A Thousand Splendid Suns- Quotes

Prose - Women and Society - Edexcel - A-level English Literature

Chapter 1:

 

-          ‘Harami’/’Kolba’

-          ‘This is my reward for everything I’ve endured’

-          ‘It is the creators of the Harami who are culpable, not the Harami who’s only sin is being born.’

-          ‘Harami, like an insect, like the scurrying cockroach’

-          ‘Mariam would listen with enchantment’

-          ‘Nana’s own father … disowned her. Disgraced’

-          ‘Like a compass needle that points north … always finds a woman’

Verisimilitude – both use language of place and people to create realism. - ‘Kolba’ ‘Harami’ ‘Jinn’

Nana and Tess are confined by societal norms, they’re trapped by a double standard. Afghan cultural norms are similar to those of Victorian England.

 

Notions of the disgrace of society in their judgement of women – inequality for women. Her dad leaves Nana, Jalil allowed to carry on living with his nine wives. 

Chapter 2:

-          ‘Prison…Your father built us this rathole’

-          Nana’s ‘jinn’ – curse

-          ‘She believed Jalil’s version’ (of her birth)

 

-          A man’s heart is a wretched, wretched thing, it isn’t like a mother’s womb, it won’t bleed, it won’t stretch;’ p.27

‘Deep seated glow of her hopes’ p. 32

Power is patriarchal, Jalil decides where they live.

All of them wield economic power. Societies structures place absolute power into the hands of men.

 

Nana seems to have a doomed life – supported by the Jinn, when she’s at her happiest an outside agency prevents her from that fulfilment.

 

Hope is fragile in both texts, often the trade of patriarchal figures. Mariam’s belief in Jalil and not Nana.

Reveals the vulnerability nature of women.

‘won’t fail you. God’s words will never betray you, my girl’

 

‘she wished she was allowed to go to school’ – wants to be like ‘father’s other kids.’

 

‘Women like us. We endure. Its all we have.’

 

‘God would grant her another day with Jalil.’

 

‘A man’s heart is a wretched, wretched thing, Mariam. It isn’t like a mother’s womb.’

‘

‘Mariam could not hear the comfort in God’s words’

Education becomes a symbolic battleground: in ATSS it is denied to maintain control; in TOD it is insufficient against patriarchal power. Both authors argue that knowledge alone cannot free women in societies structured to restrict them.

 

Both novels present endurance not as strength but as a symptom of oppression. Women are expected to bear pain quietly, reinforcing patriarchal power structures.

 

Both texts expose how societal expectations trap women in patriarchal structures. Mariam’s forced marriage and Tess’s coerced labour/relationships reveal that women are expected to endure, not aspire.

‘It’s our lot in life, Mariam. Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have.’  Page 18

present endurance not as strength but as a symptom of oppression. Women are expected to bear pain quietly, reinforcing patriarchal power structures.

 

To endure is to be silent as a woman

Nana

-          ‘How dare you abandon me like this! You treacherous little harami’

Destructive power of external labels in shaping Mariam’s identity - patriarchal identity – bastard – illegitimate .

aside of men themselves, the biggest contribution of patriarchal standards is the mothers.

Nana

Nana – suicide

-          ‘Nana dangling at the end of it’

for some women, death is the only route to freedom.

‘But I’ve seen nine-year old girls given to men twenty years older than your suitor, Mariam’

 

‘contract’ – marriage

 

‘The point is he is seeking her, not the other way round’ – nikka ceremony

 

Mariam’s arranged marriage

 

-          ‘I’ve seen 9-year-old girls given to men twenty years older’ p. 47

-          ‘Your father has already given Rasheed his answer’ p. 49

-          ‘Mariam heard the rattling of a key as it turned a lock’ p. 50 – Mariam is psychically imprisoned in her room to symbolise the forthcoming imprisonment of her arranged marriage.

Objectification of women.

 

‘She was the walking, breathing embodiment of their shame’

Also applies to Tess and how marriage is used.

-           ‘marriage contract’ p. 53

 

‘The point is he’s seeking her, not the other way round’ p 52

Marriage is considered to be one of the biggest structures of patriarchal power – used as means to control women

 

Expose how societal expectations trap women in patriarchal structures. Mariam’s forced marriage.

 

Powerlessness of women

‘Mariam stayed quiet…

‘She does,’ a female voice said’

-          Page 52

-          Nikka to Rasheed, Mariam doesn’t answer.

Female voices are used differently to Tess. Mariam is silenced but Laila has an empowered sense of voice.

 

Nevertheless, Hosseini highlight is that either way, the female voice is powerless.

-          ‘Rasheed had no trouble forcing it over her knuckles’ p. 53

 

Nikka scene

Brutality of Rasheed’s characterisation

 

‘I won’t take that personally, This time.’ p. 58

forced obedience of women through the physical power of men from the very start

Use threatening language to control women – male power – journey to Kabul

Rasheed feeling ‘embarrassed’ by Fariba – women’s behaviours becomes a reflection on men, therefore there is a need to control – religious belief

 

‘It embarrasses me frankly to see a man who’s lost control of his wife’ p. 69

Religion as upholding and creating patriarchal values that you used as a means to control women through societal views

‘It swelled and swelled until all the loss, all the grief, all the loneliness … washed away’

 

‘Allah’s purpose’

Hope is intrinsically linked to motherhood for Mariam.

Hope for Mariam however is deeply spiritual unlike Tess.

 

Hope is shattered for both protagonists through the loss of their children and worsens life’s cruelty particularly for Mariam.

 

Hope is short-lived for both women

‘punished … punishment’

-          Nana p.92

‘It was God’s fault … Allah was not spiteful, He was not a petty God’

p. 92-3

Inner conflict

Hope is presented as cruelly temporary for Mariam and see the loss of her children as punishment for her crimes.

‘His powerful hands clasped her jaw … forced … pushing the pebbles in’

Semantic field of power through the verb – physical violence

‘All three r**** … Someone had bitten the rings off their fingers’ (page 172)

Male power is enforced through violence.

In ATSS, it is the physical violence of Rasheed

Mariam’s grief initially turns inward, envy, guilt, and anger, but she continues to pray and survive, showing a form of quiet resilience rooted in endurance. Even amid abuse, her faith allows her to persist.

Women suffer under injustice, Hosseini ultimately suggests endurance can lead to meaning

Bird symbolism

‘Like … a bird, slacken your grip and it flies away’ (page 160)

Page 133 – Babi’s views on education and the importance of women to Afghanistan society

‘marriage can wait, education cannot’ (page 114)

Mothers are seen as the biggest upholders of patriarchal standards; it is the fathers who defy these expectations.

Society shows that women are the only maintainers of their own reputation, placing on women unfair standards – men always play a part in the expectation of women

‘Gunfire cracked in the hills’ - juxtaposition between external conflict and their interior relationship – alienation of women - CHAPTER 34

 

‘twin poisonous flowers began to sprout in the parched land of that field’ – symbolic of love and hope – seen in Mariam but Laila.

 

‘Mariam uprooted them. She uprooted them and ditched them before they took hold’ – repetition of ‘uprooted’

Female solidarity/isolation in face of war

CHAPTER 36

 ‘what a man does in his home is his business.’ – Rasheed can make law outside legality of home – Rasheed’s abuse – law in favour of men

‘cigarette’ – symbolism of cigarette – patriarchal control

‘A key rattled in the lock’ p.262 – imagery of physical imprisonment.

 ‘there was no curing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten’ – female endurance – repetition ‘no’ – semantic field of ease – plosive mirror beating – onomatopoeia of beating sounds.

Male Authority

CHAPTER 36

‘there was no curing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten’ – female endurance – repetition ‘no’ – semantic field of ease – plosive mirror beating – onomatopoeia of beating sounds.

Law vs Morality Policing

CHAPTER 40

‘It’s all I have to give her … this knowledge, these prayers. They’re the only true possession I’ve ever had.’ – Mariam becomes Mullah

‘When it did, she believed she might have smiled. She might have grinned when, to her astonishment, Rasheed calmly walked out of the room.’ – illusion of power for Laila

‘She fills the shovel’ – Mariam performs the ultimate act in protecting Aziza with killing Rasheed – liberating resistance – Protection of Aziza in a dream – foreshadowing in the orphanage – protected and hidden – women disappearing to protect themselves – Shovel symbolises death – death is freedom for women.

Hope and Resistance

Inherited Patriarchy