The way a person treats others is greatly affected by how they think other people will treat them. If positive treatment of others results give a positive result to the person they will continue to treat others positively. If the result of negative treatment is positive or neutral the chances of the person treating others negatively are higher. The person in A Thousand Splendid Suns, whose actions toward others are dependent on how they will be treated is Jalil. Jalil is an emotionally disconnected person. This affects Jalil's relationships with the people in his life because he can only think about their impact on his reputation. He does not think about how people in his life feel. Jalil wants to care for his daughter but his fear of her …show more content…
Jalil is relatively successful, owning a movie theater. Jalil is not ashamed of his wives and their children. He provides them with what seems to be a large comfortable house to live in. After Mariam's mother dies Jalil takes her into his house. He gives her room. Even though she is living with him, Mariam chooses to not eat with Jalil and the rest of his family. She spends most of her time in her room by herself. “‘You could eat downstairs with the rest of us,’ he said, but without much conviction. He understood a little too readily when Mariam said she preferred to eat alone.”(Hosseini 40). This shows that Jalil is trying to care about Mariam. This quote shows that he is not caring about her because he loves her but because he feels that it is his responsibility to physically care for her. He is not excited at the idea of Mariam coming down to eat with them. This shows us that he still cares about what his Wives and legitimate children think about him. The reason why Jalil is able to bring Mariam into his house is that her mom just died. This shows that Jalil is more ashamed of Mariam’s mom than Mariam. Jalil's wives are his main concerns. So now that his mistress is out of the picture he feels better about having Mariam in his …show more content…
He realizes too late that the solution to his problems is not money but his actions. Before Mariam's mother's death, Jalil brings her gifts. Most of her gifts are not the cheapest. Jalil gives her these gifts as a solution to all the problems around Mariam. “He fished a small box from his pocket and gave it to her. He did this from time to time, a choker with lapis lazuli beads another. That day, Mariam opened the box and found a leaf-shaped pendant, tiny coins etched with moons and stars hanging from it.”(Hosseini 49). This shows us that Jalil must feel bad about Mariam's condition. He wants Mariam to see him as a great guy, not as the one who caused all of her problems. He still cares more about his reputation than his relationship with Mariam. One of Jalil's main goals is to not have any problems. After he loses his wealth to the communist takeover he has to find a better way to solve his problems. Many years after Jalil marries Mariam to Rasheed he realizes he does not have much longer to live. This causes him to write an apology letter to Mariam. This letter is one big apology for everything that he has done. Laila and Tariq are going back to Kabul. On their way back Laila is given a box with a letter from Jalil to Mariam inside. The letter is an apology letter to Mariam. “I regret that I did not make you a daughter to me, that I let you live in that place for all those years. And for what? Fear
Nana Nana is Jalil’s wife and Mariam’s mother. Nana was cast out of Jalil’s house by Jalil after she got pregnant with Jalil's baby. She built a shack where she and Mariam lived in. Her life revolves around taking care of Mariam.
At this point in her life only Jalil’s weekly visits were the only thing she would look forward to because “The truth was around Jalil , Mariam did not feel like a harami [bastard or fatherless child]” (Hosseini 5). In Nana's attempt to make mariam less attached to her father Nana continually calls her a harami which causes her to become more dependent on Jalil. Nana’s opinion on Jalil does not change so when Mariam leaves for Jalil's house one night after Nana tells her not to. That night Mariam is forced to sleep on Jalil's doorstep then is taken home to find “The rope dropped from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it”(Hosseini 36).
Laila is the representation of the woman yearning to be something more, resisting the control that is over them. Time has changed Mariam's perspective. Unlike her mother, Mariam had forgiven the faults of those who had mistreated her in the past. She has matured and learned to thank the little things in
In the book Jalil never does what he wants he always does what his wives say to him, as in when Nana committed and Jalil wanted to stay with Mariam, but his wives said she had to get married no matter what and that’s exactly what he did he gave her in too an older man. When he let his wives' control what he didn’t
The readers clearly can identify that his agenda was not to rid Nana of his home but the issue of hiding his child from the world to protect his image as an honorable man. There is evidence that Jalil did indeed have some affections for Mariam which is evident by is visits and the way he lied to please her however his love for her was always outweighed by the fact that he had to maintain his “so called name” to society in the fear of “losing face” thus he could never give Mariam he love she deserved or that he truly wanted leading to Mariam’s discrimination from his other legitimate children. Furthermore, the fact that Jalil visits Mariam years later signifies he did not intend nor take pleasure in this
(Hosseini 50). This statement shows that Mariam cared about her father’s presence. Mariam realized that her father cared about his reputation more than his daughter. Although both idolized fathers, Babi was more of a father than Jalil ever was... Jalil is an inconsiderate man who left his wife and his kids because of his other wives.
We see fear throughout the entire story, but kicking off the action and starting the story strong is very important. Right from the bat, Jalil feared
The injustice Mariam endures in the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, leads Mariam on a struggling journey impacting her future path in life. The injustice that Mariam endures leaves a permanent mark on her life and impacts her from the beginning. Life wasted no time throwing the cruel injustices of life at Mariam. Mariam was marked a harami, otherwise known as a child without a father, even though her father Jalil was alive, near, and well. “She understood then what Nana meant, that a harami was an unwanted thing: that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person that would never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance.”
This distinction illustrates the imbalance of power between the two, and the fact of Rasheed’s voice being heard over Mariam’s is a symbol for how Mariam’s desires and beliefs are drowned out under his. Mariam’s unspokeness stems from the immense shame she’s carried with her since childhood—because Nana’s death had occurred after Mariam defied her instructions, she’s now afraid to make major decisions of her own, and especially to disobey her husband. Mariam is only ever able to overcome her shame when it’s for the sake of Laila or her children. Near the end of the story, when Rasheed strangles Laila nearly to death, Mariam finally realizes how her shame has limited her–it says “Mariam saw now in those same eyes what a fool she had been . . . Had she not given this man her youth?
Mariam now only cared about how she could get Laila and her kids out of the house and the area to get them away from danger. Mariam goes from a self-centered quiet girl to this person who would kill a person just for a person she loves so that that person and their kids would get out of trouble
After Nana’s affair with Jalil, Jalil refused to accept the blame for getting Nana pregnant, due to his high position as a wealthy man in society. Under pressure from his wives
Laila on the other hand was raised by both parents except her mother did not focus much on her. She therefore had a strong bond with her father than her mother. The two grew up with the knowledge they were brought up with. My essay will focus on the comparison between Mariam’s relationship with her mother and Laila’s relationship with her mother and how these relationships prepare them for adulthood.
She knew how much of an abomination killing her husband would be to society, but she loved Laila enough to risk the punishment. Instead of running away from Kabul with Laila, Mariam stayed behind so that Laila would never get in trouble for killing Rasheed. She was then arrested and later shot for murder (371). Mariam sacrificed her own life so that Laila could marry Tariq and live happily and freely with her family. She gave up everything, even her life for those whom she loved, even though they biologically were not her children.
Mariam sacrifices her freedom for Jalil by marrying Rasheed. In the novel, when the wives told Mariam they found a suitor for her, she tells Jalil to say something and he says “‘Mariam don’t do this to me’”(49). Even though Mariam did not want to marry Rasheed, she knew Jalil wanted her to and so she did, forever surrendering her freedom to him. Marrying Rasheed deprived Mariam of her freedom because when Rasheed tells Mariam “‘a woman’s face is her husband’s business only’”(70), it indicates that she is his and he controls her.
Mariam’s character as being playful to Aziza and Zalmai shows that she is like a mother to them on the grounds that she played with them to bring about