The Hardship Of Mariam And Laia's Novels

Superior Essays
Register to read the introduction… For example, Mariam had to show strength as a child not to be resentful of her father on the basis of her Nana’s negative attitude towards him ‘his idea of penance’ and Laila had to learn to adjust to life without her family at a young age. This sets the context for where the roots of their inner strength have derived from. Moreover, the mood of the novel is rather negative, as it displays intense agony and sadness which the characters face.

Mariam and Laila display how they conquer the agonizing challenges women in Afghanistan face. Laila was forced to pass off her first child as Rasheed’s daughter and this act was something that required courage and boldness. Rasheed is Mariam’s and Laila’s personal constant reminder of the oppression the Taliban is imposing on them. The two women undergo humiliation, starvation and alarming violence by Rasheed ‘eyes watered with pain/her shirt had been ripped down the front’ until they retaliate and end all the suffering they have
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This book could be viewed as showing a negative image of Islam as modern readers might get confused by viewing all Muslims as radicals. The novel highlights major historical events into the narrative and portrays the medieval barbarity exercised by the Taliban ‘under Taliban rule, women have been stripped of their visibility, voice and mobility’. This novel beautifully describes the disturbing story of how women succumb and become victims of the wrath of the Taliban ‘she could not accept/that sometimes in war innocent life had to be taken’

The challenges that Mariam and Laila face, brings to surface the shocking discrimination against women by anti-feminists. The detailed description in this book, gives an insight to how difficult it will be to restore the peace back into Afghanistan. The Taliban publicly flogged and killed an innocent 45 year old pregnant woman who was accused of alleged adultery. ‘They say she was first flogged 200 times and then shot in the head three times’ This is just a basic scenario which the Taliban carry

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