Laila In Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns

Mothers make a variety of sacrifices in their lives. The risks taken by mothers can come in many different forms; they can be physical, emotional and spiritual. The majority of those sacrifices revolve around taking care of, providing for and protecting their children. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Laila makes sacrifices for Aziza and Zalmai, Nana risks things in her life for Mariam, and Mariam sacrifices things for Laila and her children. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini explores the aspect of sacrifice taken by mothers. Women will go to extreme lengths of sacrifice in order to ensure the safety of their children.

Both Mae and Lloyd suffer from poverty. However, Lloyd is careless; he mindlessly looks after their pig and farms the land. He is highly dependent on Mae; besides, he is satisfied with his own status. On the other hand, Mae toils in ironing clothes in order to support herself and Lloyd; she is the sole breadwinner of the family. Additionally, she prepares food. Mae is unsatisfied with her own conditions; she yearns to improve herself and her life, and plans to escape from the sexual and economic exploitation of Lloyd. She is aware that her aspirations can be achieved through education. Consequently, she attends literacy classes at a school; she as Mala Renganathan expresses it, ' 'dreams of educating herself and making herself literate ' ' (2010, 8).

Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns relies heavily upon the juxtaposition between character and settings to highlight the vastly different and always evolving cultures that can exist in a small geographical location. The novel relies on the narration of Mariam an Laila, two very different women who are raised in different households and generations, but, nevertheless, find themselves in similar situations. Juxtaposition between Mariam’s childhood and Laila’s childhood is expressed implicitly throughout the novel, resulting in two women in the same situation with very different perspectives. The environment Mariam and Laila were raised in are near opposites. Mariam was raised in a hut outside a small village by her mother while Laila,

In the story "A Thousand Splendid Suns", we follow the life of two different girls, Mariam and Laila. They both lead two very different lives that spiral into two entirely different directions. They had different education, different influences throughout their lives, and

Much like the country of Afghanistan, characters in A Thousand Splendid Suns carry on through tough times and loss. Mariam and Laila persevere through unhealthy relationships with their mothers, as well as their abusive relationship with Rasheed. Through their character growth throughout the book, they grow into strong individuals. The war that has greatly damaged their country leads them to be able to overcome anything in their lives. Through this character growth, strength and perseverance through tough times proves to be the most prominent and important theme in the

To begin with, Their are many similarities between Mariam and Laila in 'Thousand Splendid Sun”. The key comparison between both of the characters are they are both young women. In the fourth quote which clearly states, “It's our lot in life, Mariam. Women like us. We endure. It's all we have. Do you understand ? Besides, they will laugh at you in school”. This clearly shows the reader that Mariam's mother was taking to Mariam about women like them and what they had to go through. Just like Laila even thought she didn't go through the same experiences. This is show how both Mariam and Laila are young women and how both of them are similarities between them.

When a child is forced to make decisions alone at such a young age their innocence is robbed from them and their development is lead down a path which they are not yet ready for. Her actions are a classic example of this and the path which she was lead down was paved with boy after boy.

The relationship between Mariam and Laila grows overtime into an unbreakable love. Mariam is a vulnerable character that experienced hardships and negativity throughout her life. Her reliance on faith and religion gave her hope. Laila however, has had a positive upbringing from modern parents. Her education is what made her a strong and intelligent girl. Their personalities contrast to bring the best out of each other. However at first, in fear of being overshadowed by Laila, Mariam says “If [Laila] thinks [she] can use [her] looks to get rid of me, [she is] wrong. [Mariam] was here first. [She] won't be thrown out” (225). As Mariam has never been a priority to anyone in her life she was very defensive over her role in the house. As jealousy embarked upon Mariam,

A Thousand Splendid Suns, I have to say is one of the best books I have ever read in my life! It really breaks my heart. Laila who lived with the abusive and disgusting Rasheed, is finally given the chance to begin again when her old love, Tariq returns and Rasheed dies. Unfortunately, someone has to confess to Rasheed’s murder, otherwise, neither of the women will find peace and Mariam decides it has to be her. To stop her, “Laila went on a stammering rant. She bargained. She promised. She would do all the cleaning, she said, and all the cooking. “You won’t have to do a thing. Ever again.” (Hoeseni   ). This quote is especially interesting because we get to understand more about Laila as a character. She is a woman that has seen so much of the world. She watched her family die, married a 60-year-old man, gave birth to two children and suffered the abuse of her husband daily. Laila was forced to grow up much faster than other 21-year-olds. Even though Laila has been through so much, we are reminded yet again that she is not as old as she may seem. Laila begs Mariam to come with them, saying that she would do everything she could for Mariam and that she would not be able to leave without her. Realistically, Mariam coming with them is impossible, Laila knows this but refuses to accept it.  All her bargaining and pleading shows a side of her youth that was repressed until now. Until this very moment in the novel, it never occurred to me that Laila is only a woman that is four

Ali made her first boxing appearance at the age of 21 on October 8, 1999 against April Fowler. Many fans and journalist attended mainly because she's the daughter of the great Muhammad Ali. She knocked out her opponent 31 seconds into the first round. Over the course of 8 year she fought many big names in women’s boxing. In 2001 Laila defeated Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, daughter of boxer Joe Frazier. This matchup received a huge amount of publicity because of their fathers. In 2002 Ali was named Super Middleweight Champion by the International Boxing Association.

The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns is about Mariam, a 15-year-old girl growing up in Afghanistan in the 1960’s. She is the only illegitimate child of the wealthy business man, Jalil. The beginning of the book is centered on the events in her life that happen after her mother, Nana, commits suicide, and her father, Jalil, and his wives send Mariam off into an arranged marriage. Mariam is forced to marry a 40-year-old shoemaker, Rasheed, who lives further away than any place she has ever been before. Rasheed is a widower after his wife before Mariam died during childbirth, and a few years after that his son drowns.

Ferula grew up always caring for others before herself. She assumed the role of her brother?s (Esteban) mother due to the fact that her mother fell ill. She ?slept with him, bathed him, took him for strolls, and did other people?s sewing from dawn till dusk to pay for his schooling?(42). Ferula felt an obligation to raise her younger brother, and in doing so, sacrificed her life for his benefit. Instead of giving to herself, Ferula felt compelled to give of herself in hopes to provide Esteban with everything she could.

In Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, Mariam and Laila were brought together due to circumstances they could not control. Although they were both oppressed wives of a cruel and violent husband, Rasheed, they were eventually able to regain power over their own lives. The two women supported and learned from each other, finding strength in their relationship. Their relationship was an alliance of sorts and was essential to their ability to regain power over their lives. Once Mariam and Laila befriended each other, they each started to gain courage and hope and began to take more control over their lives in separate, small acts of courage and rebellion that eventually led to significant events which cemented their newly regained power. The developing of power did not come without obstacles, but Mariam and Laila were able to persevere and continue to stand up for themselves against both Rasheed and their societal constraints. Finding strength and motivation from each other and from other loved ones essential to their efforts, Mariam and Laila were able to take power over their own lives by standing up to and retaliating against oppressors in a series of events which led to the pivotal moment when Mariam kills Rasheed, finally setting both women free and giving them both complete power over

The hijab/burqa is often used as a symbol for women’s behavior. In Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, one of the large ways that women present themselves is through the hijab and much of their appearance is dependent on it. Most of the women are not expected to go through higher education so the way they are seen is much more reliant on their aesthetic value rather than their intellectual value. On page 22, when Jalil visited, Mariam noticed that “Nana was subdued and mannerly.” The words “subdued” and “mannerly” are often associated with the submissive role that many of these women have forced upon them in their society. They are expected to look nice, wear their “best hijab”, act respectfully and cover their flaws. Nana was seen

In this book, There have been many exciting adventures, and many conflicts to go along with them. Throughout the book, all of the girls have gotten themselves in some form of trouble, for example, when Kahlen falls in love with Akinli Secondly when Padma wanted to get revenge on her father and mother and lastly when Kahlen gets sick and they don't know what is causing it. Although there are many conflicts throughout the story, these three are the main conflicts that have a large impact on the story. All of these conflicts cause their mother, the ocean, to become furious with them, thus causing some of the over the top punishments.