R. Bonay- 1st period
B. In the Book, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the author uses a tone of pain and suffering to convey to the readers about what we take for granted in gender relations, with the help of literary elements.
The use of Point of View conveys to the readers the pain and suffering of each of the two characters described in the book; Mariam and Laila. Mariam was given away early for marriage because of her father and was not granted the wish of going to school because of her family situation. Given the fact that she was now married at the age of 15, all of her options pretty much were gone. She could not attend school and further her education because she had to abide by the contract and the wishes and demands of her husband, which also handicapped her from becoming independent and being able to get a job. She was also handicapped by the standards of how women were treated in her part of town. Women were not supposed to be seen in some areas without being covered and in others she was not allowed outside without her burqua. Women in some of the area even were not granted the opportunity to work, thus leaving Mariam at the mercy of her marriage. She didn't have parents that really cared about her education and thus had to suffer for it. While Laila on the other hand had parents that honestly really cared about her education. She goes to school every day or so and is able to study, knowing that her parents want what is best for her. In her part of town even, they were not real strict about the roles of women compared to the men. Women could work and they didn't need to be fully covered all of the time. Her parents were also concerned about her getting married too soon and didn't give her away yet. Laila can easily say that she had more options in her situation than Mariam did, just for this simple fact. Through these issues from the two perspectives of the main characters, the author could be trying to convey that we are blessed to have the many opportunity to learn and gain an education to make our lives better because in other parts of the world as we speak, people like Mariam have to fight for that opportunity, while for us it is simply granted and not given out of luck- such as in Laila's case.
C. In the book, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the author uses the idea of rememberance and the tone of gloominess to convey to the readers how the past life of a character can affect them in the future and how it can be applied to real life.
Mariam was one of the many characters discussed in the book that had a hard time in life and was always treated badly because of her social and family status where she lived. Her father treated her with rejection and secret disdain while her mother mentally and emotionally abused her with words that shamed her constantly, such as "harami" and "pathetic" etc. Because of these factors that contributed to her past life, her future life became affected as well. When she was married because of her father giving her away, her husband treated her with such shame and even hatred to a degree. She couldn't go to school and get an education without fear that others would look down upon her and call her "harami" and other shameful names. Her past had followed her all the way up into her present life and had plagued her with the shame that was passed down to her as a child. Because of the parent's choice of not allowing her to go to school, she was plagued with the fact that she didn't have an opportunity to make her life better which in a way messed up her life growing up and she has had to live with it. The author is conveying that the choices we make can affect our future and not just our present life at the moment. We should be careful about the options and choices that we are choosing to make and really think about how it will affect not only our present lives, but the future as well.
