A Thousand Splendid Suns

Analysis

Feminism

“A society has no chance at success if its women are uneducated, Laila. No chance.”_Babi

In a society where women empowerment is neglected by many, where men standout the most
and became glorious while their women is suffering. Our culture may differ in many ways, but
this is not the reason of why women must be look down and pull to the lowest level as a human
being. While many country practices democracy and freedom for their women to express
themselves and show what they can do. Somewhere in another country, women and children
suffered a lot. From our country and perspective we can’t imagine this scene to happen to us
since it’s not in our culture norms and law.

A thousand Splendid Suns is written by the American born Afghanistan novelist Khalid Hosseini
who is the son of the Afghan diplomat and a teacher. A thousand Splendid Suns is his second
novel after his successful first Novel The Kite Runner. It is a reference to the city of Kabul and
the worrisome women, their weakness, dependence and imprisonment mingled with despair,
torture and beatings through the heroines Mariam and Laila. This story is set during the period of
1960’s to 2000. Where depicts the plight of two women born in separate decades purposely to
compare the evolution of women status in Kabul. Laila and Mariam give deep insights about the
social truth of the women in Afghanistan society.

How odd it is that the author of this novel is a male figure and able to express what the women of
that certain society is feeling and expresses it with conviction. Khaled Hosseini’s background is
somehow related to this story he is writing since he came from a place called Kabul, where into
his story we can say is just a fiction and his minds imaginative representation. But looking
through the history of Afghanistan it is somehow reflected to their country long time ago where
women have no freedom at all and in lacking of education. Maybe this fictitious work of him
came from his own experience and made this character in order to emphasize his hidden
emotions towards what is happening in their country at that time. The women inflected in this
story are weak in emotions and in every possible ways. Getting married at the young age and
even be married to a much older person than them. In most country and our society today this
practices is horrendous and unimaginable to kids this bracket of age. Giving birth at the age of 12
or 13 is harsh and unacceptable in our beliefs. Their religion is somehow unique and different
that they can have as many wives as the man wants, but cannot even foster their own kids and let
them have a proper education. Notice that men are very valuable to them, when a woman gave
birth to a girl their husband would tend not to care and shows less love to that children (laila is an
exception to that since her father adore her).And to Nana she believes that the dominance of the
upper class is clear as they are more powerful, strongest and distinguished compared to them that
is poor. Sha feels strongly the power of Jalil over her that she could never ever control and she
thinks that she and her daughter were unwanted and rejected easily by everyone in the society.
She argues that because of Jalil’s wealth everyone believs his lies and denied her. Its is evident to
his line “ You know what he told his wives by way of defense? That I forced myself on him.
That it was my fault”. And for Jalil his position to the society interdicts him to interact with
people from the lower class even if it’s his daughter which many believes belong to the lower
class society. And when Nana died and MAriam went to live with him, he never showed once a
pity or encouragement to Mariam. He just let his wives decide for her daughter because to them
she is unacceptable and this makes a great grief and pain to Mariam. A segregation is clearly
shown when Jalil refuses to take Mariam to the cinema in order to to keep himself away from
people’s gossiping and interactions. Mariam’s father thinks he is rich due to his status to the
community for they holds the power to control and can make command in this way Jalil really
tried hard to preserve his social status even if it means abandoning his own flesh and blood in
order to maintain his societal concerns. Upon Mariam’s marriage she experienced living in the
middle class and in here she recognized the power of his father, to controls her life and choices
and freedom. Men acknowledges women as if they are just a sex figure to them and a property
they have that they don’t take care of because they really cared for it but to them it’s a property
that don’t want others to invade and take their position ( we can see this perception through
Rasheed as he never let Laila and Mariam wore clothes that not due to his approval that is only
the Burqa). Laila and Mariam are both women who lives in a society where women are restricted
by law and men, in which they grow up so quickly. Laila however unlike Mariam is unique and
have an academic ability and what gives the reader the hope with her character. She is
empowering herself to be more educated unlike the other women, she have dreams and hopes
towards her future and she have this instinct that she can decide on her own of whatever she
wanted to do other than marrying too soon just like the other girls in her neighborhood. Her
being educated gives her the freedom to choose her own path. Afghan women are not only
affected by war but by domestic violence, discrimination gender inequality and the women’s
right have been tremendously and widely violated in this country. The importance of endurance
and education are represented by these two women serves as a hope for the restoration of
women’s right and so that the violence against them is eliminated. Mariam on the other hand is
uneducated and a daughter that was made out of marriage. The only education she receives is not
that much since it is only for praying and some phrase that her teacher teaches her. She is
shamed of her being an illegitimate child and despise her mother for that and for making her
father as a hero she look up to. When her mother died and she married at the age of 15 she
became a resentful and bitter women especially when she realizes she can’t bear a child and hate
herself for that. Her being married makes her realize her mother’s agony and resentment to men
as she experience violence from her husband. Her fear grew stronger and stronger. Not until the
day Laila married her husband as its second wife and bear a child that at first made her jealous.
The narrator could be a man since the author is a man, though the style of narration is of feminist
but of how the women in this story is being treated it is purely a man who have a good intentions
to change the system and be able to educate men with nature like Rasheed and Mariams father
Jalil to be like Babi, Laila’s father. Who chooses to give freedom a love, care, trust and
understanding to the women of that said society. A man with honor that protect the dignity and
weaknesses of women in their family and stand up as a real man who never bullies or beat
women whenever they became angry. That being a man is not being just brave enough but to
show a respect and patience and understanding towards women and value them preciously just
like how they value their guns. Gender relations differ throughout the novel depending on the
occupying forces and the laws that accompany them. Under communist rules for instance girls
are permitted to attend schools or go outside of their houses. But to Babi he practices
independence to her child Laila who lets her see whoever she wanted to go with (even if it’s a
boy). Their culture and society actually have some similarities with our culture and belief.
Example of this is when a young lady and young man are always together and are being friends
people will gossip about the two of you and makes any comments on how it is not good to be
with each other’s company. Men on the other hand just like most men do is the giver and
provider of each family’s they provide food, clothing and shelter for their families but there are
really some that have a behavior like Rasheed. Rasheed’s character as the antagonist is vicious
and very cunning person. The Taliban may have legally sanctioned Rasheed’s violence to his
wives, but Hosseini is clearly on the women’s side of greater freedom and the reader is meant to
cheer on Laila and Mariam as they struggle through these inequalities. Hosseini emphasizes
some aspect of Afghan life especially to the women who are most benevolent and weaker of all.
At first when these two women meet they despise and hate each other, but as the story grows
deeper these two main character realizes they won’t survive this hardships if they don’t have an
ally with them so they reconciled and became a companion and friends. Mariam is living an an
abusive and horrible husband. No choices on whom to marry, she found a fewer choices in her
life and how she would live them, but when laila came and with Aziza she suddenly became
more loving and she find herself someone to take care and ponder enough love. She now has the
brave word in her heart. The war also played a great role to these women, where their suffering
becomes frequent and obvious, surreal and damaging in their part. Where these women only
dream of a happiness they have just imagine and when or they can never be achieve at all. They
struggle and in pain but they never actually questions God or their Allah for the situations they
are in. They remain religious despite the circumstance and painful obstacle in their lives. The
whole story is a complex weaved by the author in the eyes of two women a nwer generation in
Kabul which sacrifice alarms when Mariam protects Laila from their husband Rasheed whom
she kills and gets executed to leave Laila live her love again with Tariq and her children. So the
women in this novel methaporically represents the Splendid Suns of the title, which should
always set and shine again, to represent hope for a better Kabul in the near future. Aziza was
marginalized and received a very bad treatment from rasheed whom she believed he was her true
father, but he rejected her for being a girl and even sent her to an orphanage just because of her
sex. It’s so hard to be born and grow up in a situation of complexity and cruelty, but despite all
these troubles she could maintain the capacity to forgive because her mother and aunt taught her
a good example of how to love and forgive. Marginalization is one of the theme of this novel
where this means that a group of people is less important. This is this scene where during the war
doctors are for men only and if there is for women just a few. In this case, women are the one
being marginalized inn this situation, where they are being downgraded and discriminated
unjustly. By pushing them away to the very edge of the society and this matter consequently
affects women badly making them feel different and distinguished from others. Because of this
reasons marginalization’s crawls into the mind of people, for example the people in Africa or the
African American people where treat differently because of their skin color and because of that
for so many years they became discriminated and consider as a low class of person just because
of their skin and for many years they also suffer from white American people and became a
slaves. This is the same way as what the Afghan women have encountered. The dominance of
men in this country lead to a lifestyle of encouraging the society of Afghan men to victimize let
women suffer from several problems which caused poor treatment and cruelty. The Afghan
society has long been considered as conservative and traditionally tied. Different political
regimes affected the society and drove it back far away from civilization and modern types of
life. All the different changes was notice in Kabul, this is when Mariam moved to this City and
married Rasheed . There is a period of time when she was amazed by the fact that women could
wear anything they want in modern style. Where in this period of time is known as the most
interesting time in Afghanistan. Women have the liberty to go walk around by themselves, do
some shopping, or they could even color their nails with polish. And as said by Babi “it’s a good
time to be a woman in Afghanistan.” Women by this time were given a liberty and freedom to
study and learn. Equality is imposed and spread in this era. But when the Taliban gain power in
this country the freedom of women began to shaken and disturbed. But even when the Taliban
where in control now, long before they came Mariam was long in domestic friction and outright
abused and torture physically and mentally. In which she silently bears the cruelties of her
vicious husband because she lacks the courage to voice against the established norms set by men.
Especially her being an impotent because she cannot bear a child which his husband has been
longing for. According to a feminist theorist that for this Afghan people having a son is
immortality not because the father will live longer but because of the situation where the son
carries his father name and glory, while women are just a source an incubator of children. Until
Laila came to Rasheed and Mariam’s life in which after many years this two women resisted and
began to plot of going away and hide from Rasheed. But everything they have worked and plan
on did not work instead they were drag back to their house. Everyday Rasheed complains may it
be the cooking or the cleaning the house everything he notice and in his eyes this two woman are
useless. Laila and Mariam physicality and personality really differ but joined together as a co
wives to the cruel man Rasheed. All her life Mariam was maltreated by man, first with his father
by not accepting him totally as a daughter because he’s ashamed to accept that he had a lower
class person pregnant and he hides them away so that his reputation as a man wont be ruined.
Mariam may felt at first that his father was her hero but sheis wrong with her impression and
neglected her mother’s advise that only she can love her and nobody will ever love her the way
her mother does. That when she is gone Mariam will be left with no one. Only then she
understand when her mother died by committing suicide. Mariam’s foolishness and led her to her
fate into another cruel man, her husband. Mariam and Laila become friends and despite the
brutality, inhumanities, and humiliation that they have faced they resisted all the hard injuries
they got from their husband and together they face it with all their might and strength. With their
power of unity, it truly evident that woman are capable of doing anything and accepting
whatever their fate gave them. The will to survive and the love they have for each other and to
the children is what keeps them stronger and living. Woman Is truly an exceptional creature,
when they brought men into this world and chooses to keep them even if men in this country are
superior and women an inferior. In here Hosseini confirmed that a woman’s love for her family
can make her strongest selfless, courageous enough to sacrifice everything even herself to protect
her relatives. He could possibly show the role of women and necessity of gender equality to
change the course for the next generation. He confirmed through this novel that it is important to
make a balance in the society that relies on men and women since each one complete the other
and if one gender is valued over the other, the society will be imbalanced. This novel showed
the dominance of the upper class people towards the others , that the poor are only a load,
theynhave to be controlled because they are powerless miserable and they were considered
useless persons who have no role in the society. What is noticed in the novel is the difference of
thoughts among the social class. Hakim for instance, although they from the same class as
Rasheed and LAila, but he has personal opinion and views on his family. Rasheed even
commented on Hakims attitude about him being wrong on her attitude towards his wife because
Rasheed is a much more traditional and strict man. Hakim have the sense of right disposition of
treating women as if they were just level to men, his belief is that men are women are equal and
this made him different from his social class. He kept on supporting the women’s right as he
believed this is what is right and just. This novel also adhere companionship and love that cannot
be defined and measured may it be the person you’re giving it is blood related or not. That
woman is capable of sacrificing even her precious life for the sake of the other to be born free.
Mariam and Laila’s relationship became the fundamental strength for them to fight and resist
their husbands dominance and abuse. Through Nana, Mariam and Laila the women of
Afghanistan is depicted. Women need to voice out and work out together to bring changes and
perspective for the sake of the future generations. The story of women oppression does not limit
in Afghanistan only or in this novel. Women everywhere might be suffering the same type of
danger and cruelty and this novel serves as a wake up call to every race, culture and society.
Women have long been the subject of many violence, disrespected, ignored and served many
injustice and undeserving criticism from some stupid men. Life was a living hell for the two
main character with the physical abuse the unwanted marriage. Mariam’s life in the end became
worthwhile and full of reason in the end. She did not regret she saved four lives over hers. Her
courage must drive us women to take action and have courage because we women have long
been silenced it’s now time to wake up and shout our rights and proved we are more than equal
to men.