Amanda M.

Labrado

Eng 110

Bliss

Experiences of oppressed women in A Thousand Splendid Suns: indoctrinations at youth

and their effects on later life

"Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out
the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon
them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either
words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by
the endurance of those whom they oppress." – Frederick Douglass
In A Thousand Splendid Suns, the experiences of Mariam and Laila as adults exemplify

the cruelties women face in male-dominated Afghanistan,

and how their parent’s doctrines affect their response to oppression.

In terms of the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, Rasheed’s oppressiveness is not

“prescribed” limits by Mariam. This is because she is taught by Nana that in a male-dominated

society(7) endurance is all she has (18); however, Rasheed’s new wife Laila, does not endure

Rasheed’s beatings and instead fights against him. Mainly because she has never experienced

oppression, and is taught that “men and women [are] equal in every way” (101); making Laila

and Mariam a good team: Laila is defiant, while Mariam “accents” Laila’s defiance by teaching

her endurance. Laila and Mariam’s childhood experiences shape the way they react to oppression

as adults. As a youth, Laila is taught to exercise her rights by her father, while Mariam is taught

to tolerate acts against hers by her mother. What a woman experiences and is taught to believe by

her parents as a youth has a significant effect on how she responds to oppressive behavior.

When the Soviets held control over Afghanistan and before the Mujahideen took over,

women were, at least in Kabul, allowed to attend school, work, and walk the streets without
having to worry about restrictions imposed on them by men, “in Kabul, women taught at the

university, ran schools, [and] held office in the government” (121). Only in the “Pashtun regions

in the south or in the east near the Pakistani border [were women] rarely seen on the streets and

only then in burqa and accompanied by men” (121). Mariam grows up in the eastern city of

Herat, and although women there are relatively autonomous, Mariam is deprived of enjoying that

equality because of the imposition of Nana’s cynical beliefs concerning men and society, such

as, “A man’s accusing finger always finds a woman” (7), or “they’ll laugh at you in school. They

will. They’ll call you a harami. They’ll say the most terrible things about you”(18). These beliefs

later affect Mariam’s life negatively. They teach her to be afraid. Furthermore, and unfortunately

for Mariam, the comment she utilizes the most, in both her youth and middle age, is “Women

like us. We endure” (18), which causes her to be submissive toward beatings and insults. Years

later, and on the other side of Afghanistan, Laila grows up and is taught to take advantage of the

freedoms given to women by the Soviets, “it’s a good time to be a woman in Afghanistan. And

you can take advantage of that Laila”(121). Unlike Mariam, Laila grows up with a supportive

father and a feminist teacher who emphasize her right to equality and freedom. It is the

knowledge she gains from them that she uses to her advantage in the future, for her knowledge

and rationality become power in the cruel world of marriage. Also unlike Mariam, growing up

with a father and a male companion show Laila that men are not people to be feared or

intimidated by. In fact, they are similar to women, and do not all have bad intentions such as

Mariam is taught to believe.

Four years after Mariam is married to Rasheed, the Soviets gain control over Afghanistan

and establish a communist government that desires to “maintain the utmost respect for” Islamic

and democratic principles, and which gives power to the people (92). There is a huge contrast
though between the announcement of the new government’s principles and those of Rasheed.

Right after the new government declares, “The era of aristocracy, nepotism, and inequality is

over […]. We have ended the decades of tyranny. Power is now in the hands of the freedom-

loving people. […] We assure you that you have nothing to fear”(92), it seems that everything

Rasheed does is done in thorough opposition of the new government. The quote can be seen as a

reverse allegory of Mariam’s oppressed life because for Mariam “The era of aristocracy,

nepotism, and inequality” has just begun. Rasheed is the aristocracy who views himself as

superior to Mariam, “Rasheed chortled and shook his head, but Mariam thought she saw

uncertainty in the way he crossed his arms, the way his eyes shifted. ‘You know nothing, do

you?’”(89). Rasheed will also become symbolic of nepotism by the time Laila arrives because he

favors boys over girls as children and treats them better in general; he uses Zalmai’s innocent

and naive honesty as his key to Mariam and Laila’s disloyalties and secrets.