Character Analysis Of Mariam In A Thousand Splendid Suns

Superior Essays
Being forced into a loveless marriage by their family. Living according to someone else’s strict beliefs and rules, not their own. Feeling the immense, pressure of having to conceive healthy, male children in abundance. Facing ruthless violence from their husband. Staying silent, knowing that no one will hear their desperate cries for help in their unjust society. Living in constant fear and unease everyday of the deadly bombs unceasingly landing around their war torn city. These are some of the many hardships and struggles that Afghanistan women face during their life. A great illustration of their struggles is displayed in a character, Mariam in the book “A Thousand Splendid Suns”. Unlike the women that live with these struggle for their entire life, Mariam learns how to harness the power grown out of her conflicts Mariam has encountered and pushed through during her life. One of the female characters that display a significant evolution in character is Mariam. Her strength signifies the strength of not only Afghanistan women, but women, who …show more content…
At the beginning of the book, Mariam couldn’t muster the strength to stop or stand up to her husband. She allows herself to be raped several times, not believing she had the power to stop him. In addition, Mariam experiences multiple types of abuse by Rasheed. After enduring abuse and traumatic experiences, she learns how to channel her power for the greater good. At the end of their marriage Mariam stops Rasheed’s violent actions by doing the only act that will end his abusive behavior, she murders Rasheed. Not only saving Laila’s life, but having the ability then to take accountability for Rasheed’s murder displays her strength. Like many female Afghanistan women, Mariam faced hardships and struggles, but is able to overcome them to become a strong person showing the determination of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    A Thousand Splendid Suns takes its readers to Afghanistan when all the fighting was taking place. It tells the stories of two girls/ women, Mariam and Laila, which lived in the area during the time of some terrible events. The terrible events eventually brought the two together. It takes its readers through love, pain, sadness, loss, grief etc. Both had to live through the last thirty years of Afghanistan.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Khaled Hosseini, the author of A Thousand Splendid Suns used a extravagant amount of diverse literary devices to convey the theme of the novel as a whole. He used devices to help the reader get a better understanding for example he used similes, imagery, and personification. With this he was able to show the emotions and actions within characters and how it affected everyone in the end. In the novel he also puts some lines to help show the foreshadowing that is going down throughout the text. Around the commencement of the story he shows that Mariam is distressed in such a way she would do anything to get what she wants.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    After Rasheed found out about Laila meeting and having Tariq inside their house he took it upon himself to punish both of them to point where death was near. At this moment Mariam knew she had to make a decision, and fast. Laila’s life was on the line as Rasheed violently attacked Laila, Mariam made her way to the shed to grab a shovel that would soon end his life. This helps show Mariams defining moment because she chose to risk everything to protect Laila and by doing this it shines a new light on the type of person she is and all that time she spent serving him would be for nothing. This is important to Mariam because the Taliban would soon find out what she did and eventually kill her; which leads readers to believe that Mariam is exactly like her mom, selfless and kind-hearted.…

    • 2009 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Mariam’s unfortunate relationship with her father caused her to be emotionless, and taught her to subsist through all negativity in her life without hoping for change. This specific mindset helped her, yet hindered her while she was with Rasheed. For one, Mariam’s strong mentality made it easy for her to detach herself from the man she was forced to marry, and live her life as if she were alone, without depending on anyone. She was more of a lone wolf, and this was mainly because of how she was raised to be. However, Mariam’s upbringing made it difficult for her to feel emotion for others, or allow anyone to get near her on a personal…

    • 1119 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In every situation that occurred with Mariam, Laila and Aziza, Rasheed had the finial decision. The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns presented the laws Afghanistan made for women that made them not equal to men. In the novel a law was made in Afghanistan around 1992 referencing women’s right to travel…

    • 1285 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Afghan women, as a group, I think their suffering has been equaled by very few other groups in recent world history.” These are the words of the author of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini. Oppression of women is an offense that is common in the country of Afghanistan. Majority of the women in Afghanistan are illiterate and suffer at the hand of the misogynistic culture. A Thousand Splendid Suns is an amalgamation that reveals the tyrannical treatment and degradation of women in Afghanistan.…

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Cultures all around the world perceive women to be objects and nothing more. For a woman to speak up for herself and make a change in something she believes in, truly shows the heroic act of that individual in any circumstance. The book A Thousand Splendid Suns on the other hand, written by Khaled Hosseini, demonstrates this principle very strongly through the two protagonist’ in the novel, Mariam and Laila. The development of the two in earlier chapters bring them to be totally different characters near the end when the true act of heroism fully proves to be evident. Furthermore the struggles of Mariam in particular built her into a courageous and selfless character, throughout the novel, portraying her has the true heroine.…

    • 1448 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rasheed treated and presented Mariam as a servant, telling Laila that Mariam will do anything she needed. (Chapter 31, page 223). Rasheed even called Mariam a harami which touched her emotional wounds and filled them with his emotional poison. Mariam was abused mentally and physically more than Laila was, but she learned from a young age how to endure any hardship life threw her way. “Women like us.…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Behind every trial and sorrow that he makes us shoulder, God has a reason” (Hosseini 27). Laila withstood a lot of abuse from Rasheed equivalent to what Mariam went through. Mariam like Laila also depended a great deal on her faith. Mariam had no other choice in the matter because hope was one of the only things she did have. “God’s words will never betray you, my girl” ( Hosseini 16).…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns narrates the lives of two Afghan women through three generations of war and conflict in Afghanistan. At first glance, the novel appears to be a appalling depiction of the injustice and cruelty towards women in Afghan society. However, Hosseini’s message may be far more hopeful than the novel’s grim atmosphere may suggest. A Thousand Splendid Suns depicts the conflict in Afghanistan through the lens of the country’s oppressed women. Yet, the novel actually breaks western stereotypes of Afghanistan by highlighting acts of resistance and bravery among its female characters.…

    • 1739 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The novel, “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, by Khaled Hosseini, shows the cultural aspects of religion in many different ways. The novel starts in the 1960’s, outside of Herat, in Afghanistan, where a young girl named Mariam lives . She is one of the main characters of the story along with a girl named Laila.…

    • 1446 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel a thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini, the two main female figures of the novel show true heroine characteristics. However, while Laila shows the ability to endure, bypass a conflict of conscience and caring attitude, Mariam ultimately prove that she is the one who really developed deeply heroine characteristics. Through their lives both Mariam and Laila show their ability to endure the suffering and the ability to go on with their lives after enormous amounts of anguish. Rasheed giving Laila’s daughter to the orphanage make Laila suffer, as Aziza is a symbol of the feelings she and Tariq once had, seeing her daughter go away only brings a deep sadness to Laila’s heart. As they are in the orphanage Laila began to cry saying…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hannah Mackler Mr. Kearney English 4 Honors September 24, 2015 A Thousand Splendid Suns Essay A patriarchal society by definition is "a male-dominated power structure throughout organized society and in individual relationships". In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the overall structure of society spanning over three generations, but specifically during the Taliban rule, is patriarchal. The women in the story face oppression by not having the civil liberties many of us take for granted such as going to school, having a job, or even leaving our houses unaccompanied. Nana, Mariam, and, Laila all exemplify how this society affects women making it easy for the reader to comprehend a concept that is foreign to us.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Thousand Splendid Suns An action will deal with any circumstance. However, the situations one has been in, and the challenges one has experienced determine that action. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, the protagonist, Mariam, has to face many hardships in the city of Kabul. She learns how to endure her real life situations.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This novel demonstrates the strength of women who fought for survival and freedom. In the end, Laila and Tariq survived with their children when they escaped to Pakistan while Mariam died in prison. Laila soon decided to return home in Kabul with her family where it is now safe. Laila first went to find Mariam’s family in Herat and found things from Jalil, Mariam’s father, including a letter he written for Mariam. In the letter, he talked about his regrets and pride he had before, and hope Mariam can forgive him.…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays