Never Giving Up
People endure every single day. Whether physical endurance, or mental endurance, everyone endures. My personal story of endurance is similar Mariam. I was sent to a summer long camp. Much like Mariam, everyday was a struggle in itself. The queasy, sick feeling of missing home, and not knowing what the day will bring. When most people are faced with emotional, or physical endurance, they give up. But in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about two women who don’t give up. The novel is about a woman named Mariam, born a harabi, who is forced to marry a man she had never previously known, meanwhile; a girl named Laila, born into a well loving family with hopes and aspirations, however; suddenly …show more content…
In order for Mariam especially to carry on, she is usually the one beaten, her will to survive must be even greater than Laila’s. Rasheed, like many men of his culture and time, has zero problem with beating his wives when they act out of place. In the aftermath of Mariam and her several miscarriages, can’t seem to cook the rice to perfection, inturn; Rasheed seeks vengeance by forcing Mariam to eat rocks, Khaled says, “Mariam struggled against him, mumbling, but he kept pushing the pebbles in, his upper lip curled in a sneer. “Now chew,” he said.”(Page 104) Khaled Hosseini wanted to portray the way men can have a vulcano effect after frustration time and time again. It wasn’t just the one night she undercooked her rice, it was an accumulation of the perfect storm for Rasheed that set him over the edge, and Mariam suffered the most. Laila, in her naive self, is taught at a young age that a marriage is peaceful by her parents. She was not yet exposed to the kind of horrors a man would commit to his wives, as to Mariam it became monotonous and routine. Laila gets a first hand experience of the wrath of Rasheed when Mariam and herself try to run away, to seek refuge in a neighboring city. But their plans are spoiled by a man when they try to enter the bus. Rasheed locks Laila and her hungry baby in a room for three days with no water, Khaled writes, “ If you ever try to run away from me again, I will kill Mariam first, then Aziza, then you. I’ll make you watch. You understand me? I’ll make you watch.” (page 272) In a way this even only strengthened Laila, in the fact that it gave her that much more of a reason to retaliate against Rasheed. Laila’s natural reaction to this event differs much from Mariams. Mariam is so well seasoned to the constant beatings, she understands there is nothing to do or say to save her from them. Laila shows a strong will to survive because she
People endure every single day. Whether physical endurance, or mental endurance, everyone endures. My personal story of endurance is similar Mariam. I was sent to a summer long camp. Much like Mariam, everyday was a struggle in itself. The queasy, sick feeling of missing home, and not knowing what the day will bring. When most people are faced with emotional, or physical endurance, they give up. But in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about two women who don’t give up. The novel is about a woman named Mariam, born a harabi, who is forced to marry a man she had never previously known, meanwhile; a girl named Laila, born into a well loving family with hopes and aspirations, however; suddenly …show more content…
In order for Mariam especially to carry on, she is usually the one beaten, her will to survive must be even greater than Laila’s. Rasheed, like many men of his culture and time, has zero problem with beating his wives when they act out of place. In the aftermath of Mariam and her several miscarriages, can’t seem to cook the rice to perfection, inturn; Rasheed seeks vengeance by forcing Mariam to eat rocks, Khaled says, “Mariam struggled against him, mumbling, but he kept pushing the pebbles in, his upper lip curled in a sneer. “Now chew,” he said.”(Page 104) Khaled Hosseini wanted to portray the way men can have a vulcano effect after frustration time and time again. It wasn’t just the one night she undercooked her rice, it was an accumulation of the perfect storm for Rasheed that set him over the edge, and Mariam suffered the most. Laila, in her naive self, is taught at a young age that a marriage is peaceful by her parents. She was not yet exposed to the kind of horrors a man would commit to his wives, as to Mariam it became monotonous and routine. Laila gets a first hand experience of the wrath of Rasheed when Mariam and herself try to run away, to seek refuge in a neighboring city. But their plans are spoiled by a man when they try to enter the bus. Rasheed locks Laila and her hungry baby in a room for three days with no water, Khaled writes, “ If you ever try to run away from me again, I will kill Mariam first, then Aziza, then you. I’ll make you watch. You understand me? I’ll make you watch.” (page 272) In a way this even only strengthened Laila, in the fact that it gave her that much more of a reason to retaliate against Rasheed. Laila’s natural reaction to this event differs much from Mariams. Mariam is so well seasoned to the constant beatings, she understands there is nothing to do or say to save her from them. Laila shows a strong will to survive because she