Discussion B, D. Hoffmaster, Period 5

In his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini utilizes characterization of Mariam and her new husband Rasheed to examine gender relations and their patriarchal state in 1970’s Afghanistan.  Primarily, Mariam views her arrangement with Rasheed with fear and anxiety. Mariam thinks that having to “clean after this man, Rasheed, cook for him, wash his clothes” are “painful acts of perversity, that filled her with dread and made her break out in a sweat.” (Page 49) Mariam is only fifteen years old at this point. The thought of marrying is daunting in the eyes of people twice, if not three times, her age. However, in the (viewed by westerners as backwards) Afghani society, arranging marriages (another supposedly barbaric institution) between young women and older men (Rasheed is supposedly somewhere between forty and forty-five) is the norm. Rasheed is a very traditional Afghani male; he believes that a woman is her husband’s property, and enforces the rule of not allowing other men to gaze upon her very strictly. When Mariam learns of his demands that she not allow herself to be seen by males, she feels that Rasheed’s “will felt...as imposing and inmovable as the Safid-koh mountains looming over Gul Daman.” (Page 71) Mariam’s view of Rasheed is similar to the view that many women have of men in the patriarchal society present not only in Afghanistan, but in the world at large. Domination begins not with a show of physical force, but rather a force of will. Once one has a person dominated mentally, their spirit drained, physical domination comes soon afterwards. Mariam finds out that Rasheed was looking at nude magazines before and possibly while she is with him, a clear contradiction from his value system of respecting women as their husband’s to do with. However, Mariam explains it away as, “He was a man, after all, living alone for years before she had moved in. His needs differed from hers.” (Page 83) Mariam is disgusted with this, but she accepts it as just a natural part of Rasheed being male. Instead of being indignant, she is accepting. Rasheed can clearly get away with anything short of murder, and Mariam would justify it. Based on this, Hosseini paints a clear picture of gender relations that can still be applied in today’s world, thirty years in the future; men have the power, while the women willingly submit because they do not know much else. Some break free of the chains that bind them, but others are content to live in their servitude to man.

Discussion Topic C, D. Hoffmaster, Period 5

                Khaled Hosseini utilizes the character Nana to represent the hatred and bitterness that people hold for their past and how it leads to demise in his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. Nana, Mariam’s mother, holds on to the painful mistake that she made in having an affair with a man she used to work for, Mariam’s father Jalil. Mariam reminds Nana of this apparent mistake in her very actions, as after Mariam drops Nana’s prized tea set, Nana says, “This is my reward for everything I’ve endured. An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harami.” (Page 4)  Harami, bastard, signifies the relationship between Mariam, Nana, and Jalil, as the Mariam’s illegitimacy causes the strife and tension that Nana has had to endure for the entirety of her life. As the daughter of a stone carver and a maid for Jalil, this one decision caused her to uproot the entirety of her life, bringing shame to everyone she knew. Nana pushes this guilt and hate on Mariam, claiming that, “There is nothing out there for her. Nothing but rejection and heartache.” (Page 19) Nana is completely stuck in the past. She believes that there is no way for Mariam to climb out of the pain that Nana experienced, that she is doomed to repeat the cycle of hurt. The audience views Nana as bitter, and naturally repulsive. This reduces the sympathy that one has for those who have been through troubling times. Despite Nana’s claims to have endured, the past broke her. The final straw, though, was Mariam’s decision to leave for a day to visit Jalil. After a long ordeal where Mariam was not able to even see him, she saw beneath the weeping willow, “The rope dropping from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it.” (Page 36). Nana’s decision to take her life brings the audience back to a sympathetic point of view. The pain that she suffered was greater than any had expected; the bitterness she lived with, was not enough for her to hold on to. Nana is a poor, poor soul. The pain of Mariam choosing Nana’s mistake, over Nana, was simply too much. The combination of resentment and rejection finally pushed her over the edge. Through Nana, Hosseini attempts to tell us that not everybody is strong. People will give in to the pains of life, and will seek out the only reprise they can see: Death.