“Targeted violence, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world’s most dangerous country in which to be born a woman” (Lisa Anderson). Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns is both an epic and horrendous account of two young Afghan women, Mariam and Laila. Blinded by the atrocious tragedies practiced on women in Afghanistan, Nana instructs her daughter, Mariam, that there is “only one skill a woman like you and me needs in life… And it’s this: tahamul. Endure” (Hosseini 17). What’s more, the reader sympathizes with the characters and “marvel at how every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. And yet… people find a way to survive, to go on” (350). Mariam and Laila bear excruciating circumstances and live in a country mangled by political oppression and war. For this reason, their lives are regulated and controlled, they don’t have the right to exercise freedoms, and they are abused on many levels. Hosseini exposes the mutilations imposed on women by men and the marginalized life they lead in Afghanistan. Although Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns is a fictional novel, his ability to illustrate and identify with the difficulties of Afghan women through their child marriages, lack of education and the Taliban laws is achingly accurate and unparalleled.
The deleterious consequences such as poor health, abuse, and low literacy are the devastating effects of child marriage which are demonstrated throughout the novel. The parlous implications when examining a young wife’s health include early death, extremely high risks of fistulas, and the risk of being infected with sexually transmitted disease. Commonly, girls are “admitted to hospitals shortly after marriage in a state of sh...
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...omen’s life is regulated under Taliban law and failure to comply can lead to imprisonment, abuse, and executions. They bring a great deal of political oppression and war into Afghanistan. A fraction of the message that is employed by the Taliban stated that women “will stay inside your homes at all times… If you are caught alone on the street, you will be beaten and sent home” (248). Rasheed refusing to accompany her, Laila is beat on several occasions per week when she goes to see her daughter in the orphanage. Additionally, Mariam hears that “men and women would be seen if different hospitals, that all female staff would be discharged from Kubal’s hospitals and sent to work in one central facility” (254). When later accused of murdering her husband, Mariam is brought to Ghazi Stadiam by the Taliban where “thousands of eyes bore down on her” (328) and she is shot.
In Morris Glietzmans heart breaking but remarkable book Boy Overboard, he shows how the corrupt government in Afghanistan has forced out many of its inhabitants making them try to leave the country by avoiding the government and staying in refugee camps until they can leave is in the country. Morris Glietzman shows the pressure put on the families in Afghanistan through similes, metaphors, and humour. The Afghanistan government or the Taliban as they are called, are very harsh and unfair with the laws that are in place in Afghanistan and are not nice to the families in the country. Woman are treated very unfairly in Afghanistan for minor crimes, and are whipped or killed for a crime such as showing there ankles in public or not being with a male person of there family while outside.
In a nation brimming with discrimination, violence and fear, a multitudinous number of hearts will become malevolent and unemotional. However, people will rebel. In the eye-opening novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini, the country of Afghanistan is exposed to possess cruel, treacherous and sexist law and people. The women are classified as something lower than human, and men have the jurisdiction over the women. At the same time, the most horrible treatment can bring out some of the best traits in victims, such as consideration, boldness, and protectiveness. Although, living in an inconsiderate world, women can still carry aspiration and benevolence. Mariam and Laila (the main characters of A Thousand Splendid Suns) are able to retain their consideration, boldness and protectiveness, as sufferers in their atrocious world.
Social injustice is revealed throughout the novel and Hosseini really goes in depth and indulges the reader by portraying every aspect of the life of women in Afghanistan at the time period. He also reveals most of the social injustice women still have to deal with today. This novel is based on two young women and the social injustices they face because of their gender. Gender inequality was very common in Afghanistan
Khaled Hosseini, author of A Thousand Splendid Suns, is indisputably a master narrator. His refreshingly distinctive style is rampant throughout the work, as he integrates diverse character perspectives as well as verb tenses to form a temperament of storytelling that is quite inimitably his own. In his novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, he explores the intertwining lives of two drastically different Afghani women, Lailia and Mariam, who come together in a surprising twist of fate during the Soviet takeover and Taliban rule. After returning to his native Afghanistan to observe the nation’s current state amidst decades of mayhem, Hosseini wrote the novel with a specific fiery emotion to communicate a chilling, yet historically accurate account
The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg is a nonfiction documenting the stories of young girls in the Middle East through a series of interviews with them. She represents the sexual discrimination in the Middle East through her encounters with a few young girls as they search for a way to achieve personal freedoms. The primary focus of her book is studying how young girls chose to cross-dress as the liberated sex in the post-Taliban era Afghanistan. Through her interviews of Kabul’s Bacha Posh population, Nordberg establishes for the Western reader how the maltreated young girls of Afghanistan constantly dream of an elusive freedom granted to their brothers, fathers, and husbands, and how few establish the otherwise unattainable
The idea presented by William Stryon that life “is a search for justice” can be analyzed in Kaled Hosseni’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and supports a central theme of the struggles of the Muslim women in Afghanistan. Throughout the novel Mariam’s struggle with injustice is depicted as extremely complex; from her illegitimate birth to the brutal misogynist she is forced to marry, the audience watches as Mariam grows from a naïve little girl into a strong women and how she symbolically overcomes corruption and systematic oppression by sacrificing her life for others.
Khaled Hosseini wrote A Thousand Splendid Suns which is an account of life in Afghanistan during a time when there was a lot of violence in the country. Unfortunately, this violence was often carried into the houses of many families with women being the greatest victims. In the novel, Hosseini seeks to portray that although there are a lot of negative things going on in Afghanistan, not all Afghani people are defeated; some individuals manage to thrive and live life to the fullest. One of the most remarkable people who proves to be one in a thousand splendid suns is Mariam who is a child born out of wedlock. Her dad, Jalil sends Mariam’s mother, Nana away
In 1996, Taliban’s take control of Afghanistan. This political organization mandate a strictly regulated and extreme Islamic policy. International committees and leaders strongly critique the Taliban regime for their extremist actions and interpretations of religious texts. These times are especially difficult for women who are persecuted and whose rights are constantly violated by the government in place. War goes on as international leaders are trying to set free the handcuffed population of Afghanistan. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini takes place in these times, exposing the characters to the strict regime of Talibans. Hosseini exposes that the patriarchal culture in Afghanistan influences how male-female relationships are experienced. This can be seen through many relationships in the novel such as Mariam and Rasheed’s marriage, Mariam’s relationship with her father and Laila’s marriage with Rasheed.
Women are beaten, and it is culturally acceptable. Like routine, women are beaten in Afghanistan almost every day. When a person purposely inflicts sufferings on others with no feelings of concern, like the women of Afghanistan, he is cruel. Cruelty can manifest from anger, irritation, or defeat and is driven by self-interest. An idea that is explored in many works of literature, cruelty also appears in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns in the relationship between a husband and wife. In their case, the husband uses cruelties in the form of aggression are to force his wife to submit. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini’s use of cruelty elucidates the values of both Rasheed and Mariam as well as essential ideas about the nature of
In A Thousand Splendid Suns, the book deals with two female protagonists named Mariam and Laila as they both endured their life time suffering with their own hardships; as Mariam was raised and grew up with her mother who was very miserable and unhappy, to her glorifying her father as she didn’t grow up with him and wanted to share a part of his life with his other family that he built. Mariam then ran away from home to be with her father, however; upon her return from her father’s her mother had committed suicide. As for Laila,. As far as the book goes, there are several teachings of the history of Afghanistan. Moreover, the history of Afghanistan that has been taught in this book has surprise me as I am not too familiar of the history behind
In the book, Women in the Middle East, a Saudi Arabian proverb states, "A girl possesses nothing but a veil and a tomb" (Harik and Marston 83). The key words, "veil" and "tomb" lend evidence to the fact that many Middle Eastern women lack identity symbolized by the “veil” and lack the right of ownership except for their veil and the tomb. This statement further enforces the notion that many women in the Middle East are expected to serve and tolerate the oppression of the men in their lives throughout their lives on this earth. Moreover, it confirms that many of these women do not get the opportunity to obtain education, join the work force, and even participate in the political affairs of the country. This arrangement further helps the Middle Eastern men to view women as their properties, servants, or even as slaves. Ultimately, there are three main reasons why Middle Eastern men engage in the act of oppressing their women.
This book by A. Widney Brown and LeShawn R.Jefferson reflects on the negative impacts of different Talib decrees on the overall development Afghan women.
The Women of the Middle East have played substantial roles for their corresponding countries since the advent of colonialism in the region. Middle Eastern women have worked in all types of fields including medicine, education, agriculture, government, private sector, and even defense. They have kept roofs over their family’s heads while their husbands were away in wars, or even in foreign countries to work in jobs that they could not find in their own countries. The roles of women in the countries of Yemen and Oman are no exception, but while they still find ways to contribute to their country, they care constantly stereotyped, discriminated, and ridiculed by men who are known and unknown to them. This paper will discuss the individual contributions of the women living in Yemen and Oman, and will discuss in further state laws and cultural norms that are affecting the women living in these countries today.
The women of Afghanistan have been through every hardship imaginable. Khaled Hosseini uses his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns to show his readers how women’s rights changed through out the last half of the 20th century and how the different governments affected the women differently.
The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns explores the plight of women in Afghanistan; the focus is put on three women Nana, Mariam and Laila. Women in Afghanistan often face difficult and unfortunate situations. In this essay we will examine some of these unfortunate situations for women.