Thousand Splendid Suns

The novel revolves around two women, Mariam and Laila. The novel takes place during a terrible time to live in Afghanistan, but things were especially hard for women. Their lives brought together and are forced to live through unimaginable situations. At first, they didn’t get along, but then a beautiful friendship began. Their friendship would eventually be their salvation. They both experienced incredible character development. Mariam and Laila’s childhoods were very different, which is explains their characteristics in the novel. Laila’s modern upbringing gave her courage, which inspired Mariam to take action in both of their 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

Stories like Sindbad, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp and other popular stories are very common today in the western culture. Animated movies were also made for the entertainment of kids on these popular stories. One might wonder that where these stories originated and how it came down and made place in the western culture. Although these stories are very popular in both the western culture and the eastern culture but the original literary work is not so popular in common people. Theses stories are some of the stories from the Arabic work "The Thousand and One Nights." The work of "The Thousand and One Nights" represents basically a female that is a strong and clever idol and

This enlightening story written by Lisa See shows the complex relationship between two sisters, Pearl and May. They go through hardships and suffering in order to leave war torn Shanghai and try to adjust themselves as wives in arranged marriages set by their father who looses

According to the United Nations, approximately 87% of Afghan women suffer from abuse. An example of this mistreatment of women is depicted in Khaled Hosseini's novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. The novel is centered on the lives of two women living in Afghanistan under the oppression of their husband, Rasheed, and the Taliban. The women face physical and mental abuse from different family members and the law throughout the novel. The novel tells about the lives of the two women before and after their lives come together; they play a large part in each other’s life once they meet by attempting to focus on the happy moments rather than dwell on the hardships they must face. Hosseini’s novel teaches that in times of hardship, the mistreated form an unbreakable relationship which helps them to endure life.

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.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is a beautiful tale of two women in Afghanistan during the Taliban uprising. They grow up on complete opposite sides of Afghan culture. The main character, Mariam, grows up in a more traditional way caused by her forced marriage to Rasheed. Laila on the other hand, grows up with a supportive father who encourages gender equality and education. There are many cultural differences such as, women’s rights, public executions, and the Taliban. The two main characters, Mariam and Laila, develop greatly throughout the novel. They push each other to be better and to stand up for equality. This plays into the themes of the novel. Women’s strength and loyalty are the two most important themes. They

How do the experiences in the mountain change Lily and Snow Flower? How does their relationship changed in response to that?

Throughout world history women have been treated abysmally. Societies with male-dominance have abused and used women and continue to do so today. Women have been made vulnerable to a man due to the spread of cultural values and beliefs in society that condemn them from power. In Khaled Hosseini's novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, the two main characters Mariam and Laila develop an unconditional bond in which they become each others protectors. The immense inner strength of women from adversity has been exemplified through the growth of Mariam and Laila's contrasting relationship, the pain they endure from Rasheed which strengthens their bond and the courage within them that ultimately resolves their conflict.

Before their perpetual friendship, Snow Flower’s aunt, Madame Wang, tells Lily’s family that she is from a high class. Throughout the first half of the novel, this seems true. It is when Snow Flower is about to be married that the horrible reality reveals itself. To help with wedding preparations, Lily comes over to her house, only to discover “the [rooms dirty] with food scraps” (118). Snow Flower, in seeing Lily’s shock, then promptly explains why the house looks poorly kept. Her father “[tries] to show everyone what a big man he [is] … [and sells a lot of] the fields… forgetting about [his family’s well being and standards in the process]” (121). Not only does she lie in their childhood, but she "lies in her [married life also]” (230). Soon after Snow Flower is married, Lily and she write to each other about their roles as wives and their new-found families. Snow Flower, in a written letter, states that “[she is] very lucky” with her husband and his family (154). Likewise, to her living conditions, throughout the last of the book her genuine happiness of her new life seems true. That is, until a war breaks out and forces everyone to take shelter in the mountains. During this time course, Lily sees the true nature of Snow Flower’s husband and family. In the mountains, food is scarce and her husband “[makes sure his mother eats,] and not [Snow Flower]” (199). Spotting Lily’s discomfort, Snow Flower explains that this happens quite

People can either give up when things are looking down or they can keep pushing and looking for better days. In Thousand Splendid Suns Laila is an example. If you keep pushing and searching for the better days the better days will come. Even though Laila is lied to and loses everything she loves, she keeps pushing and it works out in the end.

Lisa See‘s Snowflower and the Secret Fan grabbed my attention from the start. BLily the main character of the book, is very much like me and yet, in some ways,very different. Lily has a strong determination to achieve what every Chinese woman should do back in the days before the revolution of China. When she was young she was destined to be the lao tong, “old same” and to share a deep friendship with Snowflower for the rest of their lives. Lily and Snowflower experience many Chinese traditions together. Both Lily and I work very hard to achieve our goal. We both have good old friends we can support, love and share our feelings with. We both have the heart to help those who are related to us.

Lily and Snow Flower’s relationship has ultimately grown so much from when they first met. They have been there for each other through every trouble they had

Authors have a goal of conveying a certain message/lesson to a reader or a person viewing the material. Two major aspects of how this meaning is conveyed includes form and purpose. The form tends to be how the work is composed and purpose is the reason for why the work was written. Although it may seem simple, the authors choice in these aspects is counterproductive to a certain meaning due to people having their own way of thinking, the meaning intended may not be what the readers agree with and there is always a bias depending on the opinion of the author and the opinion of the reader. To start off, not everyone that is introduced to the same thing will process information similarly thus readers will create their own meaning from the given details. For example, Tar Baby, written by Toni

A Thousand Splendid Suns is such a beautiful book because of the copious ways a reader can intrepid the novels meaning. There are three that stand out above the others. That is to say, the connection with theses perspectives occurred without the need to intensely analyze the text. Historical, Marxist and feminist lenses did just that. From a historical perspective, the text is a factual telling of Afghanistan from the nineteen sixty’s to the early two thousands. Specifically, the reader quickly understands the social, political, economic, cultural and intellectual turmoil of the time. On the other hand, if viewed from a Marxist lens, the text becomes a reflection on class struggle and materialism. Why else would Hosseini choose to imply, even straight up tell which class each of the character belonged to? Finally, there is the feminist perspective. The story in this novel deals in copious amounts with feminism and gender. Gender in equality is rampant from the start almost through to the very end, with forced marriages, rape and misogyny.