Throughout Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, many characters make decisions that can seem brutal or unkind on the surface. While it is easy to say that such characters are evil at a glance, it is most often a much more complicated issue. Rarely is wrongdoing simple, and we must look deeper into the issue to fully understand why it occurs. The importance of reputation and honor is seen time and again in the novel as a deeply ingrained part of Afghan society. It is this virtue, along with outside circumstances, that push these characters to such acts. It is an unfair generalization to condemn characters for trying to make the best of a very radical situation. From the outset of the novel, we see unkindness in the actions of Jalil Khan. A wealthy businessman, he is the talk of the town. When he fathers a child with his housekeeper, she is forced into hiding. Faced with the shame of a “harami” (bastard) Jalil chooses to estrange himself from his daughter Mariam and her mother. Not only is this painful for Mariam, but it must be hard for Jalil as well. To choose between one’s honor and one’s family is a choice no one should have to make. …show more content…
Very little of their interactions are filled with love, including their physical relations. The first time that they are intimate Rasheed pushes himself onto Mariam, yet neither seems to draw any pleasure from the experience. Rasheed tries to redeem it by saying, “There is no shame in this Mariam. It’s what married people do.” (Hosseini 77) These are not the words of a man proud of his actions, but the words of a defeated man trying to fill his perceived role as a husband. Rasheed can see that his marriage is not happy, and he is doing what he believes he must to keep it
He was an abusive man that constantly beat them. He despised Mariam more at times because she couldn't give him children. He would beat her just because of it or anything else he believed to be wrong she did. The taliban did not allow women to be in public without a man. The taliban were harsh cruel people who would find a simple reason to kill somebody. They turned the pure Muslim religion into something cruel and imposed it on the people. Women were less than men. Hosseini displays domestic violence in the lives of these two women and it's unusual as a man is realizing the horrible mistreatment and unfairness towards women in Afghanistan. Men were the head of the household and that's why Rasheed could do what he wanted.There was no equality there and as time passed by in that household, there was nothing but cruelty there for Mariam and Laila. Its as if they were punished for simply being
In Afghanistan, there is a divide between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras; the Pashtuns are upper class citizens who are treated with respect while the Hazaras are lower class, minority citizens who are treated poorly. Because of the contrasting history of the two groups, their responses to the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul were complete opposites. The Pashtuns “danced on [the] street,” (Hosseini 200) while the Hazaras cried “God help the Hazaras now” (Hosseini 213). The conflict between the Pashtuns and Hazaras in “The Kite Runner” directly reflects the real life issues in Afghanistan starting in the late 70’s and continuing on past 2001.
As they reach America at last, Amir’s wife introduces herself to Sohrab sweetly, but he just, “shift[s] on his feet and look[s] away” (358). Sohrab does not say much, do much, or move much at all. Imagery presented in this stage of the journey is quite gloomy, what with Sohrab’s blandly colored clothes, sallow face, and plain room. Amir and his wife seem gloomy as well, as they are always whispering, crying, or wondering what went wrong. The saving grace and the real transformation happens at the celebration of the Afghan’s New Year’s Day. After a day of muteness that has become regular, Amir and Sohrab finally connect through the kite flying contest. This is something to which Amir and Hassan dedicated their lives when they were children. Amir is overwhelmed with joy to see that, “one corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile” (370). It seems like nothing, but this truly is a breakthrough with this child. If it were not for Hosseini’s descriptive words that lend to pure joy and elation, the reader would not even realize what a momentous occasion this is. Hope may seem lost when traveling a guilt filled path, but if one’s intentions are honest and efforts are useful, forgiveness will find its way
Hosseini makes it very apparent that honour is extremely important to people in the Afghan culture and what others think of them means a lot. An Afghan would do anything to keep their honour, even if it means they are unhappy. In both novels, Hosseini shows a number of examples of dishonour and the negative impacts it can have to an individual’s well-being. According to the Honour Based Violence Network, In Afghanistan, ‘honour’ crimes remain very high along with many other forms of violence against women, and are increasing as attitudes fail to keep pace with economic and social changes.
Writer and critic, Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his mysterious and grisly stories. Poe’s work contains spine-tingling tales, using the common themes death and loss. Poe’s writings are considered great American literature.
Social conditions are what shape a country. Over the years, people, not only in Afghanistan, but around the world create norms that define people’s roles in life, their future, and how they should be treated based on their gender and beliefs. Khaled Hosseini’s first novel, The Kite Runner, comments on the social conditions of Afghanistan through telling a story about the lives of two Muslim boys; a privileged Sunni Pashtun, Amir, and his long-time friend and servant, Hassan, a loyal but disadvantaged Shia Hazara. Hosseini expresses Amir’s uncertain feelings toward Hassan which form the decisions he makes throughout the book. These choices result in Amir destroying his relationship with Hassan. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini is a commentary on the social conditions in Afghanistan as shown through the roles of women and men in society and the ideals of Afghan culture. Unfortunately, these problems are still active in most of Afghanistan.
The use of radios and the audience increased during 1933 to 1945 which made the radio a powerful and important tool for the Nazi leaders to influence the german public.
Violence, war, discrimination, and poverty: these issues have long been a part of Afghanistan’s history. Even though things in Afghanistan are getting better, war fills the country, and women and children have to learn to endure abuse, caused by men and the Taliban; they also learn to endure poverty. Considering this, it is no wonder why Afghanistan is in the terrible position it is in now. Many Afghan cities like Kabul are filled with things like violence and discrimination, and the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini takes place in Kabul. This book follows the lives of two Afghani women, Mariam and Laila, as they suffer pain and discrimination received from the Taliban and their
In the literature, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the idea and representation of justice, and its relationship to that of the treatment of women in Afghan society, the ever-changing politics of Afghanistan, and the desired results of redemption and forgiveness, become illustrated through the novel’s characters and motives. Justice can be defined as the quality of being guided by truth, reason, and fairness. The Kite Runner illustrates the power of influence from an outside power and its effects on society, and the minds and lifestyles of the people. In relationship to the Cheverus High School Grad-at-Grad profile the actions and wrongdoings that take place in the The Kite Runner and in Afghanistan prove to be injustice.
Throughout Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, the reader observes many injustices committed due to the presence of the Taliban and cultural conflict in Afghanistan. One of the most concerning issues in Afghanistan is the mistreatment and inequality that women face on a daily basis due to Taliban mandates. Women in Afghanistan are treated as inferior beings to men and are unable to stand up for themselves due the laws the Taliban enforces. Hosseini uses the wives of Amir and Hassan, Soraya and Farzana, to represent the injustices to which women in Afghanistan are subjected.
Suleiman, the protagonist of Hisham Matar’s In the Country of Men is placed in an ethical paradox. With the novel taking place in Tripoli, Libya 1979, Suleiman’s loyalty is contradictory, having to choose between the principles of his family and the Gaddafi regime. The bombardment of propaganda and the arrests of ‘traitors’ along with the love of his family causes Suleiman to be in constant conflict with his moral sense of self. His loyalties are tied with his actions, often following with regret on whether he has betrayed the people he trusts. Between the constant sense of authority and his family, Suleiman finds his loyal actions to become a casualty for the
“His people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence-forces that continue to threaten them even today” (Hower). Khaled Hosseini’s novels have brought many of his readers a different perspective of Afghanistan. Many people after reading Hosseini’s books start to notice this place more and have sympathy feelings rather negative views about it. Usually people believe the media’s information that conveys about Afghanistan as a poverty place but does not specify why they live in this conditions and how those states affect their everyday life. In the two novels The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, the author Khaled Hosseini wrote the political events that happen in Afghanistan and show how those events affected
In his novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini depicts his homeland Afghanistan as a host to many different cultures and classes, such as Pashtun and Hazara, Sunni and Shiite, with this dichotomy of beliefs and attributes being powerful enough to shape diverse, sometimes negative relationships amongst the characters of the novel and their behavior to each other, as well as establish that individual’s identity. Each person interprets the impact of the role of belief and social status differently, while all living in the same setting, adding to their complexity and depth as a character in the novel with many different figures tied together by the same geographical and cultural conditions.
What makes music great? Is this not the question that everyone asks themselves? What makes that one song so special, what makes that band so amazing? It is questions like this that I ask myself every time I listen to music; which in my case, quite a bit. There is just something about the music that speaks to you. I believe that the lyrics are a main part of what makes music great. The lyrics are what draw people in, it is what connects the listener to the performer.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini takes a solid focus on the lives of two young women, Mariam and Laila, who grow up in a struggling and turbulent Afghanistan. This book emulates the lives of those who have actually been affected by the extreme changes of power within their culture. From the Soviets to the Taliban, these people are caught in a war they cannot win but must deal with the consequences of. The lives of Mariam and Laila are consumed and silenced by those with power over them, namely males with traditional values. The book conveys the idea that even with an immense amount of destruction and terror wrought throughout Afghanistan, underneath lies a beauty that has been muted but it still provides hope for the future.