*A Thousand Splendid Suns--Week5.

In the final reading of A Thousand Splendid Suns, the reader encounters the most prevalent theme of motherhood. Mariam and Laila faced the greatest test of “motherhood” in the end of the book, when Mariam gives up her life so that Laila can live freely. Not only does Mariam show kinship, but Laila also does when letting Mariam turn herself in for killing Rasheed. Laila must “think like a mother” and do what is best for her children, just as Mariam does with Laila. Hosseini illustrates the importance of family through the experiences that Mariam and Laila’s family goes through. Hosseini also exemplifies how one’s family does not have to comprise of blood relatives, but a family can be any person that one would risk his or her life for.

Hosseini also portrays family through the letter that Jalil leaves for Mariam. The letter was meant to signify as a closure for Mariam to forgive her father, but now serves as a closure for Laila as she now knows about Mariam’s life and family. An allusion is made to “Pinocchio”, a movie that Jalil left for Mariam, symbolizing the lies he told Mariam, and how he wished to rectify what he did. The box left from Jalil serves as a remembrance for what Jalil did, and a closure to forgiveness.

As Mariam enters jail, she is forced to sign a contract for them to kill her. The only other time that Mariam has “ever signed her name” was when she “married Rasheed.” Mariam having only signed her name twice in her life symbolizes the cliché of Mariam “signing her life away.” Literally signing her life away when signing for her to die, and metaphorically when she signed to marry Rasheed, which meant signing away her freedom and innocence.

While in prison, the women that Mariam share a jail cell with “idolize” Mariam for why she was put in jail. Hosseini demonstrates female empowerment with the satisfaction that the entire women feel towards Mariam for standing up to the men in society. In Afghanistan, the Taliban portray women as a sort of creature in the world—not worthy of having freedoms that men do. However, Mariam changes the way that men are portrayed in society as she stands up for not only herself, but the entire female population when she murders Rasheed. This leads to the feeling of content that overcomes Mariam before she is sentenced to death. Mariam realizes that she made a difference in Afghanistan, and was “loved and loved back.” Mariam made a difference not only in Laila and Aziza’s life, but in the entire female population in Afghanistan.

The final pages of A Thousand Splendid Suns signify a new beginning in Kabul. The beginning is foreshadowed through Laila visiting Mariam’s home, which creates closure from the past to move on to a new beginning. The true meaning of A Thousand Splendid Suns is for the people in Afghanistan to “find a way to survive, to go on” after being “marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief.” Mariam is what causes Laila to view the true “thousand splendid suns” of Kabul- to look past the grief and misery that the two women did experience, and to move on and see the beauty in Afghanistan. Not only does Mariam signify a new beginning, but also the new orphanage that Laila works at as a school teacher, Laila marrying Tariq and experiencing the family she always dreamed of, and now another pregnancy, to bring a new life into the world of Kabul. Hosseini demonstrated the importance of moving on in one’s life after tragedy, and to see what the true “splendid suns” are in the world.

*A Thousand Splendid Suns--Week4.

As rules and regulations alter in Afghanistan in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, lifestyles begin to change for the women. The list of rules that Afghan women must obey, relates the reader back to those rules that Rasheed induced upon Laila and Mariam. Rasheed forbade the two woman to ever leave the home without wearing “a burqa at all times” and neither of the women could leave the home without being “accompanied by a mahram”, or a male relative.” Not only do the laws coincide with the beliefs that Rasheed previously enforced, but after the laws were conceived, Rasheed was “not at all bothered by the Taliban”, but embraced the laws. Rasheed symbolizes a microcosm of everything the Taliban stands for. Not allowing any freedoms for women, and holding men to the upmost superiority over all others.

While Rasheed is a microcosm of the Taliban, Zalmai is the epitome of his father’s personality. “Zalmai” means “young” in Afghanistan, which correlates with Zalmai being the “young” and youthful version of Rasheed- as he “easily held grudges” and “persisted in mischief” only around Laila, yet never did wrong when Rasheed was around. Rasheed contributes to Zalmai acting the way he does, as Rasheed bribes Zalmai with gifts such as a “new TV” which Rasheed never did with Aziza. The bribery and beloved emotional connection that Rasheed and Zalmai have foreshadow that Zalmai will turn out exactly like Rasheed—egotistical and abusive. The relationship also symbolizes a bigger picture- the power that the Taliban men have over the women and the negative, unfair, and bias treatment that the men have over the women.

Just as Rasheed has almost killed Mariam and Laila already in multiple ways, Zalmai is now denoted as possibly causing the death of them. When the Titanic becomes popular and widespread throughout the area, Aziza compares herself to Jack and Mariam to Rose, while Zalmai is the “iceberg” that caused the death of Jack and Rose. Zalmai being metaphorically compared to an iceberg denotes his icy and deadly personality and power in which Zalmai could possibly end up holding the future of the women. Laila then says that “everybody wants Jack to rescue them from the disaster” but, “there is no Jack…Jack is dead.” The true “Jack” symbolizes both the men in society, and that there is no one man that will stand up for the unfair treatment of the women. “Jack” also symbolizes the chances of the women ever being rescued from the miserable life they are living.

As Aziza is put in a orphanage, Zamen teaches her multiple facts in school, such as “tectonic plates” and how they “slide past each other, and release energy which travels to the earth’s surface and makes it shake.” Laila notices a “stutter” in Aziza as she speaks, which makes the reader realize the anecdote of Aziza’s studies symbolize more than what is on the surface. The “fractures” symbolize the pain one feels “deep down” but how all people see on the “surface” is just a “slight tremor.” The reiteration that Aziza speaks of symbolizes how she is trying to show her exuberance towards Laila so that she doesn’t feel bad about leaving her in the orphanage, but deep down Aziza is lonely and afraid.

Tremendous growth is illustrated in the characters of both Mariam and Laila. Mariam experiences growth when she learns the recurring motif of “endurance”—a lesson she learned from her mother. Mariam portrays motherly instincts as Laila is getting ready for birth a second time, and is forced to go to a “women doctor.” Mariam calls Laila her “daughter” which conveys the nexus the women have formed between each other. After the doctor says that there is no anesthesia available, Mariam volunteers to travel elsewhere to find some, just so Laila is not in so much pain. Mariam has grown from a bitter women afraid of Laila stealing away her husband, to a women devoted to empowering Laila and doing whatever it takes to make sure Laila and her children are taken care of.

Laila portrays growth when faced with the tough choice of abortion. Although Laila does not wish to give birth to something that is part Rasheed’s, Laila refuses to take the “bicycle spoke” and kill her baby. The selfless act of keeping the baby that Laila does not want depicts the morals that Laila has, even though the Taliban does not. Laila refuses to lose her morals even though everyone around her has.

The growth and connection that Mariam and Laila have formed between each other illustrates the power of the Afghanistan women. Standing up to Rasheed and taking brutal beatings along with Laila outlasting beatings from the Taliban just to see her daughter for an hour or two exemplifies the motif of “endurance” and the tenacity of the Afghanistan women. Hosseini illustrating the ruthless treatment that women face in Afghanistan everyday helps the reader understand what the women go through every day. Not only is Hosseini demonstrating the cruelty that women face, but also the strength of women through empowerment and endurance.

Although Mariam and Laila exhibit endurance, it is not always easy for the women. Laila has a dream that she is forced to bury her daughter, and can “taste the soil” as she dumps it over Aziza’s body. The dream that Laila has foreshadows that possibly in the future Laila will have to sacrifice her daughter perhaps to save her from the harsh treatment of the Taliban or the men in society. Or perhaps Laila will have to choose between her daughter and the man she loves, Tariq? If Tariq wishes to see Aziza, and Rasheed does not allow it, Rasheed may come after Tariq and kill him. Will Laila have to sacrifice her daughter in order to save the man she loves?

*A Thousand Splendid Suns--Week3.

Once again, in A Thousand Splendid Suns, the reader delves into a melancholy tone. The war continues on in Afghanistan, and although moments of gaiety occur when Laila’s parents agree to move from Kabul, the jovial tone is interrupted with a “whistling” and then a “flash of white” and an explosion that sends Laila “twisting and rotating in the air.” When Laila lands, she sees a “bloody chunk of something” and on it, the “tip of a red bridge” illustrating the death of Laila’s dad due to the war. Once again, when a character was so close to perfection in life, it is brutally interrupted. The death of Laila’s parents leads Laila into guilt, which shows the parallel between Mariam and Laila. Just as Mariam felt guilt for her mother’s death, Laila feels culpable for Hakim’s death because Laila believes that she “should have been the one inside the house when it happened.” The correlation that the reader discovers in Mariam and Laila advances the reader into the upcoming events of Mariam and Laila living together.

Since Mariam and Rasheed are the couple that discover Laila, Laila then lives with the two, and ultimately is asked if she will marry Rasheed, even though Rasheed is “much older” than Laila. Surprisingly, Mariam and Laila do not get along at all. At first, the reader thinks that maybe this is because Mariam doesn’t agree with the wretched and iniquitous manner of Rasheed’s and Laila’s marriage. However, the reader then understands Mariam’s reasoning for disliking Rasheed having another wife and “stealing [her] husband.” Because of Mariam’s past of not having a true father and losing her mother, Mariam is afraid that Laila will “steal” Rasheed away from Mariam. Although Mariam does not truly love, or really even like, Rasheed, he is all that Mariam has ever had. However, when Rasheed attempts to “whip” Mariam with a “leather belt”, Laila steps in front and “holds back Rasheed” protecting Mariam over herself. It is then when Mariam realizes that Laila married Rasheed not to steal him away, but to protect herself from the war and from loneliness, just as Mariam did. This is just the beginning of the relationship between Mariam and Laila.

As the reader continues, the relationship between Laila and Tariq grows stronger. Tariq symbolizes protection and comfort for Laila, and now that Tariq is gone, the protection is gone, along with Laila’s parents, home, and innocence as it was taken from the marriage to Rasheed. Just like Mariam believed her mother’s death was her own fault, Laila blames Tariq’s death on herself, because of her “lack of emotion” and sorrow when her brothers died. Laila believes that she is being punished because she wasn’t able to correlate to Fariba’s feelings and help Fariba during her time of sorrow. Tariq dying symbolizes the end of Laila’s protection, as she is now truly alone.

Before Laila and her family moves, Hakim reminisces back to a line he remembers in a poem about “the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.” Up until this point, the reader could not make a correlation from the title to the novel until now. Hakim remembering the town of Kabul as a “thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls” symbolizes that through all the grief and pain that one suffers in Kabul from the war and personal vendettas, memories will always remain in Kabul, even if the good memories appear to “hide.” The line also foreshadows that although Laila is unhappy in Kabul right now, that eventually Laila will realize a bigger meaning to her life, and figure out the “thousand splendid suns” that exist in Kabul.