*A Thousand Splendid Suns--Week2.

As the reader encounters Part II of A Thousand Splendid Suns, a new character, Laila, is introduced. Laila serves as a sort of duplicate to Mariam, as both girls have many characteristics and events in life in common. Although Laila has two brothers, she is technically an only child in that she lives alone with her mother and father because Laila’s brothers are older and in the war. Mariam, too, is an only child, just like Laila, which makes the personalities and effects of parental influence upon the girls more distinct. Before Mariam wed, she wished to obtain an education, but Mariam’s mother disagreed, and believed that “woman [didn’t] need an education.” Laila also wishes for an education, but unlike Mariam, Laila’s family is supportive of Laila learning and acquiring an education. Laila and Mariam both have mothers with a “sickness.” Mariam’s mother had “jinn”, which was a mental illness that caused seizure whenever Nana was stressed or upset. Laila’s mother, too, has a similar condition in that Mammy stays in bed throughout the entire day “under the covers” in a “dark room” and sleeps until “three in the afternoon.” Since neither women show any “physical signs” of ailment, the reader can conduce that the illnesses are caused from displeasure in life. While both characters mothers are laggards, Mariam and Laila both turn to their father for support and guidance. Jalil is a character that symbolizes the “outside world” for Mariam, and Laila’s father is the one that guides Laila to an education. The comparing personalities of Mariam and Laila impose the reader to question importance of their kindred relationship.

The dysfunctional relationship between Jalil & Nana and Fariba &Hakim illustrate the iniquity of forced marriages. Fariba and Hakim portray the relationship that was forced into marriage, and are now unhappy together, causing Fariba an illness that was all in her head. With the relationship between Jalil and Nana, Hosseini depicts the wrongdoings of forced marriages by not being with each other. If Jalil would have not married the other nine women, perhaps Jalil would have married Nana and Nana would still be alive. Hosseini also conveys the transgression of forced marriage in the unhappiness of both Mariam and Rasheed.

Mariam and Rasheed depict a struggling relationship, with many ups and downs. In the beginning, Mariam was unsure of the nexus between the two, but after becoming pregnant the relationship between Mariam and Rasheed blossomed. Mariam was so excited that “everywhere she looked,” Mariam saw “bright colors” as if a “rainbow had melted into her eyes.” Rasheed, too, was filled with gratitude “drumming his gloved fingers and humming a song.” However, by now the reader realizes that with every positive event in the story is followed by a wretched occurrence. The elation shown from the pregnancy foreshadowed the miscarriage that Mariam had in the “hamam.” Mariam then had a miscarriage “six more times in four years.” The miscarriages symbolize Mariam’s inability to be nurtured, therefore not able to nurture something herself. The miscarriage also foreshadows the displeasure that Rasheed has in the marriage, leading to the violence and abuse towards Mariam and forcing her to “chew” the “mouthful of grit and pebbles.”

“Endurance” is a recurring motif throughout A Thousand Splendid Suns, along with the color green. The color green and endurance coordinate with each other, in that the color green symbolizes feelings of endurance. In the first reading, Nana told Mariam that “to endure” is “all that women have.” As Mariam grows up, she begins learning the importance of endurance. The snow that falls upon the road during the time of the miscarriage signifies the “sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman” somewhere in the world, and how “we must endure all that falls upon us.” Mariam occurs the motif of endurance again when burying the “blue coat” that was meant for her baby. The burial not only contributes to the motif of endurance, but also symbolizes how Mariam is able to “bury” her past and move on, whereas Rasheed is not able to. Signs of Rasheed failing to move on are shown with the picture of his wife and child in his room and also refusing to be a part of burying the coat.

The color green strengthens the motif of endurance in the characters of Mariam and Laila, as both characters encounter the color green multiple times in the novel. Mariam has “green eyes” and when living with Jalil, Mariam’s room is “green” suggesting how Mariam must “endure” the death of her mother and the new living arrangement. When Mariam gets married, she has a “green veil” showing the endurance she must undergo in order to adjust to her new life yet again. Not only does the green symbolize stamina, but also youthfulness, as Mariam was very young when each event took place in her life. Thus far, the reader denotes the “green eyes” of Laila as signifying the nexus between Mariam and Laila. Yet, the reader does not know thus far what the connection will be between Mariam and Laila.

*A Thousand Splendid Suns--Week1.

Commencing the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini establishes a detrimental tone through the character of Nana. The mother of the main character of Mariam, Nana brands Mariam as a “harami” conducing “unwanted thing.” The reader learns that Mariam is denoted as a “harami” because Nana became pregnant with Mariam and was not wanted by Jalil.

Although Nana is Mariam’s mother, Nana does not convey a nurturing nor solicitous personality towards Mariam. The “Jinn” that takes over Nana’s body at difficult times depicts the remorse that Nana has towards Mariam. From religious believers who entrust in Allah, a Jinn was created from fire whereas human beings are believed to be created from clay. Jinns are invisible to the human eyes, however, the Jinn can see us. The Jinn that enters Nana’s body is a dark spirit, one which symbolizes punishment for the result of Mariam. The Jinn conveys not only a burden on Nana, but also Mariam, as it reminds her of the “lingering pain” she puts upon Nana.

While Nana signifies a pessimistic outlook, Jalil appears a foil character to Nana. Nana’s anecdotes to Mariam educe a feeling of burden. Even simple stories such as the birth of Nana forced “recrimination” and “burden” upon Mariam, as she apologized for her own birth. Little did Mariam know at the time the “unfairness of apologizing for her own birth.” Jalil, however, retorts the stories in a manner antithesis to Nana’s. In the first meeting of Jalil, he portrays a wholesome father- one that makes Mariam feel she is a “good daughter.”

Nana and Mariam’s house is “two hundred yards upstream, towards the mountains” and in the “center shade of the willows” is the “clearing” of Nana and Mariam’s home. The seclusion that the two live in conveys the feelings that Jalil has towards the two- that they should be isolated away from Jalil’s other “nine wives” as Nana and Mariam are sort of the “embarrassments” of the family. While Nana realizes the selfishness that Jalil portrays, Mariam fails to see that side of Jalil. To Mariam, Jalil represents the “world at large.” The existence of “presidents, trains, soccer, and museums” outside of the remote “kolba.”

Mariam quickly discovers the misinterpretation she had of Jalil and her mother. Nana’s reasoning for bashing Jalil was because she was afraid of Mariam leaving her. Hosseini foreshadows Nana’s suicide in the very beginning of the book with the “shattering” of Nana’s mother’s “Chinese tea set.” The “porcelain piece” that “slipped from Mariam’s fingers” foreshadows the death of Nana was from “slipping” through Mariam’s fingers when Mariam chose Jalil over Nana.

The next instance of foreshadowing occurs in the jinn that overtook Nana whenever Jalil was involved in her life. Whether or not Nana was falsifying the religious spirit and was really just a “disease” that could “be cured with pills”, or if the jinn actually occurred in Nana, the reader can induce that Nana nuanced Jalil with a “dark spirit.”

Once Mariam made her own decision to see Jalil, Nana was found “dangling” from “rope drooping high at a branch.” The death of Nana symbolizes the “death” of Mariam’s childhood, as she is now forced into making her own decisions and living for herself. Mariam chose to disobey Nana, and the death of Nana exemplifies the new, adult life that Mariam must now undergo.

Before Mariam left Nana for Jalil, one of Mariam’s games was to take pebbles, each representing one of Jalil’s children from each wife, and would arrange them in “four separate columns.” Rather than arranging all the pebbles altogether, the separation of the columns implies that Mariam does not belong with the others. This point is clearly shown when Mariam is rejected from Jalil to see him, and while leaving, the pebbles “spill from her pocket.” The spilling of pebbles imply that Mariam is not wanted nor meant to be a part of Jalil and his other wives family which foreshadows the forced marriage that occurs later in the novel.

Throughout the book thus far, Mariam has witnessed the feeling of not being wanted from her mother, her father, and now the women that Jalil live with. After Nana’s death, Mariam lives with Jalil for a short period of time, but soon discovers she is not wanted there. Jalil’s wife force a marriage upon Mariam to a man named Rasheed. Now that Mariam no longer has a mother or father, she is completely on her own

The man that Mariam marries, Rasheed, is a complete antithesis to Mariam. Starting with appearance, Rasheed has a “big square, ruddy face and a hooked nose…watery, blood shot eyes, and bush eyebrows” compared to Mariam who has a “narrow chin” and a “long, triangular face.” The personalities of the two also differ, as Rasheed expects Mariam to do all the cooking and cleaning. The marriage between the two depicts the basic routine in Afghanistan of forced marriage. Rarely in Afghanistan is a woman not married by the time she is 16 years old, which Hosseini shows through the young age of Mariam and the old age of Rasheed. Along with age, Hosseini conveys the problem with forced marriage when Rasheed expresses his feelings that Mariam’s job is to do the cooking, cleaning, and the “job of a wife” in which Rasheed believes is sex. The unpleasantness and uncomfortable feelings that Mariam constantly feels in her marriage to Rasheed depicts the negativity of forced marriages. In bed, Mariam “looks at the frozen stars in the sky and a cloud that draped the face of the moon like a wedding veil” a metaphor that denotes Mariam’s feelings on her marriage in which she is “frozen” in her marriage-- frozen with fear, regret, remorse, and disappointment.

Along with Rasheed’s inhumane outlook on marriage, he also forces Mariam to wear a “burqa” that completely covers her face and body from other guys looking at her. Rasheed hates the “married women” that walk around without enough clothing on. Hypocritical to what Rasheed says, Mariam discovers “magazines” in Rasheed’s room that show “beautiful women who wore no shirts, no trousers, no socks or underpants.” The hypocritical views of Rasheed shows the controlling side that Rasheed has over his wife, making the reader wonder if Rasheed had something to do with the death of his previous wife and son and makes the reader wonder if Rasheed will “control” Mariam too much and again make Mariam feel unwanted ultimately resulting in Mariam being left by Rasheed along with her parents.

*Death of a Salesman--Day 6.

In the final reading of Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller concludes the play with a somber, yet promising tone for a new beginning. Before Willy ultimately ends his life, the reader views Willy in his garden “planting seeds.” The seeds symbolize a new beginning, and a nurturing side that Willy wasn’t able to exemplify for his children and wife. Because Willy wasn’t able to “produce” a wealthy business as a salesman, the garden that Willy plants portrays another chance for Willy to provide money for his family.

In the garden, Willy speaks to Ben about the “massive funeral” that people would come to from “Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey” just to honor Willy at his funeral. The death of himself, Willy believes, will prove to Biff how many people “liked” Willy and how “well-known” Willy is. If Willy commits suicide like he has planned to, then Biff and the rest of the family will receive the “proposition” which is “twenty thousand dollars on the barrelhead” of Willy’s premium. The suicide of Willy enables a new future for the Loman family, as they are able to make “the last payment on the house” and are “free”—free from the burden of house payments and also from the unhappiness of Willy. The death of Willy proposed a new beginning for his family as a way to move on and live each one’s own life.

In the end as Willy speaks to Ben, Ben again comments about how “the jungle is dark but full of diamonds.” Not only do the “diamonds” that Ben speaks of portray wealth, but also equate to Willy. A diamond has a shiny appearance, one like Willy wishes to have, but a diamond is also “rough and hard to the touch”-equating to the personality of Willy ultimately conveying the message that although something may appear to glisten on the outside, the inside is “rough.” Along with a diamond’s appearance, the diamond in the “dark place” symbolizes that Willy believes that he must die in order for his family to prosper.

An occurring motif throughout the play is false portrayal of oneself. All three of the Loman men portrayed a life that was a facade from reality. Willy was not the successful “well liked” business man that he claimed to be, Happy was not the “assistant buyer” but was an “assistant to the assistant” and Happy and Willy attempted to make Biff believe that he was a high-end business man when in reality he was just a “shipping clerk.” Biff finally speaks up and lets the family know that they haven’t told the truth for “ten-minutes”- but that their lives have all been “phony.” Each character made-up the ideal life so as not to disappoint the other. However, in the end, the only way each could move on in life and truly live the “American Dream,” was to seize reality, which Biff helped each character do.

*Death of a Salesman--Day 5.

In the commencement of the play Death of a Salesman, writer Arthur Miller implements various items that the reader does not understand the deeper meaning of until the play progresses. The “laugh” of “the woman” is not understood until further on in the play, and when the reader does unearth the meaning, the reader discovers the woman was Willy’s mistress in Boston. The reason Willy always hears the woman laughing in his memories, is because the woman was laughing when Biff saw her with Willy. Another symbol used to foreshadow Willy’s infidelity is the stockings. Previously in the play, Linda was mending her “stockings” and Willy became upset with her and told her to “throw them out.” The simple use of stockings denotes a deeper meaning within Act II. Stockings, being an undergarment, symbolize something sensual- therefore symbolizing Willy’s infidelity. When Biff catches Willy and the woman together, the woman is asking Willy for the stockings he promised to bring her. The reader then correlates the distress occurred in Willy when Linda was mending her old ones. Willy wants Linda to have new stockings to she has a better appearance to her- an image like Willy’s mistress.

Thus far, the characters have been dealing with a constant struggle of fighting with memories from the past. Falsifying reality is the main characteristic of Willy thus far, and is also occurring in the characters of Happy and Biff. When meeting with strangers, Happy recites that his family is “successful” and “wealthy” and that Biff is the “quarterback for the New York Giants” and that Willy is a great salesman. When Biff meets with Bill Oliver about working for bill, Biff realizes that he never actually was a “salesman for Bill” in his past, but was a “shipping clerk.” The Loman’s wanted the appearance of success so badly, that they made Biff believe that he actually worked for Bill Oliver. Biff is finally realizing that Happy and Willy are trapped in their demented minds of the past, and cannot move onto the future and what is happening now. The reader can predict that Biff will be the one Loman that will move forward and life and hopefully help Happy and Willy move forward also.

*Death of a Salesman--Day 4.

Act II in Death of a Salesman envelops the reader into the theme of appearance. Previously in the story, Willy chose to purchase a refrigerator based upon the appearance of the fridge in a magazine rather than studying the brand and reliability of the refrigerator. Sure enough, the refrigerator soon breaks, and Willy blames the “junkyard” refrigerator upon Linda. The morning that Happy and Biff leave on business, the house smells of “shaving lotion”, an aroma that Linda adores. The fragrance of the shaving lotion indicates the imperativeness that Willy and Linda feel towards personal appearances.

Along with physical appearances of tangible items, Willy also acquired the job of a salesman because of the “perfect” appearance of the job. Willy was offered a job in Alaska, but rejected the job because of an “eighty four year old” man named Dave Singleman who “drummed merchandise into thirty-one states.” The image of Dave Singleman attracted Willy to the job, based solely on the fact of the appearance of Dave Singleman. Although Dave Singleman appears to be a great salesman, and “hundreds of salesman and buyers” went to Dave’s funeral, the people were only there because they planned to buy items from Dave-they weren’t there because he was “well liked.” Willy discovers that being a salesman is now “cut and dried”- there are no “camaraderie,” “respectability, and “friendship” in sales “these days.” Through the story of Willy becoming a salesman based on image, Arthur Miller presents the theme of appearance, and how just because an item, person, or job appears glamorous, it really is not all that great if one doesn’t have the heart to put effort forth into it.

Willy is soon fired from his job from lacking motivation, and goes to Charley for financial help. Charley’s son, Bernard, shows Willy a “recorder” in which his son recites states and capitols. Throughout the play thus far, Arthur Miller uses objects to remind Willy of memories in life which provides clues to the reader about the unhappiness of Willy. The recorder, for instance, causes Willy to reminisce back upon the memory of another reason why Willy rejected the job in Alaska and also why Willy is bitter towards Biff. The day of Biff’s football game at “Ebbet Field,” was the day that Willy was supposed to leave for Alaska. However, Willy knew this game was important, and therefore stayed. As Willy speaks to Bernard more, Bernard questions as to why Biff did not go to summers school after “failing math.” Biff returned home, and burned his “University of Virginia sneakers” behind the furnace. The reader then understands why Willy chose to attempt suicide from the furnace- because it was Willy’s fault that Biff did not go to summer school. The attempt of suicide in the place that Biff “killed” his dreams signifies the guilt that Willy feels towards the failure of Biff. The question the reader has yet to unearth is what is Biff’s reasoning for not going to summer school? What did Willy say that day in Boston that prevented Biff to follow his dreams?

*Death of a Salesman--Day 3.

As the reader continues in Death of a Salesman, one begins to understand the reasoning for Willy being in the mental state he is in. Willy feels as if his life has not been successful as he hoped, therefore, Willy is living out his life through Biff. Willy falsifies his own life by making it seem as if he is an optimum salesman, when in reality the company Willy works for “took his salary away.” The constant struggle that Willy feels within himself induces perfection upon Biff. Biff does not wish for the life that Willy wants for him, so Biff never “tries to please people.” The “whistling” spoken of that Biff does while on the job symbolizes the lack of interest within the jobs Biff has, ultimately symbolizing how Biff correlates with his father in that neither are pleased with their lives.

Not only does the title “Death of a Salesman” come from the “death” of Willy’s American Dream, but the reader learns that Willy experiences suicidal thoughts. Willy is so unhappy with the achievements he has failed to accomplish and that his sons have accomplished, that Willy has attempted to take his own life. Although Biff often becomes frustrated with his father’s behavior, at the end of Act I, Biff is seen removing the “rubber tubing” from “behind the heater” in which Willy used to attempt suicide.

Before Act I comes to an end, Willy is reminiscing to Linda about the younger years of Biff. Meanwhile, Biff is down in the kitchen, as a “golden pool of light” is elucidating him. As Willy’s story proceeds, he speaks of how the “sun was around him” and there were “three representatives” from colleges standing by that were going to recruit Biff. Willy deduces how a “star like that…can never really fade away” as the imagery of “light” on Willy begins “fading.” The light illuminating Biff shows content that Willy had towards Biff’s accomplishments, however, once the realization of Willy’s dream for Biff faded, the light fades on Willy as the “gas heater begins to glow” symbolizing the reason for Willy being suicidal is from the loss of the American Dream that Willy envisioned for Biff.

Although Linda portrays a kind, caring character, in reality Linda is not doing any good for Willy. The sensitivity Linda has towards Willy is ultimately driving him towards suicide. Without a stable person in Willy’s life to remind him of where his life is going, all Willy has is the remembrance of his past rather than someone to help him look towards the future. Linda accuses her sons of causing Willy to be the way he is, when in reality Linda should be speaking with Willy about the way he is. Will Linda be able to talk and help Willy before it is too late?

*Death of a Salesman--Day 2.

In the second reading, the reader begins to unearth more reasons as to why Willy is the way he is. Willy strives to live the perfect “American Dream,” and by doing so, Willy must make his life appear flawless. Willy is so desirable of his own happiness and self achievements that Willy continues to hallucinate recollections of the past, and altering the memories to make his family appear “better.” In one recollection, Willy recalls Charley, whom Willy remembers as being not very “well liked” by the majority of the population. However, after Willy’s past remembrance, the reader finds out that Willy once again contradicted reality, as Charley is better liked than Willy is.

Not only does Willy wish for himself to appear successful, but also his two sons. Bernard, Charley’s son, is in reality more successful when it comes to studying, as Biff is almost “failing math class.” Willy tells his children that they will be more successful not because they are book smart, but because they are more “well liked.”

One of the main characteristics of Willy thus far is the constant struggle for himself to be “well liked.” Willy’s brother and father leaving and becoming more successful than Willy exposed an emotion in Willy that he wasn’t good enough and could not live up to the standards of his family; therefore, Willy constantly battles self resentment. In Willy’s memories, he alters the true memory to seem as if everyone enjoys his company. However, when Willy recalls back onto present life, he realizes that people know him as a “fat walrus” and that he is not as superior of a salesman as he wishes he was—Willy barely makes enough money to support his family. Throughout all of Willy’s constant inner battles, he has ultimately attempted to commit suicide more than once. Will Willy achieve success and be satisfied with the way his life and his family’s life is going, or will the disappointment prove too much for Willy?

*Death of a Salesman--Day 1.

The opening of the play “Death of a Salesman” illustrates a home of lesser quality. The home is lit only by the “blue light of the sky” which illuminates a scene of a kitchen that has the basic necessities, but no “fixtures.” Beyond the kitchen, is a “draped entrance” that contains a living room, and then a bedroom, “furnished only with a brass bead stand and a straight chair.” The simplicity of the home does not necessarily denote that the family that occupies the space is pitiable, but perhaps that the family is just unadorned people. To the viewer, the home is “transparent” and the roof-line is “one-dimensional” again denoting the simplicity of the family.

As the reader is introduced to the first character, Willy, an “exhausted” man of “sixty years of age” the reader gains insight of the lack of mentality Willy has. While driving, Willy all of the sudden begins “goin’ off the road” from daydreaming. Confusion emerges when Willy starts speaking of his “lazy bum” son Biff for not working, but then a couple of lines later, Willy goes on speaking of how Biff is “such a hard worker” and if there is one thing about Biff, it’s that “he’s not lazy.” Ironically, Willy then complains to his wife how he is “always being contradicted”, yet Willy contradicts each statement he makes. As soon as Willy spoke about opening the windows in the truck, he soon says that the “windshields don’t open on the new cars” and then goes on reminiscing about how he believed he was driving his “chevvy” today. The reader begins to wonder what is wrong with Willy and why his mental state is so amiss.

Another contradiction within the play thus far is the character, Happy’s, name. The reader would think that someone with the name of “Happy” would be joyous and content with one’s life; however, Happy is unstable with the life he is living thus far. Although Happy has a nice job, he doesn’t enjoy what he does, and only finds peace in sleeping around with women. Happy has gone as far as sleeping with a girl that is “engaged to be married in five weeks.” Although Happy feels “disgust” with himself, he also gains satisfaction , as if it is a sort of “competition” and Happy has won and overachieved what the “vice president” has accomplished.

Happy’s brother, Biff, also does not feel satisfaction from his life. No matter the job Biff has, he has not felt content with his accomplishments. Thus far, the story has been a constant struggle with self happiness and achievement.