Adversity
Life is full of a lot of adversities and one must learn to cope with them. A popular film director Walt Disney once said, “All the adversities I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you”. Adversity is synonymous to misfortune or difficulty. The theme of adversity is dominant in the novel A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini. Women are mostly the victims of adversity in the novel; they experience this from their relatives, husbands and the Taliban rulers. Mariam and Laila are forced to marry Rasheed because they have no other alternative. Also, they are both the victim of his various abuses in the novel. Hosseini demonstrates the ability of Laila and Mariam to endure adverse situations such as forced marriage, maltreatment and discrimination. He demonstrates how these misfortunes shaped and built up their character to feel safe, be defensive and form a strong bond with each other.
It is seen how the adversities suffered by Mariam and Laila helped to shape and buil their characters when Mariam marries Rasheed. He buys a Burqa for her because he feels that it is necessary for a woman to be covered all over to prevent lust from other men. Mariam has no choice but to obey her husband and wear the Burqa. She feels uncomfortable at first when she wears the Burqa but later adapts to it“ …she no longer worried that people knew, with a glance, all the shameful secrets of her past”(Hosseini, 73).
The Coursework on Mariam and Laila
Les miserables by Victor Hugo and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossieni both have tragic themes. Les miserables is a story set during 1815 in Digne, France (Hugo, 1994) about the struggles and quest for freedom of a convicted man by the name of Jean-Valijean. During the course of the story, his encounters and connection to two of the most important characters in his life – Fantine and ...
Mariam feels extremely safe in the Burqa she wears because she believed that people would not be able to see her face and know all about her past i.e harami. Rasheed does not like the fact that Laila gives birth to a baby girl. He dislikes the fact that the girl is disturbing his peace in the house, so he shouts at Laila about it and tells Laila not to get too close to the baby because she may not live long. Laila gets angry and stands up to him. “Now, they—What? What? Where are you going? Come back here. Get back here this instant!”(Hosseini, 239).
Laila keeps Aziza in an orphanage because Rasheed could not afford feeding her. The Taliban people became in power and make a rule that no woman can go out unaccompanied and if they do, they would suffer the consequences. Rasheed is tired of following Laila out to go see Aziza, so he tells her to go herself. Laila is beaten regularly because of this and she soon got used to this.”…Laila refused to cave in” (Hosseini, 321).
She starts wearing so many clothes under her Burqa in order not to feel the pain that much. The beaten Laila received made her stronger because she got used to the beaten from the Taliban rulers. Therefore, the adversity Mariam and Laila faces helps to shape their character to be safe and defensive. Mariam and Laila were also able to face the adverse situation of forced marriage which helps them form a strong bond with each other.
Mariam and Laila have no choice but to marry Rasheed because they both lost their loved ones. Jalil`s wives forces Mariam to marry Rasheed and Mariam is not happy about this. Mariam is disappointed with her father because he did not fight and stand up for her. Mariam gets married to Rasheed and she gets to know him by searching his room. She finds out that Rasheed lost his son and his wife and also Rasheed looks at pornographic magazine in order to satisfy his sexual pleasure. Then she feels that Rasheed is not a bad person after all and they can make a good companion. “He too had had a hard life, a life marked by loss and sad turns of fate” “she told herself that they would make good companions after all” (Hosseini, 84&85).
The Essay on The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A strong, healthy relationship between a father and son allows for a happy family and lifetime. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini illustrates the fragile relationship between Baba and Amir and how easily a third party could affect the relationship. Amir can now transcend his relationship with his father by confronting his past, locating his courage and portraying his redemption. Amir confronting ...
Mariam feels okay about the marriage for the first and last time in the novel. Mariam is upset that Rasheed wants to marry Laila “she`s too young, you`re too old” (Hosseini, 214).she tries to tell him not to marry Laila but he refused. She stands up to him “For you, after all these years, to make an ambagh” (Hosseini, 213).
Later, Mariam realises that Laila was not a bad person afterall and they later grew a strong bond with each other. They made plans to run away from Rasheed but it did not succeed. The strong bond Mariam grew with Laila gave her internal strength to be defensive. Laila has no choice but to marry Rasheed because she lost her family and friends in the war. Laila feels she is taking someone else`s husband so she feels bad about this.” She knew that what she was doing was dishonourable. Dishonorable, disingenuous…” (Hosseini, 219).
Laila marries Rasheed mainly because of she was pregnant for Tariq and she had nowhere to go. Therefore, forced marriage helps Mariam and Laila to form a strong bond which helps Mariam gain internal strength. Mariam is also able to face the adverse situation of maltreatment by Rasheed and she becomes defensive and is able to stand up for herself.
Mariam is maltreated so badly by her husband Rasheed. This maltreatment makes Mariam defensive and being able to stand up for herself. Mariam has hope about her marriage with Rasheed but after she has several miscarriages, Rasheed starts treating her badly “There he was gone, leaving Mariam to spit out pebbles, blood, and the fragments of two broken molars” (Hosseini, 104).
He makes her chew pebbles because he feels that she cooks badly. This builds her up to persevere and be defensive.” Over the years, Mariam had learned to harder herself against his scorn and reproach, his ridiculing…” (Hosseini, 240).
Mariam is beaten by Rasheed because he thinks that Mariam is teaching Laila to deny him. “I should have known that you`d corrupt her…” (Hosseini, 240).
At the end of the novel, Rasheed is determined to kill Laila because he hears she is with Tariq and he is angry about this. Mariam could not take this any longer and she stands up for Laila “And Mariam could not, would not, allow that to happen. He`d taken so much…” (Hosseini, 348).
The Report on Laila Majnun
What is actually mean by true love? Are you curious to know what love really is?? There are many different ways to define love, and I believe that most of my friends here including dr. Peter have their own opinion and experience about love. But for me Unconditional love is true love, where you love the person exactly as they are, exactly as they were before, and exactly as they will be in the ...
Mariam had taken lots of abuses from Rasheed but when he wants to kill the one most important person in her life she reacts to this. Mariam went outside to grab a shovel, calls Rasheed`s name and hit it on him several times till he is dead. “And so Mariam raised the shovel high, raised it…” (Hosseini,349).
Therefore, Mariam is able to endure abuses from Rasheed but could not take it anymore when he wants to take what is most important in her life. This shapes Mariam`s character to persevere and be defensive.
In conclusion, Hosseini demonstrates the ability of Mariam and Laila to endure adverse situations such as forced marriage, maltreatment and discrimination which helps shapes and build up their character to feel safe, be defensive and forming a strong bond with each other. Mariam and Laila were both maltreated by Rasheed which helps to shape their character to be defensive and also to form a strong bond with each other. Mariam and Laila were also victim of discrimination which helps shape their character to be defensive and being able to stand for themselves. The forced marriage helps Mariam gain internal strength from Laila which enables her to stand up for herself.
Works cited:
Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Canada: Penguin Group, 2008. Print.
