Females suffering and endurance

Book read : A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Brief summary – Mariam was born a illegitimate child and can only see her beloved father once a week. On her birthday, she decided to visit her father’s house, but was turned down coldly. When she returned home, she finds that her mother has hung herself. Her father’s wives decided to marry Mariam off to Rasheed, an elderly widow from Kabul, far enough to be safely forgotten. It was a marriage deteriorated into a brutality made worse by Rasheed decisions to marry Laila. Laila was a target of his cruelty when she bore a daughter. However, he two women friendship grew and their union will endure death. One day, Mariam killed Rasheed while he was strangling Laila. Mariam took the punishment and allowed Laila to flee and then marry her childhood friend.

When I compare my own life with that of Mariam’s, I feel that I am living in happiness yet I am unable to realise it. In the novel, Mariam lived in a kolba, a small and dirty house. She appears to have a caring father yet he still would not acknowledge her. She has been deprived of education and can only be taught by a regular guest, Mullah Faizullah. Following, she is forcefully married off to Rasheed at a young age and led a life of suffering in the end. She also has to face the war in Afghanistan at that time. I lead an enjoyable and happy life yet I still complaining about every minor detail in life. I am able to receive proper education but I hate the thought of going to school everyday and I cannot stand the sight of homework. I doubt I will be moving out from my family so soon and can enjoy everyday of my life. Singapore is also a very peaceful country to live in, not being terrorized by the bombings on the street. I feel a great sense of guilt, as I am unappreciative of what my parents gave me over the years.

I am going to compare Mariam and Laila. In many aspects they are different and in many ways they are similar. Here are some way where they are different, Mariam was not given proper education while Laila has a proper eduation and her father always help her to revise her work. Mariam was the only child while Laila had two brothers thatlater died while defendin th country. Mariam lived in poverty, forcing her to stay in a kolba while Laila was the middle classed and lived in a proper house. They are similar because both their parents died before they reached twenty, with the exception of Mariam’s father. They both had motherly love and enjoyed taking care of the children Laila bore. They were both forced into marrying Rasheed and led horrible lives.

This is an excerpt of the story from Laila point of view. "My eyes fluttered open. ‘Do you know who I am?’a voice murmered, ‘Do you know what has happened?’ My mouth quivered, I closed my eyes. My hand grazed my left cheek. I mouthed something inaudibly, the woman drew closer to me. ‘This ear,’ I breathed. I can’t hear. I did little for the first week except for sleeping, with the help of the pink pills which a man keeps on giving me. I realised that I murmer in my sleep sometimes as well as crying out names that were once so close to me. I wepted in my sleep, grew agitated, kicked he blankets off and the poor woman had to hold me down. Sometimes I retch a lot and threw p everything hat the woman gave me. When I calmed down, I put on a sullen pairs of eyesstaring from under the blanket, breathing short answers from the woman and the man’s questions. I also behaved childlike on certain days, whipping my head side to side when the couple tried to feed me. I went rigid when the womancame at me with her spoon. Unfortunately, I tired easily and had to sumbit to the couple’s persistant badgering. I wept a lot afte surrendering. I could not control the sadness that my parents had died because of a stray missle and my only loved one left fled off because of the war. Deep down inside my heart, I was really grateful that the couple took time off to take care of me.

Although many people lost their lives under the Taliban rule, I would choose to save Mariam from he book in the event of a disaster. I find that Mariam has a friendly and caring pesonality. She does things from the bottom of her heart and is willing to do anthing just to save a friend. When Laila was being suffocated by Rasheed, Mariam risked her own life to save Laila by hitting Rasheed on his temple. This blow killed Rasheed instantly. Yet, she still faces death punishments and allows Laila to escape without her, such courage comes only once in a lifetime. However, females under the Taliban rule lived with such difficuly that rven though Mariam killed Rasheed as a form of self defense and protection for Laila, she still faces death sentence. Therefore, I feel that Mariam, a noble character, shold be saved from the disaster.