Book A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns, is a fiction novel by Khaled Hosseini. This sentiment informs Mariam’s life by showing how harsh the real world is for women in Afghanistan and how they are treated. It shows the reality of Mariam’s life by her learning about these things to become a stronger women and learn how to deal with these problems in Afghanistan.

Some horrendous events that Mariam endured while she was in Afghanistan were Jalil allowing Mariam to sleep outside instead of letting her come inside and sleep, Rasheed would force Mariam to eat rocks, Mariam was the cause of her mother’s suicide and Mariam was beat by rasheed.

While Mariam was living with Jalil, Jalil’s wives found Mariam as a disgrace so Jalil decided to marry Mariam off. “She was being sent away because she was the walking, embodiment of their shame” (48). All of Jalil’s wives despised Mariam because she was supposedly a disgrace at birth. When Mariam was living with Jalil, she was locked in a room every night with nothing.

Mariam did have a few good things happen to her whilst being in the horrible situation she was in. Mariam started to watch over laila’s kids. She finally had kids that she can take care of And she really liked that. “For me, it ends here. There’s nothing more I want. Everything I’d ever wished for as a little girl you’ve already given me. You and your children have made me so very happy” (358). Mariam had finally been happy about something.

This is how women are treated in the modern world in Afghanistan. They are forced to wear a full body and face cover while they were in public. They started to get more rights because of the new leader. Women and their supporters worldwide took heart after the Taliban were toppled in 2001 and the new government in Kabul declared a high priority on improving women’s lives and rights. Girls went to school, their mothers, to work. They got more rights but at the same time there was still abuse. The men also had way more rights than the women.

This book shows the reality of how bad women’s lives in afghanistan are. Having to deal with abusive husbands to not being able to leave the house. Men had a lot more rights than the women there. It has gotten better but at the same time it is still not right.