The current poverty rate in Kabul, Afghanistan is twenty-nine percent. ADD ANOTHER SENTENCE! Hosseini uses the rigorous poverty in Afghanistan to carve the lives of Mariam and Laila as they fight for survival during the Taliban invasion in his book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. A Thousand Splendid Suns starts out when Mariam was five years old in 1974. When Mariam turns fifteen she finds her mother dead, by the act of suicide. Mariam was then left with her father, Jalil, and his other family, only to be sent away with a new husband, Rasheed, who turns out to be abusive towards women. When the Taliban invaded Afghanistan they demolished many houses, one of them was Mariam’s neighbor, Laila. Rasheed decided to marry Laila as she was still young and fertile. After Laila gives birth to her daughter Aziza, her and Mariam try to run away, but were soon
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Hosseini exposes these facts, “Death from starvation suddenly became a distinct possibility. Some chose not to wait for it. Mariam heard of a neighborhood widow who had ground some dried bread, laced it with rat poison, and fed it to all seven of her children. She had saved the biggest portion for herself” (Hosseini 272). Poverty has always been an issue across the globe, however the extremity of it differs for each country. In Afghanistan many laws prevented women work outside the home. Because of this restriction many women were not able to make enough money to support their children. Events in this book show the effects of poverty and hunger throughout the society. Hosseini shows two opposing perspectives on poverty, one of them being from the rural side of town where people struggle to find food. The other perspective is from the wealthy suburbs in Kabul where people can afford servants and multiple wives. The gap between these two different societies broadened when the Taliban invaded in
Hosseini exposes these facts, “Death from starvation suddenly became a distinct possibility. Some chose not to wait for it. Mariam heard of a neighborhood widow who had ground some dried bread, laced it with rat poison, and fed it to all seven of her children. She had saved the biggest portion for herself” (Hosseini 272). Poverty has always been an issue across the globe, however the extremity of it differs for each country. In Afghanistan many laws prevented women work outside the home. Because of this restriction many women were not able to make enough money to support their children. Events in this book show the effects of poverty and hunger throughout the society. Hosseini shows two opposing perspectives on poverty, one of them being from the rural side of town where people struggle to find food. The other perspective is from the wealthy suburbs in Kabul where people can afford servants and multiple wives. The gap between these two different societies broadened when the Taliban invaded in