s place is at home, not in the economy. “Life as an Afghan Woman” explains, “Schools for girls have been burned down, hundreds of teachers educating girls have been threatened or killed,...[and] physically harmed…. Only forty percent of Afghan girls attend elementary school, and only one out of twenty girls attend school beyond sixth grade.” Education has been presented to girls, but because of the lack of girls attending, this advancement of women’s education has not made as large of an impact as anticipated. Central Statistical Organization states “Based on the data of Statistical Yearbook 2014, the total numbers of civil servants of the government are 398,195 persons of which, 77.8 percent male and 22.2 percent are females.” Women have much less involvement in government and it is rooted from the lack of education received by the women as a young girl. A 2014 data analysis from the Central Statistical Organization shows in the “Zabul province in terms of girls’ enrolment in school is at the lowest level as girlboy ratio is 22/78.” Education equality has long suffered throughout Afghanistan due to the results of a patriarchal society, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t looking up in the

Knowing that 85 percent of Afghan women reported that they had been experiencing physical, sexual, psychological violence due to being apart of a forced marriage is very forlorn to hear. After researching many encounters relating to the hardships of marriages of Afghan women, it has come to my attention that Kevin Sieff can’t distress his tone enough when story of Farima and the customs of marriages and divorce.

Amira Arzu, an Afghan teenager, was only 15 years old when she was forced into an arranged marriage. She was kind hearted, intelligent, elated, and humorous until one day this was all taken away. December 15th, 2016 she was on her way to school in Afghanistan not knowing that her parents were driving her to a Mosque, the Shrine of Ali, to get married to her future husband, Ahmed Akmal. A few days later she found herself on the street Taimani in Kabul, Afghanistan. Amira ran past workers ordering from street carts, women with their children, men in trucks honking at one another, and many looked at her uncertainty as she was running through the streets of Kabul. At the time, she was wearing a blue floral hijab, jeans, and a dress as in Afghanistan you cannot wear a dress without covering your legs. Many deduced that she was without her husband on the streets of Kabul, which is not normally the case, but Amira was different from the other wives and arduously wanting to figure out an escape.

"And in Afghanistan, 85% of women are illiterate and 50% of girls are married or engaged by the age of 12."("Life as an Afghan women”, n.d. para 1)

Before the rise of the Taliban in the early 1990s, women in Afghanistan were mostly treated as equals and with respect. Though women were still expected to be

Being a woman in Afghanistan is hard for so many reasons but some of the reasons are that over half the Afghan girls are married or at least engaged by the age of 12. 60% of the Afghan girls are married actually married by the age of 16 and up to 80% of the marriages in the poor/rural areas are arranged or forced marriages. The men these young girls marry are usually a lot older, some of the men even in their 60’s or older and the girls might not meet the man they were arranged or forced to marry till the actual day of the wedding. With the widespread of poverty parents arrange marriages for their young daughters for many reasons like to repay debt, solve a dispute, to get rid of them so they don’t have to support them, they even do it to reduce

Khaled Hosseini presents the struggle Afghan women go through every day by discussing honour, marriage and the place of women in society in Afghanistan.

Before reading The Underground Girls of Kabul I assumed women in Afghanistan had at least some semblance of a meaningful life. I assumed female children had the opportunity to go to school. I assumed they were treated on a human level, and I assumed there was hope for equality in the not too distant future. None of these things seem to be the case. For the majority of women in Afghanistan your life is pre-determined from the moment you are born. “The ownership of an Afghan girl is literally passed on from one male—her father—to the one who becomes her husband. He will take over the ruling of her life, down to the smallest details if he is so inclined.”(Page 44).

Afghanistan women have no say in what they do and are thrown around like they are some kind of ball. This is all do to their strict religion where men have 95% of the power, or a say in everything that is done. Whereas in the United States women are almost equivalent to men. United States women are able to pursue their dreams whether it be an accountant to a surgeon. Women in Afghanistan

Not only does A Thousand Splendid Suns inform the reader of the underlying problems females face daily within modern Afghan culture, it also portrays through realistic and sympathetic characters the political struggle still ongoing within the country. In addition, it compares and contrasts the readers’ civil liberties and freedoms of their nation to the fictional characters’ and brings out a more reflective, thoughtful side of said readers. Not to mention, the historical accuracy is absolutely astounding and truly makes the reader feel like a victim of Rasheed’s blows. It has personally opened many eyes to the outside world and more specifically the other percentage of the female population suffering behind the chests of men. Many have learned to not make assumptions and underestimate the severity of their situation.