Oreva Eleyae
5th period

Discussion Topic C

In the inspiring novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Hosseini shows how past events can affect the present actions ,attitudes, and values of a character. Hosseini uses the past events as to explain the motivation for the things the character does throughout the continuation of the novel. By implementing this strategy the readers can see the types of influences the character has had and hopefully come to an understanding the reason for why the behave the way they do.
More specifically the focus will be on the character of  Mariam. The development of Mariam as a character begins when her mother calls her a harami, a bastard. "She understood then what Nana meant, that a harami was an unwanted thing, that she Mariam was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim to things other people had, things such as love, family, home, and acceptance". From that one moment of anger Mariam concludes that this idea of a what a harami is, is what others think of her. In turn she then goes through the next ten years of her life allowing what others "think" of her to influence what she thinks of herself.
As a young child Mariam became aware of how biased her mother was when she spoke of her father, she became "sick of Nana twisting the truths of her life and making her, Mariam. another one of her grievances against the world". It was up to Mariam to determine what she believed about her father and what she let fall to the wayside. At the age of 15 she finally began to understand what her mother kept trying to do. It was clear that misery loves company. Because her mother was mad at society for the way she was treated when pregnant with a harami, she wanted Mariam to feel that way too. What Nana failed to realize is that the world had never been cruel directly to Mariam, the only person that treated her as if she was unworthy was her own mother, the "only person that [she] was supposed to trust in the world".
Hosseini then proceeds to use the death of Nana as an eye opener for Mariam. Naturally Mariam feels guilty as if the death of her mother was her fault. However with age Mariam learns that her mother killing herself had more to do with the disparity she felt within and less to do with the love she had for her daughter. Hosseini then uses these events as reasons why throughout the novel Mariam feels of less worth than others around her. Mariam continues to feel unworthy of love and unable to give it until Laila and Aziza enter her life.
By showing what a character goes through Hosseini allows the readers to feel justified in the way the character turns out. Mariam's point of view of what she deserved in life was a significant indicator as to what she did to get them. Seeing as she thought she deserved nothing, her hermit like personality was clearly seen through parts 1 and 3 of the novel. Mariam's character permits the reader to conclude that an individual's worse enemy is themselves. One will only go as far as their mind enables them. This is proven when Mariam opened up and starting loving Laila and Aziza to the point of death, she to becomes deserving of love in return all because she changed her mindset and view of herself. 
The novel as a whole then benefits from the life of Mariam because she single handedly becomes the epitome of what an individual can do if they set their minds and hearts to it.

Discussion Topic A

In the inspiring novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Hosseini uses literary elements to explore the issue of domestic abuse. More specifically, he uses elements such as imagery and diction to illustrate the influence domestic violence has on the people involved while also elaborating on the actions that result from those influences. By using these two literary devices the reader is then able to focus in on how the domestic abuse in the novel not only contributes to the formation of the characters throughout the novel, but also how it contributes to the story as a whole.
Diction comes to play when Rasheed exclaims "I swear you are going to make me kill you Laila." The words "swear" and "kill" obviously conotate something of the negative sort, but more particularly these words represent the level of seriousness in the threat he is making. Hosseini uses this threat as a deciding factor in the novel. It is after this threat that Laila realizes that she is truly no longer safe around Rasheed. The game of "love" he had for her is over and now its is simply survival of the fittest. Laila then proceeds to watch what she says and does around Rasheed as well as steal money from him in order to run away.
In terms of imagery, Hosseini uses it in a way that the readers feel as if they are really there, in the room, witnessing Rasheed beat his wives endlessly. In this case all the imagery percieved by the audience is mostly through the eyes of the victims of Rasheed's beatings. It is clear when Laila sees "[Rasheed] turned around all snarling teeth and blazing eyes". This is obviously the image of a relentless monster, not the human that she married. By making Rasheed so inhumane the audience can see the cause of Laila and Mariam's fear. With this the readers are more understanding to why the two women would be so afraid of Rasheed to the point where they want him dead. 
By using the most common literary devices Hosseini shows that domestic abuse is more of a story told by its victims. He allows the readers to see the injustice done through the eyes of Laila and Mariam. One can only believe Hosseini does this as to elicit a response of pity towards the wives and anger towards Rasheed. In doing this the readers then feel no harm done when Mariam proceeds to kill Rasheed. Khaled Hosseini directly shows that domestic abuse can only result in negative events for all parties involved.