Assignment #2 | Topic C

TEAR

Title

Evidence

Analysis

Reflection

In the heart-wrenching novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini; Hosseini presents how past conflict and events can determine the present actions, attitudes, and values of character. In the beginning of the book, Hosseini begins to dive in on the the early stages of Mariam, as a child. It was when Mariam was five years old and broke a cherished family heirloom (a china tea set that belonged to her mother as well as her grandmother) when her mother calls her a harami, a bastard. Mariam did not know what a harami was until she was older when she came to the conclusion that harami was, "an unwanted thing; that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person who would never gave legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance." Mariam had it already set in her mind because of her mother that she wasn't much, that there was nothing to her, no substance, as if she didn't matter. For a while this mentality sticks with her, the mentality of everyone around her thinking that she didn't meet their standards, the mentality of knowing that dirt as her equal. As she grew older she quickly realized that her mother was a miserable and unhappy woman, she realized that her mother was bitter. She was bitter at the way her life turned out, bitter at the fact that Mariam lit up with happiness whenever she saw her father Jalil and one day when Mariam when to go and see Jalil she used series of awful tactics to get her to stay; first it was insults, from the insults it shifted to guilts and pleas. "What a stupid girl you are! You think you matter to him, that you're wanted in his house? You think you're a daughter to him?. . . I'll die if you go. The jinn will come, and I'll have one of my fits. You'll see, I'll swallow my tongue and die. Don't leave me, Mariam jo. Please stay. I'll die if you go." Mariam told her mother she loved her; but proceeded on the visit to see her father. As we learn a couple pages further into the book, when Mariam returns she learns that her mother has committed suicide. Overtaken with guilt Mariam weeps. Years later, a much more older and wiser Mariam; she knows that her mother's suicide was not her fault; that her mother was a treacherous and wicked woman. As her life goes on throughout the book Mariam struggles with feeling unworthy with other people in her life, first Rasheed, and soon Laila and Aziza. All the events that lead up to this help the reader better understand why Mariam acts the way she acts towards the other characters in the novel. It helps the readers gain perspective and understanding on her actions and why she chose the actions she did. After a short while Mariam grew a great bond between Laila and her daughter Aziza. In conclusion the author shows that a person may have gone through tough circumstances in their life that make them act the way they act; but it is the inner war with themselves that determine if they can overcome these things.