A Thousand Splendid Suns: Part I (Mariam's Story)

2/20/2017

In Part 1 of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Nana says the following to her daughter, Mariam: “Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have.” Select three distinct passages from Part 1 that show how this sentiment informs Mariam’s life and how it relates to the larger themes of the novel. Explain each fully and thoughtfully. Word count: Roughly 75-100 words of analysis per quote.

SKIIII

2/21/2017 01:43:02 pm

"I'm all you have in this world, Mariam, and when I'm gone you'll have nothing. You'll have nothing. You are nothing! (Hosseini 27). This quote shows Nana's anger toward her daughter after she made plans to go with her father into the town. Nana knows that Mariam's father doesn't love her, and she is trying to protect Mariam from the pain she will go through when she realizes this. Nana is also mad at Mariam for leaving her after all that she has done to raise her on her own. Mariam doesn't see it now, but when Nana is dead she will understand why Nana is all that she has.
"As a reminder of how women like us suffer, she'd said. How quietly we endure all that falls upon us" (Hosseini 91). This quote that Mariam remembers Nana saying while she watches snow fall shows her realization that she must endure the pain she is put through in silence. She has just lost her baby in a miscarriage and is devastated by the loss. The baby had brought her hope that she and Rasheed could have a good life together, but loosing the baby took that all away. She must not voice her feelings about losing the baby though, in fear that Rasheed's anger might be taken out out on her.
"Now you know what you've given me in this marriage. Bad food, nothing else" (Hosseini 104). Rasheed forces Mariam to chew on pebbles in his anger over the rice being too hard. He has become increasingly anger at Mariam because she has failed seven times in their attempts to have children. This is all that Rasheed wants from her, and she is unable to provide it for him. Mariam now fears Rasheed and the anger he has toward her, but she knows that she must endure it because she has no where else to go if she attempts to leave him.

Jasper Fforde

2/21/2017 02:04:55 pm

Nana says the following to Mariam: “Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have” because she is making sure that Mariam knows that people like them do not have the luxury of living life to the fullest and they just have to take what is thrown there way. A passage that express this is on page 27 when Nana says, “Of all the daughters I could have had, why did God give me an ungrateful one like you? Everything I endured for you!”. This shows that Mariam will have to do what Nana has done and endure her way through life in order to survive. Nana had to deal with everything that happened in her life and she had to keep going, she couldn't give up. She accepted her life with Mariam at their home even though she wasn't happy and she wants Mariam to do the same. Furthermore on page 65 Rasheed said, “Well, then, as of tomorrow morning I expect you to start behaving like a wife”. This is of importance to Mariam because she doesn't have any other family, she only has Rasheed so she must accept her new life and get through it because without Rasheed she has nowhere to live and no place to go. Even though this life and marriage isn't what she wants, she knows that she has no place to leave and she has to stay. Lastly, on page 91 it says, “ She remembered Nana saying once that each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. That all the sighs drifted up the sky, gathered into clouds, then broke into tiny pieces that fell silently on the people below. 'As a reminder of how women like us suffer’ she'd said. 'How quietly we endure all that falls upon us’”. This quote demonstrates that even though women struggle the hardest they need to push it aside in order to be a good wife. Mariam has had many miscarriages and she can't do anything about it she has to continue to be a “good” wife to Rasheed even though she is hurting. She has to endure all this and continue her life.

The A in ABC

2/21/2017 05:39:49 pm

In part one of A Thousand Splendid Suns we meet the character Mariam and her family in which she lives with. We soon find out that Mariam has lost her father and currently resides with her mother, Nana. It quickly develops into this storyline of it is only Mariam and her mother and they must defend one another to survive in this cruel world in which they live in. Mariam and her mother stick together until Nana commits suicide and Mariam is forced to live with an arranged marriage. She soon learns that her mother was right when she said that they have to deal with what they have. Mariam soon learns that she might not have a good life after all, just because she is a woman.
    One scene in which Nana’s statement, “Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have.” informs Mariam’s life is cruel is when her husband Rasheed forces her to eat rocks. Mariam was a young teenager when she was forced to marry. The man that she married,Rasheed, is a cruel man who sees woman as people in which men have the ability to control. He does so and puts his words into action. “Mariam chewed. Something in the back of her mouth cracked” (Hosseini 104). Rasheed was fed up with the results that Mariam was giving him. Mariam was not able to cook properly for him and have his children. He couldn’t take it anymore and decides to physically hurt her. WHile knowing that she has no shelter anywhere else he does it and makes Mariam feel belittled.
    Mariam has gone out and betrayed her mother’s words of not going to see her father and she comes home to see a surprise. “The rope dropping for a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it”(Hosseini 36). Mariam’s mother has killed herself because she doesn’t believe that Mariam will listen to what she says. Nana knows the trouble for women out there and Mariam does not listen to her. Nana proceeds with suicide and leaves Mariam without anyone that truly cares for her. Hoping that one day she will truly learn and understand what Nana has said to her. Thus, leaving Mariam with no place she can call home.
    “His hand was on her right breast now, squeezing it hard through the blouse, and she could hear him breathing deeply through the nose”(Hosseini 77). Rasheed, Mariam’s husband, is having sex with her but since Mariam is a young age i would consider it rape. Mariam can not do anything because she is smaller than he is and can not stop Rasheed. No matter how painful it is to Mariam he continues to do it anyways. Leaving her feeling worthless and just like how she should be in his eyes. He knows that she will not do anything because she will have no place to go, she will ultimately have no shelter.

J.F.

2/21/2017 08:18:53 pm

The quote “Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have” (Hosseini 19) shows how Nana has sown this mindset into Mariam that the world will throw a myriad of obstacles and circumstances onto women. But no matter what, she should keep moving forward with determination as it is all she can do. And as her life progresses, Mariam has encountered multiple moments where these words ring true as she must endure the hardships that life has dealt her.
And right off the bat, Mariam has to endure her misconceptions of her family being shattered around her as she loses Nana right after she discovers Jalil’s true colors. When she decides that she can’t take anymore seclusion, Mariam decides to find Jalil’s home only for him to be “not there” when she arrives. But she doesn’t care, she knows that Jalil will come home eventually, right? Unfortunately, when decides to make a break for it and runs into the gates of the house and for an instant takes in what she sees. And as she gazes around the garden, “her gaze skimmed over...before they found a face, across the garden...the face was there for only an instant, a flash, but long enough” (Hosseini 35). She realizes that Jalil was there the whole time, and she spent the whole night sleeping on the street and he let her stay outside and did nothing to bring her in his house. Mariam becomes disillusioned to the idea that Jalil cares about her and doesn’t see her as a harami and how does she deal with this? She endures this with grace and effectively cuts him out of her life as she leaves to Deh-Mazang. But not before letting it sink into Jalil’s mind how Mariam felt about his actions and tells him “I don’t want to hear from you. Ever. Ever” (Hosseini 55).
But before she leaves to Deh-Mazang, she has to deal with losing Nana as well. When she’s escorted back to her kolba she sees a “straight-backed chair, overturned. The rope dropping from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it” (Hosseini 36). Because of her misconceptions about Jalil, she lost Nana, her mom, the only person that showed any semblance of genuine care for her. And while she may have called her a harami and was manipulative of Mariam at times, this is Mariam’s mother, the only person she knew for her entire life and has been with her every day. And Mariam certainly feels the guilt in her short stay in Jalil’s mansion, as she excludes herself from Jalil’s family as the guilt eats away at her with only reassuring her that it isn’t her fault and that she can mourn, but she must know that she is not to blame for Nana’s demise. And with that, Mariam has to endure the loss of her mother.
As for her departure to Deh-Mazang, it was because she was arranged to be married to Rasheed, a Pashtun from Kandahar and a shoemaker. And Deh-Mazang is 650 kilometers away from Herat, so Mariam has to travel far away from the place she’s known her whole life to what could be the middle of nowhere to her with some guy she’ll only meet for the first time before they become husband and wife. And the worst part of it all, this arranged marriage is just an elaborate scheme to get rid of her and clear the family of their shame. For them, Mariam is their shame, the one little blemish of an otherwise perfect family and she feels this wholeheartedly. But Mariam just endures all of this as she knows that try as she may that there;s nothing that she can do to stop this. And the words of her late mother ring in her mind as she departs and begrudgingly starts a new life with Rasheed.

George Orwell

2/21/2017 10:19:50 pm

Nana tells her daughter that women like them endure because it is all that they have, which informs Mariam's life. To endure is to suffer patiently. For instance, on page 34 the author mentioned how "she watched the sky darken, the shadows engulf the neighboring housefronts". We can depict how a 15 year old has the patience and determination to wait for a someone for that long hoping that the person, who they love would eventually come out to see them. At this age, Mariam was too innocent to see the real reason why her father did not want to see her and she had not realized the kind of man he is because she was blinded by his lies. All she had her self was herself, no weapon, and the strength and courage to wait patiently. The audience is able to see part of Mariam's trait of patience and determination. With determination a person is willing to wait as long as they want to get what they want. However, there are other times where enduring was something Mariam did not give consent to happening. For example, on page 93 it said, " it was Rasheed's fault for his premature celebration. For his foolhardy faith...She was to blame". During the scene, it was when Mariam began to experience the grief and suffering that her mother was talking about. Mariam had just pregnant with her new child, but unfortunately she had a miscarriage. It it different for women and men when it comes down to children. Women are the ones who are more connected to their children than men because they are the ones who are supposed to take care of them and they are the ones who spend 9 months with the child before they are even born. This takes a tole on the women's hormones and this is where she begins to have a connection with the child. Literally, the child is stuck inside of a woman and connected by the imbecile cord. Anything she does can impact it. Men do not go through this. They simply just support the women and prepare things here and there, but they do not actually get experience the bond with the child during those 9 months; therefore it causes the women to suffer through grief more. Another example of non-consent and brutality was on page 104 because "Then he was gone, leaving Mariam to spit out pebbles, blood, and the fragments of two broken molars." Here, the audience can see the power Rasheed has over Mariam. It also gives a glimpse of what their time period was like and how men were able to treat women because they are the ones who are more domestic, dominant, and the leaders of the house hold; so it is practiced that the women shoe respect by obeying to them and trying to be the best wives they can be for them even if that means bearing the difficult and tough times that comes along with it such as abuse. Men have more power so women simply can't do nothing, but to accept the hardships because that's the best that they will ever have.
Word Count: 527

Ray Bradbury

2/21/2017 11:29:02 pm

"What do you think? That this is a hotel? That I'm some kind of house keeper? Well it... Oh. Oh. La illah u ilillah. What did I say about the crying? Mariam... (Hosseni 65). When Rasheed realizes that Mariam is not living up to his vision of a wife he speaks to her about it and the shock of it all causes Mariam to burst out in tears. Mariam's later reaction shows endurance, instead of spending most of her time being sad about her situation, Mariam wakes up the next morning and proceeds to do her "wifely" duties. She decides to struggle through this marriage and make the best of it even though she is not ready for it and she has recently suffered the loss of her mother and the betrayal of her father.
"As a reminder of how women like suffer, she said. How quietly we endure all that falls upon us"(Hosseni 91). Mariam remembers Nana relating the sighs of women everywhere to the way snowflakes fall. After her first miscarriage Mariam does not cry or lash out, she simply accepts that it is Gods will and mourns for her baby in silence. Rasheed seems to be very worked up she tries to keep him calm but fails, because his desire to have a child blinds him from everything else. So far Mariam does not seem to let situations bring her down she just accepts them and bounces back.
"Then he was gone, leaving Mariam to spit out the pebbles, blood and the fragments of her two broken molars" (Hosseni 104) . Even though when Rasheed first forces Mariam to chew the pebbles she refuses, she does and endures the abuse and violence against her. She later does not dwell on the abuse, she just spits it out and moves on. Mariam does not try to fight back against Rasheed because she was not taught to do that, she was just taught to push through quietly. This is because Nana instilled this bad mantra in her that because she is not a certain she should just take what people give her and move on.

John Wyndham

2/22/2017 12:38:51 am

In A Thousand splendid suns we learn the story of Mariam’s life. Mariam’s is a young woman who lives with her mother alone, far away from everybody. One day Mariam’s mom which she called nana told her that “woman like us. We endure. It’s all we have”. That phrase might sound like something harsh a mother should not say to her daughter but there are instance throughout Mariam’s story in which nana is proven to be true.
One of the instances would be when Jalil’s wives told Mariam that they found a suitor for her . “It did not escape Mariam that no mention was made of her half sisters Saideh or Naheed, both her own age, both students in the Mehri school in Herat, both with plans to enroll in Kabul University. Fifteen, evidently, was not a good, solid marrying age for them”(47). Jalil’s wives claim that at fifteen Mariam is at the perfect age for marriage but not her half-sisters who are also fifteen. Mariam as they call her is a “harami”, so she is not worthy of getting an education, the best she can do is to get marry. They are forcing Mariam to marry some guy just so that they could get rid of her because they are ashamed of her. They are setting her off with some guy she barely knows and there’s nothing she can do about it.
“There is no shame in this, Mariam,” he said, slurring a little. “It’s what married people do. It’s what the Prophet himself and his wives did. There is no shame.”(77). After he slept with Mariam he told her that it was normal. Given the fact that Mariam is just fifteen and Rasheed’s is like forty something it is rape. There’s nothing normal about that. The fact that Rasheed forced her to sleep with him that night after Mariam told him that she couldn’t show’s just how much power that he has over her. They was nothing she could have done that night to stop it from happening, but endure it.
“His powerful hands clasped her jaw. He shoved two fingers into her mouth and pried it open, then forced the cold, hard pebbles into it. Mariam struggled against him, mumbling, but he kept pushing the pebbles in, his upper lip curled in a sneer”(104). He is a much bigger than she is and clearly have the physical advantage over her. Mariam could have resist and fought back but then who would she have to protect her. He is forcing her to eat work and all she can do is obey him. He controls her both physically and mentally. She does everything to please him in every aspect she can since she is unable to fulfill his dreams of having a son. So she takes whatever he gives her out of guilt.

Paloroan

2/22/2017 10:30:38 pm

1. “She understood then what Nana meant...never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance” (4). The speaker is reflecting on how Mariam came to understand the word harami over time after her mother called her it. It is clear that family is important to Mariam; most people believe that even when you have nothing left, you still have family. In Mariam’s case, she doesn’t even have that. Even with her own mother, she is unwanted and degraded. The only thing she has in the world is her ability to endure because the fact that she is a harami has stripped her of being able to be fully accepted and wanted to most of society. She is just left to cope with that.
2.“There was always something… it wasn’t enough” (99). The speaker tells readers that even though Mariam always tried to please him, it was never enough for Rasheed. She had miscarried multiple times, and his only wish was for another son because his first one died. Rasheed is all she has in the world, and the baby was going to give her something of her own to really have. Unable to carry to term, her own body was betraying her. This caused her to lose all value to Rasheed as a wife and for her to lose all hopes of having her own family. Again, she is only left with her ability to endure all of this.
3.”But after four years of marriage...when she was afraid” (98). The speaker tells readers that Mariam understood that some married women tolerated their husbands because they were afraid of them. She did not like the way he treated her, but there was nothing she could do. She would be verbally and physically abused, but she was alone in life so there was nowhere for her to go. At every point, she just has to deal with what life throws at her no matter how unfair or wrong it may be.

Jennifer Garner

2/23/2017 02:05:07 pm

1. This first passage that I believe represents this quote states, "The pain was sudden and astonishing...Rasheed buried his face into her pillow...not looking at each other" (Husseini 77). In this passage. Mariam and her husband finally do "what married people do" which is something Mariam didn't want to do (Husseini 77). However, Mariam knows that this is a wife's duty and endures because she has nothing left. Is she refuses she faces the chance of him wanting her to leave and possibly not having a place to go. It's unfortunate that a 15 year-old girl has to endure these types of things early in life, but it's her culture. 105 words
2. The next passage that represents this quotes states, "Slowly, an explanation presented itself...Mariam knew she could never talk to him about this...to pass judgement" (Husseini 83). In this moment she has just found the magazine, the picture of his son, and ex-wife in her husband's drawer. She was astonished that her husband would keep such a thing, and she was jealous of his ex-wife, but instead of being mad at her husband Mariam endures for a period of time. She was "embarrassed and confused" in that moment, and, later on, begins to make a reason for his actions without him explaining himself (Hosseini 83). If she were to say something she might even be afraid. 115 words
3. The passage states, "Mariam lay on the couch...all that falls upon us" (Hosseini 91). Within this part of the book Mariam had her miscarriage and her relationship with her husband seemed like it was deteriorating. However, Mariam had to endure her husband's indifference towards her. No matter what Mariam did, it couldn't make up for the passing of the baby. She also remember hers mother's words about suffering and how she has to suppress her emotions for her husband; words that can possibly make her realize what she's in for with this marriage. 91 words
All of these passage connect to the theme of women's suffering. Each trial and tribulation Mariam is put through makes her realize something different of herself and of her partner. She also learns to quietly endure what she's faced with regardless of how emotional it can make her feel. Most importantly she remembers her mother's words of wisdom through her darkest times.

P.D James

2/23/2017 05:15:31 pm

One of the few pieces of advice that Nana actually gives Mariam is that women like them have to endure because it's all that they can do. Part one we learn that Mariam , being a woman, doesn't necessarily get the things she wants, her future and life is determined by others. On page 77 Hoseini writes, " she could feel his hand working on his belt, at the drawstring of her trousers... He rolled on top of her, wriggled and shifted, and she let out a whimper. Miriam close her eyes, gritted her teeth. The pain was sudden and astonishing... " it's what married people do..." This teaches Mariam the type of life she is going to have. That she is a wife now and has to do what her husband asks of her, even if she doesn't want to. She realizes that pleasing him is what her role of being his wife is.
Next, on page 91 it says, " Mariam lay on the couch, hands between her knees... she remembered Nana saying once that you snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world that all the sighs drifted up the sky, gathered into the clouds, then broke into tiny pieces that fell silently on the people below. As a reminder of how women like a suffer... How quietly we endure...". In this quote Mariam has just lost her baby. She is upset and in pain, emotionally. Her husband leaves her there too wrapped up in his own emotions to care about her. She remembers what her mother told her because like those women she too is aggrieved and left to suffure and endure it all alone and in quiet. Even if she breaks into pieces like the sighs into snow. She must do it silently because her husband doesn't care.
Finally on page 104 it says, " his powerful hands clasped her job. He shoved two fingers into her mouth and pried it open, and forced the cold, hard pebbles into it... tears are leaking out of the corners of her eyes. "CHEW!" he bellowed... then he was gone, leaving Miriam to spit out Pebbles, blood, and the fragments of two broken molars. " This is probably one of the hardest lessons Mariam has to learn. That her husband has complete control over her. That she has to do whatever he tells her because he is a man and she is just a woman. While she tries to fight him in the beginning, she gives in and takes the pain. She was taught to endure quietly and not to fight back.

TotallyNotBryanKB

2/23/2017 10:48:52 pm

1) "I'm all you have in this world, Mariam, and when I'm gone you'll have nothing. You'll have nothing. You are nothing!" (Hosseini 27). Mariam's mother clearly emotionally abuses her, and we can assume that it's her form of taking out her anger at Jalil. Through her words, it's evidently clear that Nana was trying to convince Maiam that she was a harami. She was never going to be better than what people think of her, what people had already thought of her at birth.
2) When Mariam lost her virginity to Rasheed, we witness, in this scene, her mother's words in action. Being a very young girl, her marriage to the old "perve" is morally wrong. It's substantially clear, however, that it is because she was born a harami, she was sentenced at birth to a lifestyle of misery, a lifestyle that, through a series of unfortunate events, would lead her to this precise moment.
3) “It did not escape Mariam that no mention was made of her half sisters Saideh or Naheed, both her own age, both students in the Mehri school in Herat, both with plans to enroll in Kabul University. Fifteen, evidently, was not a good, solid marrying age for them”(47). Mariam, obviously, was nothing. She had lost her mother, and, unfortunately, anyone who cared enough for her to care for her. It was becoming increasingly clear that Nana's words will start haunting Mariam, so to speak, because she will start to live a nightmare. Ironically, the very thing Nana was trying, desperately, to stop, ended up becoming the result of her very own actions.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

2/24/2017 01:21:45 am

“A gust of wind blew and parted the drooping branches of the weeping willow like a curtain, and Mariam caught a glimpse of what was beneath the tree: the straight-backed chair, overturned. The rope dropping from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it (36).” This passage describes what happened when Mariam goes back home and finds that her mother has committed suicide. It shows all of the things Nana has had to endure since Mariam was born and how even the thought of losing her daughter made her commit suicide. I feel like suicide was more of a relief for Nana and not so much a punishment for Mariam because Nana was never happy in the first place. This passage also gives the reader an idea of everything Mariam has had to endure from a very age; at 15 she had to endure the death of her mother and live with feeling of guilt and regret but even then there is nothing she can do to help herself or make things better.
“She turned to Jalil again. Tell them. Tell them you won’t let them do this… Tell them!... Say something (49).” This passages states what Mariam told her father Jalil when she found out she was being forced to marry to an older man. Mariam has to endure to the fact she has no say in her marriage, she is being forced out of her father’s house. This relates to the larger theme of women and femininity because it shows how little power women have in Afghanistan. Including the women in Jalil’s household are not taking sides with Miriam, she is all alone in the world and will have to learn to take care of her own.
“His hand was on her right breast now, squeezing it hard through the blouse…the pain was sudden and astonishing. Her eyes sprang open. She sucked air through her teeth and bit on the knuckle of her thumb (77).” This passage is describing what Miriam is feeling and thinking when her husband Rasheed is forcing her to have sex with them. At this point there is nothing Mariam can do to oppose or defend herself. Like her mother told her earlier, all she can do is live with the fact she got raped. Like Mariam, many women in Afghanistan go through similar experiences when they are forced married at a young age and being strong is the only option they have.

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A Thousand Splendid Suns: Part I (Mariam's Story)

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