A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Author of The Kite Runner Brings Another Brilliant World to Life
Jul 22, 2009
This brilliant, poignant novel is told from the point of view of Afghani women. First, through the eyes of Mariam, a young outcast living in a shack with her deeply depressed mother. The second section belongs to Laila, a headstrong, independent girl with loving parents who believe in education and equality.
A Culture of Polygamy and Subjugation
Perhaps the most blatant theme in this novel, the cultural acceptance of multiple wives plays a large role in both the redeeming and destructive nature of women's lives.
Miriam, forced to wed a man nearly thirty years her senior by her own father's wives, realizes the position of a woman in her country only after she is wed and alone. When she fails to have a male child, her husband begins horrendous physical abuse. She has nowhere to turn and no way to run.
When a second wife is added to the home, Miriam is initially out of her mind with jealousy, even though she has little emotion for her husband as it is. Only when the young second wife, Laila, is also abused does Miriam find compassion. They are, after all, two women with no family, no help, no one to save them from their abuser.
When the Taliban moves in, their situation becomes far more intolerable. Not only does their husband beat them, but when one of them sneaks out to see her child, left in an orphanage, she is beaten brutally and repeatedly by any man on the street who finds her unescorted.
It is in this sense that redemption comes from the system of multiple wives: Miriam helps Laila in any way she can, covering for her when she is out of the house, watching her young son, and even cleaning her wounds when she arrives home. When their husband is beating Miriam, Laila often steps in and attempts to stop it.
Without one another, neither would have the courage or strength to continue on.
Women's Courage in Afghanistan
There can be no question of the women's courage throughout this novel. When Miriam's mother dies by her own hand, Miriam is forced into her father's home, where she is treated cruelly by her father's wives. She is shipped off, made to marry a man she doesn’t know, and then to survive his abhorrent cruelty. She remains childless, but never gives up hope.
Possibly, Laila's situation is even more remarkable. Whereas Miriam grew up with nothing and seriously faulty parents, Laila grew up with a mother who gave up on life after her son's died in the war against the Soviets, but a father who cherished and adored her. He wanted the best for her, and was determined that she get an education. Her best friend and first love never left her side.
It is when the war with the Soviets comes to their doorstep that her life turns upside down. Her family is killed, her friend lost. She is utterly on her own when she stumbles, quite literally, into Miriam's household. Pregnant, she understands her only way to cheat death is to marry a man two decades older.
It is their courage together that drives them to run away, to attempt freedom at any cost. When they are sent back, neither gives in, even though they are both brutally beaten for their attempt.
What the author makes clear, although it is subtle, is that women all over the country are doing the same things Miriam and Laila are doing; they are running, they are hiding, they are attempting escape. Their courage is truly awe-inspiring.
The Concept of Family in War Torn Afghanistan
This is the most heart rending theme in the novel. Miriam is beaten, initially, because she cannot have a son for her abusive husband. Her own family is such that she has never truly known unconditional love or acceptance. When her father attempts to see her many years later, she refuses, unwilling to forgive that he relegated her to a life of misery.
Laila's family loved her and although there were dysfunctions (as there are in any family), it is clear that they love and cherish one another very much. It is their loss that leads Laila to her life of surviving for survivals sake.
The beauty comes from the relationship between the two women. Miriam becomes both mother and sister to the younger woman, and in turn, Laila gives Miriam the kind of family relationship she had never before experienced. With the children to take care of, for the first time Miriam understands what family should be, and Laila is able to find once again the unconditional love offered by a family member, even if it is one of circumstance rather than blood.
This novel is full of pathos, daring the reader not to weep with the characters as they end their journey in the only possible way it could, in a country where women are less than property.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Bloomsbury, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7475-8589-3
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