How many multiple types of women are there? How does one determine the type of woman someone is? Does the type of woman someone may be affect the sacrifices they will make as a mother or mother figure? Khaled Hosseini explores these questions in A Thousand Splendid Suns. In the novel Hosseini uses the three archetypal women to foreshadow whether Nana, Mammy, Mariam, and Laila will make selfish choices or sacrifice for their children, as mothers or mother figures throughout the novel. The first archetypal woman is the terrible mother, which is associated with fear, danger, darkness, emasculation, and death. Nana and Mammy are two women from the novel who are correspondent with the characteristics of the terrible mother, that make bad sacrifices
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A good mother always makes the best decision for her children, which Mariam and Laila always made sure to do. Mariam never has a live child but she is a mother figure to Laila and her children. Mariam was disappointed that she could not have children but through her love for them she is able to fulfill her dream of becoming a mother and receiving love. Mariam is the one who cooks and prepares the food for the family, even when they have no money she does the best with what she has to prepare. She is also a protector when Rasheed abuses Laila a prime example would be “The first thing she saw when she sat up was Rasheed. He was lying on his back, staring at nothing with an unblinking, fish-mouthed expression… ‘Oh Mariam.’”(351) Mariam did not care that she was killing someone because she was so busy saving Laila that it did not matter to her. Lastly Laila made an emotional decision to put Aziza in an orphanage but it ensured Aziza would be fed and taught. “If she was lucky, she was given a tongue-lashing or a single kick to to the rear, a shove in the back. Other times, she met with assortments of wooden clubs, fresh tree branches, short whips, slaps, often fists,”(321) meaning Laila risked her life to visit Aziza to ensure she knew she was loved even though she does not live with the family. After they are stable enough to buy food they bring Aziza back home. In conclusion,
A good mother always makes the best decision for her children, which Mariam and Laila always made sure to do. Mariam never has a live child but she is a mother figure to Laila and her children. Mariam was disappointed that she could not have children but through her love for them she is able to fulfill her dream of becoming a mother and receiving love. Mariam is the one who cooks and prepares the food for the family, even when they have no money she does the best with what she has to prepare. She is also a protector when Rasheed abuses Laila a prime example would be “The first thing she saw when she sat up was Rasheed. He was lying on his back, staring at nothing with an unblinking, fish-mouthed expression… ‘Oh Mariam.’”(351) Mariam did not care that she was killing someone because she was so busy saving Laila that it did not matter to her. Lastly Laila made an emotional decision to put Aziza in an orphanage but it ensured Aziza would be fed and taught. “If she was lucky, she was given a tongue-lashing or a single kick to to the rear, a shove in the back. Other times, she met with assortments of wooden clubs, fresh tree branches, short whips, slaps, often fists,”(321) meaning Laila risked her life to visit Aziza to ensure she knew she was loved even though she does not live with the family. After they are stable enough to buy food they bring Aziza back home. In conclusion,