The U.S. Invasion into Afganistan in by Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns

Firstly, in order to ensure Aziza’s safety, Laila sacrifices her future and the idea of true love. After living with Mariam and Rasheed for a few days following the bombing, Laila receives news that Tariq has died. After hearing the news of Tariq’s death, Rasheed suggests that Laila marry him and live with him and Mariam. Rasheed explains, ““These days, times being what they are, a woman needs a husband. Haven’t you noticed all the widows sleeping on the streets? They would kill for this chance.” … “He wants an answer by this morning.” Mariam said. “He can have it now,” the girl said. “My answer is yes.”” (Hosseini, 216) By choosing to marry Rasheed, Laila has thrown away all opportunities of finding another true love to marry. Upon hearing of Tariq’s death, Laila is heartbroken because she was in love with him and wanted to spend her life with him. Now

The loss of her mother had a huge impact, “Mariam saw. A gust of wind blew and parted the dropping branches of the weeping willow like a curtain, and Mariam caught a glimpse of what was beneath the tree: the straight-backed chair, overturned. The rope dropping from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it” (36). From that moment on she would never be the same, now Mariam is filled with guilt and blames herself for Nana’s death. When Mariam and Laila start bonding and getting closer Mariam becomes a mother figure for Laila, and when Mariam risks her life for Laila that's all she thinks, “She was leaving a friend, a companion, A guardian. A mother” (329). All she cared about was Laila's safety and nothing more. The fact that she didn’t get to have a relationship with her mom causes her to want to fill the void in her heart through a relationship with Laila. She loved Laila so much she would kill for her, “In the toolshed she grabbed a shovel… Rasheed didn't notice her coming back into the room. He was still on top of Laila, his eyes wide and crazy, his hands wrapped around her neck… Mariam swung” (310). “I admit to what I did brother, But if I hadn't, he would have killed her. He was strangling her” (324). In the end it was all worth the sacrifice for Mariam because she got to protect her “family” and that's what she was

A Thousand Splendid Suns was written by Khaled Hosseini. It is a fictional novel about Afghanistan. It explores the hardships that two Afghan women endured. The first character we meet, Mariam, was disgraced before she was ever born. She was the result of scandalous activity and was oblivious to the lies that her father fed her. After her mother’s suicide, Mariam’s father, Jalil, arranged for her to be married in an attempt to erase his mistake. Laila is the second main character. She has almost everything a young girl could want, except for a loving mother. Laila considers herself to be fortunate, until tragedy strikes. With wars heating up in Afghanistan, Laila loses her friend

These laws that limit the freedom of women within the country give men more freedom, which leads to abuse in Mariam and Laila’s family. Rasheed is physically and mentally abusive towards both of his wives, and because of this, the women attempt to run away, only to be sent back home by police. The reaction from Rasheed shows that he knows he holds the power: “‘You try this again and I will find you. I swear on the Prophet’s name that I will find you. And, when I do, there isn’t a court in this godforsaken country that will hold me accountable for what I will do.’” (Hosseini 272). Rasheed’s threats are serious; many times, the verbal abuse escalates into physical harm towards his family. Moreover, without any support from the Taliban, the women are forced to obey their husband and sustain his

By beating Rasheed with a shovel and killing him with it, Mariam reveals that she has finally decided to stand up to Rasheed for Laila and herself. Because Mariam stood up to Rasheed and killed him, now Mariam and Laila have lifted a huge burden off their shoulders and Laila can live with Tariq and her children. Mariam learns that if she wants to be happier in life she has to make her own decisions, like killing Rasheed. If she had not defended Laila, Rasheed could have killed Laila, and Mariam would have continued to live a stressful life. Throughout the book, Miriam endures on-going violence and abuse and she begins to make poor choices; she also begins to act out violently as means of learning to cope with her surroundings. Her actions drastically changed the course of her life for herself as well as others for worse and for better.

However, Mariam changes after Laila comes into her life. At first, her hatred towards Lails shows Mariam’s change, her beginning to understand that she is allowed to fight against injustice. She asks Rasheed not to take her in that “in all her years this was the one thing she asked of him.” (?) The fact that Mariam asks at all depicts her growing courage to stand up to her abusive husband. She also defends herself against this injustice of Rasheed marrying Laila, loving Laila over her, by demanding her authority over the younger girl. However, it is when Mariam and Laila become companions that Mariam’s understanding truly alters. This is because she begins to love Laila and the children that Laila have. Laila has provided her the one thing that “she

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

Laila is aware of the rejection and neglect that baby Aziza will be given when she is born and Rasheed finds out she is not his daughter. To make sure that Aziza is protected from what is coming to her, Laila endures going through a painful night of Rasheed on top of her to make him think that Aziza is his own. “Later, when she was sure that he was asleep, Laila quietly reached beneath the mattress for the knife she has hidden there earlier. With it, she punctured the pad of her index finger. Then she lifted the blanket and let her finger bleed on the sheets where they had lain together” (Khaled, 220). Laila makes the choice to go through a painful night with Rasheed, in order to protect baby Aziza from his horrors and neglect. In the meantime, Rasheed has a breakdown after all the built up anger and irritation, and takes it all out on Laila by pinning her down and strangling her. Near to death, Mariam makes the decision to act quick and kill him, before he kills her: “I’ve killed our husband. I’ve deprived your son of his father. It isn’t right that I run. I can’t. Even if they never catch us, I’ll never...I’ll never escape your son’s grief. How do I look at him? How do I ever bring myself to look at him Laila jo” (Khaled, 358). Mariam made a hard decision to act quick

This passage shows that Laila had made an abrupt decision that would change the course of her fate and set up a new life for her. Without the prospect of seeing Tariq or her family again, she was forced to this crossroad, where she had to decide whether to stay or leave. Because of her choice to settle with Rasheed, she would develop new relationships, but destroy her

A Thousand Splendid Suns, is a story about Mariam and Laila, who share their experiences from their perspective. The story begins with the life of Mariam, who is a daughter of a wealthy businessman, but is kept living in the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan. She is known as a harami or bastard child and is the result of a forbidden sex. As the story progresses, she is forced to marry a man named Rasheed at the age of 15. Rasheed progressively abuses Mariam as she fails multiple times to provide him with a child. After eighteen years of marriage, Rasheed gets another wife, Laila a 14-year-old girl. She is a very educated and determined girl, but marries Rasheed after the death of both her parents during the war. Mariam and Laila being both wives

Mariam and her mother ‘Nana’, reside in a kolba (hut) outside of Herat. Her father was a successful businessman named Jalil who was a polygamist and had nine children. Mariam disobeyed her mother’s wishes and hiked into town to see her Father. Mariam returned to her kolba to her mother’s suicide – forcing her to live with Jalil until he insisted an arranged marriage with Rasheed who was thirty years elder. Once in Kabul, Mariam discovered her infertility complications. Rasheed became angry towards his wife’s inability to carry a child – in particular a son, so he became extremely abusive. Laila grew up in Kabul with Tariq who eventually became romantic despite the boundaries between unwed men and women. War took over Afghanistan and Tariq’s

The War in Afghanistan has been an all consuming conflict for the US government since we started to launch air strikes on October 7, 2001. This is a conflict that’s been brewing since before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This war has the continuation of past conflicts in it, conflicts that can be connected a good deal to the interference of other large powers, such as the USSR. From keeping an eye on the oil reserves, pressuring Iran, and keeping Pakistan stable, our interests and motives for occupying Afghanistan are undeniably laced with many ulterior motives, providing us with the issue of unfavorable opinion and our interests being the source of terrorist attacks. Afghanistan is a country that has been plagued with

Ultimately, Mariam and Laila attempt to escape, but fail, which in turn infuriates Rasheed even more. These two women then work together and protect each other, and in due course, kill Rasheed during one of his “ritual” beatings. In the end, Mariam is killed for murdering her husband, and Laila, with her children, Aziza and Zalmai, finds Tariq and marries him; then, together they start their own family. Throughout the course of the story, not only was a passionate, well-written story presented, but also a clear picture of what Afghan culture and its aspects are really like.

Everyone has relationships, whether it be with parents, friends, or even the special someone. It is also true that those relationships can change in an instant.. Authors show that truth in their work. Khaled Hosseini is no exception; including his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. The main character Mariam does not see her dad, Jalil, except once a week. She loves him, but Jalil does not treat Mariam as well as he does his other children. When Mariam goes to Herat and wants to see Jalil,she ends up not being allowed into his house. This is when Mariam starts to dislike her dad, but Jalil only grows in his love for Mariam. Their relationship changed because of this one event. In the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns , Khaled Hosseini uses character relationships to show that relationships can change or develop as a result of one event.

Following Rasheed and Mariam's "honeymoon duration" wherein Mariam begins to discover herself content material, Rasheed and Mariam’s marriage takes a turn that it isn't handiest sour, but violent. all over again, Mariam unearths herself eager for a exchange in her life with the chance of her being pregnant. but, as is regular with different points inside the novel, Mariam’s hope is crushed with the loss of her first and next