A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns In a culture such as Afghanistan where women are constantly being degraded and treated as property, one can imagine their emotional stability is far from being strong. The women of the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, are continually faced with a whirlwind of abuse and death and are constantly rejected the emotional support they seek in their times of desperation. Although, in time of war, when physical shelter is vital in their survival, it is emotional shelter that drives the difficult decisions the main characters face and the novels key plot in the heart retching story that shatters the hearts of many readers. Mariam was a young girl who adored both her mother and her father. Unfortunately, Jalil, Mariams father, was a rich man who did not play a big part in Mariam’s life as a child. Mariam praised her father when he came over with presents for her. Later in the novel, Mariam makes a request to watch a movie in her fathers’ cinema with all her brothers and sisters for her birthday; her fathers’ vow ultimately fails. When her father never shows to pick Mariam up for the movie, Mariam takes matters into her own hands. Mariam sets on a adventure later that afternoon to not only find her father, but the cold conscience stricken expression of Jalil when he denies his daughter from his mansion. Mariam is not only perturbed by the actions of her father, but seeks comfort from her mother as she is taken back to her home. Within a quick second, her emotions change from puzzled to apprehension as her mother was dangling from a branch, dead. Consequently, not only did Mariam witness her mother dead and her dads embarrassment for her, but also Nana saying “I’ll die if you go, just die.” (Hosseini, Pg. 38). Now at Mariam’s roughest time in her life, she has nobody to seek emotional shelter to. Mariam is eventually forced to marry Rasheed and moves into a house with an abuser as a husband and still has not overcome the death of Nana.