A Thousand Splendid Suns Essay
Joey F
2/17/13
P.6
A Thousand Splendid Suns Essay “An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harami” (Hosseini 4), sets the tone for the beginning of Mariam’s life throughout the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. Many women are mistreated throughout the novel, but Mariam’s childhood is much tougher because she is a harami, or “bastard child”. Mariam tries to find emotional and physical shelter in her lifetime, but struggles to find it. In the beginning of her life she can’t find emotional shelter from her mother, Nana, so she tries to find shelter from her father, Jalil, but can’t find a connection. She then was forced to marry Rasheed, but can only find physical shelter in him. Later in the novel, she becomes friends with Laila, Rasheed’s second wife, and things start to change for her and she starts to feel wanted when Aziza wants to be held by her. From the beginning of the novel the reader can see how Mariam is unwanted by her mother. “Of all the daughters I could have had, why did God give me an ungrateful one like you?...you treacherous little harami!” (Hosseini 27). When Nana says this, it shows how she truly feels about Mariam. Nana wishes that Mariam was different and had no love for her father. When Nana tells Mariam this, Mariam starts to feel lonely and unwanted by her mother and she fears talking with her. Mariam enjoys visiting her father Jalil because he gives her gifts and teachers her things. Mariam eventually decides to go live with him and her mother commits suicide and Mariam sees her dangling from a tree, “A gust of wind blew and parted the drooping branches of the weeping willow like a curtain, and Mariam caught a glimpse of what was beneath the tree: the straight-backed chair, over turned. The rope dropping from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it.” (Hosseini 36) When her mother commits suicide Mariam feels very guilty and it affects her greatly, “But Mariam could not hear comfort in God’s words. Not that day. Not then. All
2/17/13
P.6
A Thousand Splendid Suns Essay “An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harami” (Hosseini 4), sets the tone for the beginning of Mariam’s life throughout the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. Many women are mistreated throughout the novel, but Mariam’s childhood is much tougher because she is a harami, or “bastard child”. Mariam tries to find emotional and physical shelter in her lifetime, but struggles to find it. In the beginning of her life she can’t find emotional shelter from her mother, Nana, so she tries to find shelter from her father, Jalil, but can’t find a connection. She then was forced to marry Rasheed, but can only find physical shelter in him. Later in the novel, she becomes friends with Laila, Rasheed’s second wife, and things start to change for her and she starts to feel wanted when Aziza wants to be held by her. From the beginning of the novel the reader can see how Mariam is unwanted by her mother. “Of all the daughters I could have had, why did God give me an ungrateful one like you?...you treacherous little harami!” (Hosseini 27). When Nana says this, it shows how she truly feels about Mariam. Nana wishes that Mariam was different and had no love for her father. When Nana tells Mariam this, Mariam starts to feel lonely and unwanted by her mother and she fears talking with her. Mariam enjoys visiting her father Jalil because he gives her gifts and teachers her things. Mariam eventually decides to go live with him and her mother commits suicide and Mariam sees her dangling from a tree, “A gust of wind blew and parted the drooping branches of the weeping willow like a curtain, and Mariam caught a glimpse of what was beneath the tree: the straight-backed chair, over turned. The rope dropping from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it.” (Hosseini 36) When her mother commits suicide Mariam feels very guilty and it affects her greatly, “But Mariam could not hear comfort in God’s words. Not that day. Not then. All
Cited: Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Riverhead, 2007. Print