Dr.

Mary Geraldine Gunaban

Literary Criticism

A Thousand Splendid Suns: A Bridge of Afghanistan to the Outside World

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a novel written by Khaled Hosseini. It is a story

about two women named Mariam and Laila who are both married to Rasheed.
The novel presented their back stories and how they have lived their lives. The
women, who have the same husband, developed a close and deep friendship
with the plight that they were in. The novel, however, is not just a simple
narrative of the lives of the women in Afghanistan. The novel reflects the faces of
social classes in Afghanistan, shows the realities of Afghanistan culture, and
reveals the author’s real life experiences and beliefs in relation to the novel itself.

The novel reflects social classes in Afghanistan. To fully analyze this, Marxist
literary criticism is used. Marxism is a theory that describes class relations and
social conflicts in terms of economic factors that manipulate the lives of people
as espoused by Marx and Engel which was cited by Yousraserir (Yousraserir,
2017). The setting of the novel is in Afghanistan and Afghanistan is considered to
have social structures. One social structure in Afghanistan is the political-
economical structure. The novel directly and indirectly stated how social classes
controlled the lives of the characters. The characters themselves are symbols of
social classes. For example, Mariam represents the lowest class. Laila represents
the middle class, Rasheed as well represents middle class but on a higher level
as compared to Laila and Jalil represents the high or upper class.
For Mariam, she is the illegitimate child of Nana and Jalil. Nana, Mariam’s
mother was just a housekeeper and by this, she is also considered as part of the
lowest class. Even though Mariam is a child of Jalil who belongs in a rich class,
Mariam is still considered to belong in the lowest class. She was even described
by her own mother as “harami” which means unwanted. This is because even
though she is the child of Jalil, she is still an illegitimate child. In the novel, the line
Dr. Mary Geraldine Gunaban
Literary Criticism

“that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate
claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home,
acceptance.” means that her being conceived in illicit affair most especially
that her mother also belonged in a lowest class, her social status has been
defined. It means that her identity has already been pre-determined by her birth
as she is an illegitimate child. Considering Marxist view, Mariam’s place in society
determined her fate, her being in the lowest class, means her social class makes
her who she is and this has tremendous effects to the way her life played out in
the story/novel. One instance is when she was married off to Rasheed. In one of
the conversations in the novel, a line states "Yes. But I've seen nineyear-old girls
given to men twenty years older than your suitor, Mariam. We all have. What are
you, fifteen? That's a good, solid marrying age for a girl." At a young age, she is
already being married off. Despite her resistance, she had no choice but to be
married to Rasheed because her father, Jalil, has already agreed to it as is
evidenced in the line “Actually, your father has already given Rasheed his
answer.” As a woman and as an illegitimate child, she has no choice but to
accede to what she has been told because her social status dictates her to.

Another major character is also a reflection of social status and that is

Laila. Laila spent most of her childhood years as part of a middle class family.
Unlike Mariam who belonged to the lowest class, Laila who belonged to a
middle class has some privileges like having a good and formal education. The
line “Laila put on her shoes and quickly brushed her shoulder-length, blond curls
in the mirror.” would mean that she is an ordinary school girl who has the
privilege to go to school. However, due to some unforeseen and miserable
circumstances, she has lost her parents due to war and this made her no choice
to eventually marry Rasheed after knowing (but a trick) that Tariq died as well.
She needed Rasheed since she was also pregnant of her daughter with Tariq at
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Literary Criticism

that time and she has no other better plan to escape the life and society she is
in.
Another major character and considered as a villain in the novel is
Rasheed who also belongs in the middle class. However, as a man and a
businessman, he has more privileges than Laila. Rasheed is described in the
novel as “He is a friend of a business acquaintance of your father's. He's a
Pashtun, from Kandahar originally, but he lives in Kabul, in the Deh- Mazang
district, in a two story house that he owns" and the line “but Rasheed is healthy,
and interested in you. He has a home and a job. That's all that really matters,
isn't it? And Kabul is a beautiful and exciting city. You may not get another
opportunity this good” these describe the social status of Rasheed. Rasheed
may not be as rich as Jalil but he is a capable man when it comes to the
economic aspect of life. However, life is indeed unpredictable. When he is
married to both Mariam and Laila, his shop was burnt. This then led him to live a
lowly life as well. They had to sell everything after this event as proven in the
following lines from the novel “They sold everything. First to go were Mariam's
things, then Laila's. Aziza's baby clothes, the few toys Laila had fought Rasheed
to buy her. Aziza watched the proceedings with a docile look. Rasheed's watch
too was sold, his old transistor radio, his pair of neckties, his shoes, and his
wedding ring. The couch, the table, the rug, and the chairs went too….” They
had to sell what they have because it is the only choice they have to survive.
Being in a low class also made Rasheed’s behaviour worse. He has become
more violent to Mariam and Laila. He has also forced Laila to send Aziza to the
orphanage. As evidenced in the scenes in the story, Rasheed has become
worse after losing all his possessions since his possessions would identify him as a
middle class and upon losing all these, he has also lost his status at the same
time he is now labelled as poor. Thus, his identity is related to his social status and
as his social status declined, so is his dignity and his behaviour became worse.
Dr. Mary Geraldine Gunaban
Literary Criticism

Another major character also symbolizes another social class. Jalil, the
father of Mariam, symbolizes the upper class. This is supported in the lines “In
addition to the cinema, Jalil owned land in Karokh, land in Farah, three carpet
stores, a clothing shop, and a black 1956 Buick Roadmaster. He was one of
Herat's best-connected men, friend of the mayor and the provincial governor.
He had a cook, a driver, and three housekeepers.” This simply means that he is
really well-off. He is seen as one of the respectable men in the society because
of his social status. Laila has realized social power when she came to visit her
father, Jalil, but Jalil was ashamed of her because she is an illegitimate child and
a low class; thus, he let her sleep on the streets. Laila then realized that what her
father has is far way much better than what she and her mother are being
provided with. Jalil, being part of the upper class chose to have his status than
to become a father to Laila during that time. This just goes to show the
importance of social status in the story that in this sense, blood is not thicker, that
blood is not essential when social status is at risk.
The three major social classes namely low, middle, and high classes were
represented through the major characters themselves. Moreover, using Feminist-
Marxist criticism, the novel also revealed how the two major women characters
had to experience the struggles of social classes and how they tried to escape
from this dark plight they are in. Marxism is also known as a theory in which class
struggle is a central element in the analysis of social change. Thus, the first step
in social change can be done through the analysis of class struggles in the
society like in Afghanistan. When Laila and Mariam fought back against
Rasheed, it symbolizes how they are trying to break free from the society’s
dictates as well moving up to the social ladder.

With that analysis on social classes using Marxist criticism, cultural lens is
also used to study the novel. In the Marxist criticism, it was discussed above how
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Literary Criticism

the novel reflects social classes in Afghanistan. Using the cultural lens criticism,
the novel also shows the realities of Afghanistan culture. One element of culture
is ethnicity. The socioeconomic status of Afghans is highly correlated to their
ethnicity. Their ethnicity is not only a part of their identity but also dictates their
identity. If one, for instance belongs to the ethnic tribe Pashtuns, it means that
they are an affluent class. Rasheed and even Tariq both belong to this tribe.
Rasheed is described in the lines “He's a Pashtun, from Kandahar originally, but
he lives in Kabul, in the Deh- Mazang district, in a two-story house that he owns.”
For Tariq, he is also described as a Pashtun as verified in the line “Though Tariq
and his parents were ethnic Pashtuns, they spoke Farsi when Laila was around
for her benefit” and “Tariq's people, the Pashtuns, who were the largest ethnic
group in Afghanistan.” These lines prove that being part of an ethnicity is also
related to your socioeconomic status or social class. They, belonging to Pashtun,
means they have greater power over the other ethnic tribes. Tajiks, another
ethic tribe, belongs to the low class. This is in the lines of Babi in the story wherein
she narrated “there were tensions between their people-the Tajiks, who were a
minority, and Tariq's people, the Pashtuns, who were the largest ethnic group in
Afghanistan.Tajiks have always felt slighted, Babi had said.” These lines would
show that even in the ethnic tribes, there is ranking and would speak of their
status in the society as well. Even though they are all Afghans, their ethnicity
makes them different from one another since it also reflects their social
class/rank.
Furthermore, another element of culture is religion; religion is also an
essential factor in the novel. Taliban is an Arabic word which means Islam. Islam
is the religion of Afghans. However, after the Civil War, Taliban came into power
and put their own twist on the Quran and restored their own Islamic rules to
govern (Shakil,2019). In this sense, religion has been used to promote not
equality but oppression. However, it must also be noted that the one being
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Literary Criticism

criticized in the novel is the misrepresentation and misinterpretation of Taliban of

Islam religion. In the period of Taliban regime, it was noted in the novel how the
women were more marginalized. They were considered as the properties of
men. They were restricted with so many things that in the novel, they are not
even allowed to travel or process papers without their husband or their
husband’s permission. This Islamic practice was indeed against the women
muslims as verified in the novel’s lines “The Supreme Court under Rabbani was
filled now with hard-liner mullahs who did away with the communist-era decrees
that empowered women and instead passed rulings based on Shari'a, strict
Islamic laws that ordered women to cover, forbade their travel without a male
relative, punished adultery with stoning. Even if the actual enforcement of these
laws was sporadic at best “ This just proves how religion has marginalized
women.
From the discussion above, it is evident how religion has strongly created
inequality between genders. Gender is another element of culture that has
shaped the story of the characters in the novel. The novel showed the
differences between women and men. In the novel, starting in marriage
practices, women, even though they are young are married off to what their
family chose for them. For example, Mariam, even if she did not like Rasheed
who is 30 years older than her, she still had no choice because as a woman, she
must follow the dictates of social norms. Furthermore, in Afghanistan as
presented also in the novel, women are subjected to the whims of their
husbands. In fact, men can have more than one wife and that is accepted in
their society as well as in their religion. The man can have more than one wife
but the women cannot; it is even stated in the novel how women are punished
with adultery through stoning (“punished adultery with stoning”). These marriage
practices alone signify the oppression against women. Men also hold the final
decision in women’s lives. For instance, when Laila was being married off to
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Literary Criticism

Rasheed, Jalil, her father, gave the final decision and approved of the idea of
his own 15-year old daughter be married to Rasheed who is thrice older than
her. This means that women do not have decisions of their own. Furthermore, as
part of the marginalized gender, women are also beaten by their husbands for
the reason that women are not seen as humans but are seen as properties of
men. This is evidenced in the novel when Rasheed beats Mariam and Laila.
Moreover, the significance of male gender over female gender is also portrayed
in the novel when Rasheed want a boy as a child. The line “"Boy is better,
Mariam, they carry the family name-" would also prove this. So is true when
Rasheed wants Mariam to have a boy as he said “it must be a boy” but
unfortunately, Mariam had a miscarriage. Furthermore, Rasheed also noted
when Laila was bearing another child and Rasheed rushed to a mosque and
pray for a son as stated in the line “He had immediately hopped on his bicycle,
ridden to a mosque, and prayed for a boy.” This proves the importance of men
or male gender over the female gender and this discrimination and oppression,
as discussed, are significantly presented in the novel.
The discussion above elaborates on the cultural criticism aspect of the
novel and how is culture and its elements shaped the themes of the novel.
Furthermore, a biographical criticism is also another tool to further understand
the novel. Using the biography criticism, the novel also reveals the author’s real
life experiences and beliefs in relation to the novel itself. Khaleid Hosseini was
born in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. This is also why the main setting of
the novel is in Kabul. His family also experienced the wars in Afghanistan same
as the wars narrated in the novel. His family was relocated to Paris and this
happened when the communists took over Afghanistan and the Soviet Union
invaded Afghanistan (Novelguide,2019). The taking over of communists was also
present in the novel as stated in the line “On the wall behind Khala Rangmaal's
desk was a map of the Soviet Union, a map of Afghanistan, and a framed photo
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Literary Criticism

of the latest communist president, Najibullah, who, Babi said, had once been
the head of the dreaded KHAD, the Afghan secret police” This means that the
novel might be a fiction but they are inspired by real situations just like the wars
in Afghanistan as presented also in the novel. Moreover, Hosseini and his family
also migrated and settled to North Carolina as they themselves are considered
refugees. In the novel, it was also narrated how a lot of Afghans wanted to
leave Afghanistan like the family of Laila. This is a reflection of the real events
that happened in real life. In addition, the novel also presented how Taliban
shapes the story. In the novel, when Taliban took over, there was even a line
stated where Mariam has seen a poster “long live the Taliban” then eventually,
as the story progresses, it is already becoming evident how violence and
discrimination are taking over as evidenced in the line “She would later hear
that the Taliban had dragged Najibullah from his sanctuary at the UN
headquarters near Darulaman Palace. That they had tortured him for hours,
then tied his legs to a truck and dragged his lifeless body through the streets.”
And “Mariam heard the answer in his laugh: that in the eyes of the Taliban,
being a communist and the leader of the dreaded KHAD made Najibullah
onlyslightly more contemptible than a woman.” These lines show how during
the Taliban regime, women were also marginalized. In real life, as the extremist
Taliban took control of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, Hosseini felt compelled to
write something about his native country. The product was Kite Runner but he
never stopped there, he then wrote this novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which
was more of a response to the experiences on the lives of Afghan women, who
were particularly oppressed under the brutal theocratic Taliban government
and so the major characters in the novel, Mariam and Laila, are also women. In
terms of the discriminations on social statuses experienced by the characters,
they were also reflective of the real situations in Afghanistan since as an Afghan,
Hosseini knows how social status runs the people’s lives. Furthermore, a
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Literary Criticism

significant scene in the novel is when Laila came back to Kabul; this is
symbolical in relation to the author’s life because Hosseini also came back to
Kabul. At the end of the novel, when Laila, uses the money (Mariam’s
inheritance) to renovate an orphanage in Kabul, it is again symbolical in the life
of the author since he has also came back to Kabul to help the Afghans. He
founded The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian
assistance to the people of Afghanistan. In addition, when Laila visited Kabul
again, it was hinted that she is pregnant again. This is a new child and this
pregnancy, which also means, a new child, a new one, is also perhaps a
symbolism of a new novel about Afghanistan because when Hosseini finished
this novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, in 2009, he has begun working on a new
novel about Afghanistan. To summarize, even if Hosseini has already been
residing in California, he has never forgotten his roots and as he shows how
much he is indebted with his roots and how much he loves Afghanistan, he has
also never lost courage to show to the world the social problems that Afghans
are experiencing and his most effective means is through his novels, one of
which is this novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
In conclusion, this novel speaks of various themes and some of these are
discussed in this analysis namely the novel reflects the faces of social classes in
Afghanistan, shows the realities of Afghanistan culture, and reveals the author’s
real life experiences and beliefs in relation to the novel itself. The novel can be
analyzed in various ways such as Marxist criticism, cultural criticism, and
biographical criticism but simply, the novel reaches out to the readers the history
and situations of Afghans. The novel is a bridge of Afghans to the other worlds or
countries which simply means it is an eye opener for everyone who do not know
the real situations in Afghanistan. Thus, this novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, is a
bridge of Afghanistan to the Outside World.