A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini A Hosseini

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The relationship between Laila, Mariam, and Rasheed in Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, characterizes powerful motifs that are visible through an analytical standpoint. Themes such as women’s rights and honor play a large part in the history of Afghanistan. In a story as tragic as such, Hosseini helps characterize these themes into vital characters of the story. Along with this, several other motifs of the story are characterized as well. Motifs such as love, hope, and inner strength are all characterized as well, and as Hosseini develops his story further into the plot, we can see further into the motifs themselves, and their significance in the novel, as well as their relation to the real world. Hosseini uses relationships extensively in this novel as well, using them to portray a use of the motif in a very literal way, in order to better organize his thoughts and his “commentary” in regards to each theme through the dialogue of each character. The relationship between Laila, Mariam and Rasheed in the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, characterizes the importance of the idea of inner strength, women’s rights, and love, all of which are a powerful motifs throughout the novel.

The motif of women’s rights is one of the largest underlying themes in the book. Heavily shown by Hosseini’s characters, such as Rasheed and the Taliban, this novel shows the type of abuse and neglect women suffered during this time. Men were considered to have complete control of the household, and what went on in the household was the man’s business and outsiders should not interfere, nor should they provide their opinion in any way. This type of mindset, heavily influenced, and sometimes even encouraged, by the Taliban led to the widespread abu...

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...elf against Rasheed, in the event that she had not gained love and confidence from Laila. Even so, looking past these differences and the circumstances that brought them together, Laila and Mariam are destined to have the mother-daughter relationship they eventually find themselves in. At first enemies when Laila marries Rasheed, they soon become joined in suffering his abuse. As Rasheed turns on his younger wife, Mariam sympathizes. The relationship they form help each other survive Rasheed’s merciless and brutal thrashings; Mariam finds strength because of Laila’s entry into her home, and Laila too gains wisdom and life lessons from the older woman.

Works Cited

Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Penguin Books Ltd., 14 July 2007. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. .

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