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Laila and Mariam's Moment of Motivation

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Laila and Mariam's Moment of Motivation
Justin Lagbo
Dual Enrollment 2A
Literary Analysis Essay
22 April 2014
Laila and Mariam’s Moment of Motivation “There is only one, only one skill a woman like you and me needs in life… Endure” (Hosseini 18). In A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Mariam and Laila experience and take in Rasheed’s harsh punishments. He beats them, pushes them, and even locks them in a room. In the end, both women are able to build up confidence and confront Rasheed. They take him down once and for all. “Afghan women subjects its women to all kinds of torment, physical and psychological” (“READING”) People have hidden motivational triggers and when they are in a moment of great stress or arousal, they build up self- esteem and tap into these motivations. The motivational trigger takes over the person and he or she gains a sense of immense power. In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, Laila and Mariam were impacted with motivations from their youth because of the nurture from their parents and the environment which they raised up in. These helped them tap into their hidden motivations so that they could overcome their oppression. Mariam took a longer time to gain the courage to step up to Rasheed due to the way she was raised. Mariam grew up in a rough and unstable childhood. Her parents were split apart and she did not have many friends to socialize with due to her mom not allowing her to go to school. Her mom states, “and you will learn nothing of value in those schools” (18). This shows how Nana controls Mariam’s life and Mariam has not yet built up the courage to talk to her yet. Mariam had the case of the inferiority complex throughout most of the novel. Although Nana really cared about Mariam’s well-being, she took too much control over Mariam’s life and expected so much from her at such a young age. It’s like Mariam is afraid that she will get yelled at by her mother. This act of submissiveness is the reason why it took Mariam so long to finally stand up to



Cited: Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Riverhead, 2007. Print. "READING LOLITA IN TEHERAN and A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS: Unveiling a New-Orientalist Discourse." Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.

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