A Thousand Splendid Suns Character Analysis

Characters: What significant things did you learn about each character? Do you see any changes in characters? Are any new characters introduced? What is their relationship with the protagonist? Include a page reference.

Mariam: Mariam is one of the two main protagonist. She's a 15 year old girl that unfortunately is being raised solely by her mother and is torn between the truth and what she wants to believe. This has Mariam confused about life at an early age and therefore makes wrong choices. I learnt that before all these horrible incidents happened she was a strong dependant girl who later begins to be shy and timid. Mariam begins to become a shy timid girl for the reason that Rasheed who we later meet along in the story begins to …show more content…
This puts Mariam on a long journey of ups and downs. It makes her aware that marriage is not perceived as it really is. The conflict in Mariam’s life is that she’s trapped in an abusive relationship with a horrible man. For instances on page 77, Rasheed says, “It’s what married couples do. It’s what the Prophet himself and his wives did. There’s no shame.”Rasheed is referring to having sex with Mariam, Mariam said that she was not ready. However Rasheed keep reassuring her saying that everything was alright, when that is just sexually harassing someone. Mariam did not give her consent, meaning that Rasheed is physically abusing her, this relates back to the theme of female being degraded for the reason that Rasheed is an abusive man. The story took setting in the 1974 in a small town called Gul Daman, which is a place in Hercat in a small hut. After her mother commits suicide, she moves in with her father which is in Hercat. In Jahil’s house, it is a nice home with gates. Showing that Jahil is a rich business men. Afterwards she moves in with her husband in Kabul which is a place that is smaller than Jahil, however compared to her old house it was like a mansion. The place in Kabul had green leather couches, a nicely untouched furnished kitchen that smells like cigarette …show more content…
They get into a car crash that has her admitted to the hospital. The conflict in this plot is that Tariq was planning to marry Laila, however things fall through. Although Laila crushed on Tariq, she was not ready for marriage. She felt pressured into marrying someone because everyone around her was already married, leaving embarrassment on her. However when the time came, she was not ready to take on a task like that. On page 184 Laila states, “It’s my father I can’t leave. I’m all he has. His heart couldn’t take it either.” In this passage Laila explains how she has to give up the opportunity of getting married to Tariq for the reason that family is very important to her and that she was too afraid to get married so sudden. The setting of the story takes place in Spring of 1987 in Kabul in her parents house. During this time period there was a war regarding the Soviets invasion. This was a had time period as there are many conflicts

Show More