Rock in a Riverbed

Amy Capell 1

ENG 3U

Mrs. DeLorenzi

May 31st, 2012

Rock in a Riverbed

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a story of love, loss, sacrifice, hardship, cruelty and the incredible endurance and fortitude of a woman, Mariam. Although we follow the life of this Afghan woman as she quietly endures brutality and tragedy, it is a story that resonates with all women and touches your heart with its clear message of the amazing strength of women and the incredible depth of love. In Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, Mariam's morals and test of character is affected by the influence of family dynamics, her will to pursue through hardships and her ultimate sacrifice for those she loves.

Throughout the novel, Mariam lived with only her mother convinced that her father, Jalil, did not want anything to do with her. Jalil is a wealthy man who lives in town with three wives and nine other children. Mariam is his illegitimate daughter and cannot live with him. What's most important to know about Mariam is her own realization that her life was hard and yet she had loved and been loved in return. "Nor was she old enough to appreciate the injustice, to see that it is the creators of the harami who are

Capell 2

capable, not the harami, whose only sin is being born" (Hosseini 4). This quote that Nana is explaining to Mariam from the novel is sharing how being born a female was unfortunate or a sin to their culture. She lives in a loveless marriage, but does not forget, in spite of her disappointment and her guilt the ones she loved all her life, Jalil and Nana, her parents. She perseveres even though she regrets leaving her mother behind and turning to a father who does not want the shame she represents. She feels guilt over her mother's suicide and for a time hates the father who gave her away to the cruel Rasheed. However, she comes to realize that she may have been wrong to eliminate him from her life. She also resents the arrival of Laila in their lives, but soon comes to forge a strong bond with her and eventually saves her life. Mariam is a character who becomes a role model for the reader because of her devotion to the people whom she comes to love.

Mariam's mother, Nana, is very over protective of her only daughter. She fills Mariam's head with school gossip and future heartache which she will endure.

...Only one skill. And it's this: tahamul. Endure... It's our lot in life, Mariam. Women like us. We endure. It's all we have. Do you understand? Besides, they'll

Capell 3

laugh at you in school. They will. They'll call you harami. They'll say the most terrible things about you. I won't have it... There is nothing out there for her.

Nothing but rejection and heartache. I know, akhund sahib, I know (Hosseini 17-18).

Realizing that Mariam is the only one left who cares about her, she clings to Mariam as if she would parish without her. Nana is someone who spends her last years becoming more bitter over the life she has been forced to lead with her harami daughter. She is the object of scorn, not very physically attractive, and not as kind to her daughter as she could be. Mariam is Nana's only vice throughout the novel and feels that she must be in her presence at all times. "I'll die if you go. I'll just die" (Hosseini 36). Ironically, it is her daughter's desire to live with her father that drives Nana into the ultimate despair and leads her to suicide.

Jalil is Mariam's father who made the mistake of an affair with one of his housecleaners to produce her. He is a loving father who visits her once a week at the hut in the village of Gul Daman where he has sent her and her mother to live. Mariam is really an object of shame for him, but his love for her will not allow him to completely dismiss her. However, when she forces him to recognize her, he marries her off to Rasheed, a decision he comes later to regret very much. Mariam knowing that her

Capell 4

father lives with three other wives and nine other children was very overwhelming to her when Jalil took her in. "You may not get another opportunity this good" (Hosseini 45). Jalil's wives have been disgraced by her birth, and this is their chance to erase, once and for all, the last trace of their husband's breathing embodiment of their shame. Mariam soon realizes that she really does not belong in her father's house.

Many marriages in Afghanistan are arranged when the bride and the groom are still children. Parents decide whom their children will marry based on the other person's ethnic group, whether the person's family is well respected and earns a good living and how happy the couple will be together. In most cases these factors do not apply men just want wives to fulfill their needs of having sons (Banting 20).

Mariam's family dynamics shaped her entire future and allowed her to see how her mother was unfortunately correct.

Majority of Afghan women suffer with their everyday lives, trying to satisfy their husbands and care for their children. Mariam's determination and will to pursue through hardships her entire life is what keeps her to continue on living to the best of her ability. This quote from Katherine Kiviat & Scott Heidler further explains how women in Afghanistan must have met the standard