Theme Of Education In A Thousand Splendid Suns

“An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harami” (Hosseini 4), sets the tone for the beginning of Mariam’s life throughout the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. Many women are mistreated throughout the novel, but Mariam’s childhood is much tougher because she is a harami, or “bastard child”. Mariam tries to find emotional and physical shelter in her lifetime, but struggles to find it. In the beginning of her life she can’t find emotional shelter from her mother, Nana, so she tries to find shelter from her father, Jalil, but can’t find a connection. She then was forced to marry Rasheed, but can only find physical shelter in him. Later in the novel, she becomes friends with Laila,

Education had been completely banned for girls, and boys limited to learning the Quran when the Taliban entered Afghanistan. Latifa and her friend Farida had ‘lived this closeted life’ in which they do ‘nothing at all’ and they both thought they should pass on the knowledge they had acquired. Inspired by the bravery of their former teacher Mrs Fawzia who had set up a secret school but was then caught by the Taliban in the middle of teaching (her pupils were beaten, and she was thrown down the stairs causing her leg to break and then thrown into jail), Latifa, Farida, Maryam and another one of their friends (unnamed) set up a school where they teach mathematics, reading, writing, history and English in their own homes. The girls, their families, and neighbours all work together to ensure the school runs safely and smoothly, each person contributing one way or another, from gathering school supplies to keeping lookout for the Taliban. The creation of the school shows incredible bravery and resilience of the families’ human spirit in that they decided to all work together to give an education to their children, even though they could be caught and executed by the Taliban. By creating the school, their lives were transformed for the better because they had a focus and a purpose in their

Afghanistan. I have always wondered how different life would be out there. Khaled Hosseini has done a great job at making me feel like I actually experienced what the main characters went through, in the book “ A Thousand Splendid Suns”

For many years, women have been oppressed and treated as property. The opinion of a woman did not matter, being obedient to her husband was all that is required. Even if they were obedient to their husbands, women were property and only for the pleaser and likening to the husband. Mariam did all the her husband required of her, however there was one thing should could not. Which was give her husband, Rasheed, a son or any child. In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Hosseini reveals the social issue of physical abuse and mental abuse by his use of imagery, diction, and dialogue.

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

By kicking girls out of schools, they will grow up learning that the abuse and oppression is normal, and not to resist. Not having an education, leaves these women with nothing other than the ability to raise kids, clean, and cook. The differences between Mariam and Laila are astonishing: Rasheed beats both Mariam and Laila, but only Laila stands up to him because she was taught that it was wrong. Mariam doesn’t know because she never had a father figure or a strong model to learn from. This ‘not educating women’ opens the door up for man’s inhumanity to man, and much

The forced marriage between Mariam and Rasheed represents the oppression that women experienced in Afghanistan. Mariam's father and his wives arrange for Mariam to marry Rasheed, leaving Mariam with no say in the matter. The marriage that joins Mariam and Rasheed together is tainted by horrible mental, physical and sexual abuse. There are horrible dangers that arise from an arranged marriage, especially in Afghanistan where men view women primarily as child bearers. Married wanted to so badly to have not been forced into marriage, she was homesick and scared, “Her teeth rattled when she thought of the night, the time when Rasheed might, at last, decide to do to her what husbands did to their wives” (Hosseini 57). Laila was also forced into marriage with Rasheed, however, the circumstances differed. Laila was given a choice whether to enter into the marriage, but it was essentially life or death. Marrying Rasheed was the only way she and Tariq’s baby would ever survive. Rasheed was abusive to both Mariam and Laila. While he had once worshipped them, after not giving him the son he always wanted he no longer cared for them and began a cycle of horrible abuse. He treated them horribly, to which they could do little about, “there isn’t a court in this g-dforsaken country that will hold me accountable for what I will do.”(Hosseini 243) Rasheed says to Laila in reference

Growing up and living in Afghanistan as a woman has its challenges. Parents choose who can marry you and they choose everything for you. In this book, Laila and Mariam both show the struggles it is to be a girl, and how much disrespect they get in Afghanistan. Both Mariam and Laila are married to the same man, and he is abusive to both of them. They also live under Taliban rule, and the rules that they set are very unfair for women. In Khaled Hosseni’s novel, he has many different themes but the most prevalent one is of woman inequality, and that is shown through multiple accounts of abuse, disrespect, and unfairness.

As a young girl, the protagonist of the novel, Mariam, longed to receive an education. She wanted to go to school, but her mother forbid her. “There is only one skill a woman like you and me needs in life, and they don’t teach it in school…they’ll laugh at you in school…they’ll say the most terrible things about you. I won’t have it” (Hosseini 17-18). In Afghanistan, men believe they are the only gender fit to receive an education because “women just aren’t as smart as men” (Stewart, Women Under the Taliban, 46). This idea was heartbreaking to women and even men who did not agree with the

A Thousand Splendid Suns, a book written by Khaled Hosseini, gives us a unique and informative glimpse into life in Afghanistan in the early 1960’s to the 2000’s. In it we can see many different political and social issues ravaging the country, with the most evident being gender inequality. Though many diverse groups of people were being discriminated against at the time, most of the subordination fell onto women as they had more and more rights taken away from them when various ruling powers took control. The author relays this information to us and educates us as to what happened through compelling and thought-provoking literary devices such as symbolic characters and objects, and allusions. By using these

With the Taliban beginning its reigns on Afghanistan, darkness took over the nation. Terror became a more common installment into the minds of the citizens. Hearing the rumble of the jeeps, the bangs of the AK-47s, and the bombs setting off can send a shiver down anyone’s back. Families are torn apart, children forget what play time is, schools are destroyed. The injustice that the Taliban brought is defined through the cruelest of actions. “There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood.” (Hosseini, 1) With their regime, the Taliban established radical rules that limited the country to all but making the essential function of speaking, barely legal. The effect of the Taliban begin to spread specifically towards Amir and his family. With the beginning the war, Amir sees his

In A Thousand Splendid Suns, independence involves the desire to become educated. Considering the political and societal conditions, education is not acceptable during this time, and if it is discovered that school of any sort is being run, the Taliban will punish the perpetrator of the crime. The main character in the text that is used to support this is Laila. “Marriage can wait, education cannot. You’re a very, very bright girl. Truly, you are. You can be anything you want, Laila” (Hosseini 114). For Laila in particular, education is an achievable and desired factor in her freedom. Babi depicted to Laila at a young age that schooling is the most important thing in her life, after her safety. Due to the fear of the Taliban, families commonly discourage any sort of education in the lives of their children, especially their daughters, as it could harm her well being. Laila is seen disregarding conventional norms and encouraged by a wise man, Babi, to pursue her interests, which she eventually does. “Members are identified and recognized as different and distinct from another nation or its members” (Khan 3). The connection to the theme of autonomy is evident here. Khan describes that the members of Afghanistan are all unique and not one person is the same as someone else. Independence is something that is only accomplishable by the individual themself, and it takes a distinctive character to be capable of doing so. The concept that all people are different is crucial in the

In a male dominated society, the women of Afghanistan face many pressures and limits that are taught and ingrained in them at a very young age. Women and girls are seen as less than men and boys. They are viewed as being weak and unimportant. They are often pulled out of school and shunned to the house during their middle school years. Society sees no reason to educate girls when the whole point of girls is to serve as wives to their husbands and mothers to sons. They are taught that their entire worth depends on how happy they make their husband. As depicted by Jenny Norberg in The Underground Girls of Kabul, Afghanistan is a horrible place to be a woman. The pressure to birth sons, uphold a perfect reputation, and the economic disadvantages women face often force them to become men to have basic human respect and survival.

"The Girl Effect" is an idea that educational influences and medical support at an early age can bring girls out of poverty for themselves and continue down the line for future generations as a domino effect; in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the two main characters are two young poor women in Afghanistan. Mariam's and Laila's experiences highlight "The Girl Effect" in that Liala demonstrates the significant benefits of a girl growing up with an educational background, while Mariam who was not educated at a young age, has her future out of her hands and is married by fifteen, has many failed pregnancies and is forced to deal with the abusive relationship. In Afghanistan many girls are seen as women at the age of twelve-years-old

Following the withdrawal of NATO, attacks on women’s rights have increased. 87% of girls in Afghanistan face discrimination and harassment (Luccaro and Gaston). Our character in Afghanistan is a one of them. Education is also limited to those of higher class. Many do not know how to defend themselves. War Child strives to empower girls in the times of chaos.