Objectification is the action of degrading someone to the status of a mere object. An object has no relationship, choices or feelings. A Thousand Splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini is a story about two women, Laila and Mariam both grow up in Afghanistan but live opposite lives. Struggling with acceptance and objectification they help each other overcome their struggles. From a young age Mariam is objectified. First by her family. Her mother as she calls, Nana, is constantly putting her down and making her feel unworthy. Mariams loving nature is challenged by her mother. The second being that Mariam’s birth is considered illegitimate by those around her because she is a “harami”, which is a bastard child. Causing her …show more content…
Jalil's wives want nothing to do with her so they force her to marry Rasheed, a widowed shoe maker in Kabul. Rasheed is manipulative and controlling. Mariam sees herself as unworthy and submits herself to him. Rasheed does not hold back and quickly instructs Mariam on what he believes is an ideal wife. To him that is, subservient, fertile and obedient. When Mariam is unable to have children he becomes frustrated with her and abuses her physically and verbally. Mariam does not do anything to stop the abuse because she sees herself as unworthy to affection, a result from her mother’s constant objectification.because when she was a child her mother was constantly putting her down. To have a relationship is to have a connection with someone. Rasheed does not allow a relationship to take place leading to the objectification of mariam. Rasheed treats mariam with no respect and if he is unhappy with her actions he abuses her. Rasheed is unhappy with Mariams cooking and forces her to eat pebbles. He compares her rice to eating stones. Rasheed tells Mariam she has given him nothing in the marriage. “He snatched her hand… and dropped a handful of pebbles into it.’ … ‘Put these in your mouth’ … CHEW! He bellowed… Mariam chewed. Something in the back of her mouth cracks” (Hosseini 104) Rasheed did not like mariams cooking as a punishment he makes her eat rocks. Mariam doesn’t do …show more content…
Rasheed has been an awful husband to her. When Mariam sees Laila is being strangled to death she finally has the courage to stand up. She kills Rasheed with a shovel by bringing it down on rasheed with all her strength. Mariam is finally able to deny the objectification brought toward her. This shows a turning point in Mariam's life, the pain and sorrow Rasheed has brought her and the love and joy she feels with Laila. She chooses to kill Rasheed in order to save Laila, no longer taking orders from someone else. Mariam turns herself into the taliban and is executed in order for Laila to be free and live a happy life. “But somehow, over these last months, Laila and Aziza - a harami like herself, as it turned out … had become extensions of her, and now without them, the life Mariam had tolerated for so long suddenly seemed intolerable” (Hosseini 256) Mariam is able to be all her mother is not. Mariams feelings empower her to make the decision of killing Rasheed. Her anger toward Rasheed and her love for Laila all motivate her killing Rasheed. Laila and Aziza have had such a large impact on her life they become like extensions to herself. These human qualities Mariam presents, show her removal of her