Women's Rights in A Thousand Splendid Suns
Women’s Rights
Over the years, women’s rights have lessened in the Muslim society after the Taliban took over. For example, things like laughing, singing, writing, even having an education was all forbidden (Hosseini, 248). A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini, is a prime example of this, telling the lives of two women, Mariam and Laila and their tragic story of shame, pride and oppression. This story portrays inequality, poor education and child marriage in poorer countries. In A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini, women are portrayed as being abused in their arranged marriages and the passive status of women in the Afghan society to achieve the freedom of their life, as well as others women. Based on this book, which somewhat explains Muslim culture, women in Afghanistan have barely any power over their marriage, even their lives. Nana, being a good example of this, was put in a situation where she was forced to marry Shindad, a young parakeet seller, at the age of fifteen. About a week before the wedding, she has a jinn, a seizure, causing the groom’s family to cancel the wedding right away (9=10). That right there shows an example of Afghani men, who only find wives based on their health for fertility reasons. As Nana would say, “A man’s accusing finger always finds a woman” (7). She is accused of forcing herself on Jalil (6), making their relationship more than a friendship; and her life goes downhill from there after a series of unfortunate events involving Jalil once she commits suicide (34). Even though many Muslim women are abused often their reactions seem to be, no reaction at all. After her mother’s suicide, Mariam’s life changes dramatically as she is forced to marry a forty-five year old man, Rasheed, at the age of fifteen (43). Mariam obeys Jalil without a fight, but it was obvious that she felt uncomfortable with this marriage (43-48). In her case, when
Over the years, women’s rights have lessened in the Muslim society after the Taliban took over. For example, things like laughing, singing, writing, even having an education was all forbidden (Hosseini, 248). A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini, is a prime example of this, telling the lives of two women, Mariam and Laila and their tragic story of shame, pride and oppression. This story portrays inequality, poor education and child marriage in poorer countries. In A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini, women are portrayed as being abused in their arranged marriages and the passive status of women in the Afghan society to achieve the freedom of their life, as well as others women. Based on this book, which somewhat explains Muslim culture, women in Afghanistan have barely any power over their marriage, even their lives. Nana, being a good example of this, was put in a situation where she was forced to marry Shindad, a young parakeet seller, at the age of fifteen. About a week before the wedding, she has a jinn, a seizure, causing the groom’s family to cancel the wedding right away (9=10). That right there shows an example of Afghani men, who only find wives based on their health for fertility reasons. As Nana would say, “A man’s accusing finger always finds a woman” (7). She is accused of forcing herself on Jalil (6), making their relationship more than a friendship; and her life goes downhill from there after a series of unfortunate events involving Jalil once she commits suicide (34). Even though many Muslim women are abused often their reactions seem to be, no reaction at all. After her mother’s suicide, Mariam’s life changes dramatically as she is forced to marry a forty-five year old man, Rasheed, at the age of fifteen (43). Mariam obeys Jalil without a fight, but it was obvious that she felt uncomfortable with this marriage (43-48). In her case, when
Cited: Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. U.S.A: Penguin Group, 2007. Print.