Independent+Novel+Study

__A Thousand Splendid Suns__ __//By: Khaled Hosseini//__

__//December 2, 2011//__

__//Entry #1://__ __//Pages 1-104//__

Summery: A 15 year old girl, Mariam, lives with her mother in Herat. She is married off to a man when her mother commits suicide and she has to go live with her father whom is already married to three other women who all despise her. Her father had had a relationship with Mariam’s mother when she worked as his house cleaner and he was not allowed to acknowledge that he had a child who was not born to one of his wives, so he quickly married him off to a strict, traditional shoemaker from Kabul. He treats her poorly as he believes women should be treated. Mariam suffers in silence. Mariam has been pregnant 7 times, non of which have resulted in a live baby, which Mariam finds she really wants, despite not wanting children with a mean man three times he age in the first place.

5) Who is telling the story? How does this person’s perspective effect the way the story is told? At this point in the story, the perspective is from a young girl by the name of Mariam. The little family she does have falls apart and she feels guilty for having ever disobeyed her mother in the first place. From her perspective makes the story more personable. It is a very sad novel to begin with and since we are able to relate to Mariam’s inner thoughts and feelings we always take her side, even if her opinion is not our own, we relate heavily. It makes us sympathetic to her in every way.

6) What is the setting of the novel? Is the setting important or could the novel be happening anywhere? Why? The setting is extremely important to the story. If it was even a different region in the country it would probably change the entire atmosphere of the book and the events. The book takes place in Afghanistan starting in the late 1970’s and gradually advances as the girl ages. Because of how religion and their delicate culture affects how the people live, eat, and dress everything is affected when the girl moves to Kabul and some women wear western clothing instead of traditional wear. Some women cover even more than when Marium lived in Herat.

What is the initial or first problem faced by the main character? The first main problem faced by the main character, Mariam, is that she wants to go visit her father and does not know how to get there. Eventually she decides to walk. Her mother pleads her not to go having told her her whole life that he should not be trusted, even though she looks forward to meeting him every Sunday. When he does not show up she decides to sneak off. Her mother pleads, “Do not go! It will kill me is you go.” But she goes anyway. When she gets there he is not at home so she waits for days outside his gate but finally leaves. When she returns home, her mother has hanged herself from the limb of a branch. Mariam is devastated and guilt-ridden.

__//December 9, 2011//__ __//Entry #2://__ __//Pages 105-165//__

A Short Summery: Mariam is no longer the main character. A new character named Laila is now the focal point of the story. She lives with her parents and she has a best friend, Tariq, whom she loves. Ahmad is her only living brother, who her mother is always very worried about. Laila feels unloved because all her mother ever talks about is her brother and how he is brave. She also has several other friends but they are unimportant. The soviets Russians are invading and it shows both Mariam and her husbands perspective as well as Laila and her family.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">__**Describe any new characters that are introduced? What is their purpose?**__ <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Laila and her family were introduced to add a layering to the the perspectives that are found in the book. One set of characters likes the soviets and others do not. Laila's lover and best friend, for whom she feels deeply, is named Tariq Laila's mother and father are also present in the story. Laila's mother is sick for awhile and Laila must care for her because her brothers and her father are away It is apparent that her mother feels very strongly on the two countries working together to change Afghanistan.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">**__9) What new things are added to the original problem as the novel progresses?__** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">When Laila's family is added, Laila is unhappy because her mother is sick and her bothers, father, and best friend are away at war. When her family returns however, she begins to feel like they are a family again. Laila's mother, Mammy, was much happier when her husband, Babi, and her son, Ahmad, returned from war. They were a very happy family for awhile, but Laila was still neglected in favour of her brother by her parents and her friend died in a rouge missile that struck her on her way home from school. Parts of her body were found weeks later on tops of roofs. Laila then had to be home schooled because it was too dangerous to walk to and from school. Eventually a treaty is signed by the end of this section, but soon everything gets complicated again.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">**__Comment on the style of the novel. Is it easy or hard to follow the events?__** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">The style of the novel makes events and characters almost impossible to follow. The way that they include so many characters makes it difficult to figure out who says and does what and whom is whom.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">December 15, 2011 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Entry #3 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Pages #166-232

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">**To what age group is the novel aimed? Support your answer with evidence.** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">This novel is aimed at a teenage or adult audience. At several points in the book war is happening including many, many deaths as well as explosions. It mentions sexism a great deal, women are not allowed to even leave the house without a man's presence and rape, murder, and beatings are common, yet not prosecuted. The main characters get raped by their husbands regularly, so the book can be disturbing. He also beats them and neither have all of their teeth any more. The way it is written is so hard to comprehend, so this book was probably intended for adults or mature teens only. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">**Is the novel believable?** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Unfortunately, yes. The book is very believable, even with they are being abused and the entire situation is tragic. With people dieing constantly and being able to know the inner thoughts of these women makes it believable but difficult to read at times. There is little detail in terms of imagery but it is not necessary due to the interesting relationships between characters and,especially, the dialogues.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">**What information did you need to know before reading the novel?** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Before reading the book, you didn't necessarily need to know very much. I would have been helpful to know Farsi, as many things are referred to in Farsi as well as english. Having some knowledge or at least a basic (unbiased) understanding of the Muslim culture in general helps as well because this book takes place there and the characters must follow the laws in place at the time (70's to 90') All information about the characters were revealed during the many chapters about them, particularly the first few. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">January 6, 2011 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Entry #4 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Pages #233-398 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> > > **What is the climax of the novel?** > > The climax of the novel is when Mariam is executed and she accepts her death to protect her friends children. She willingly turned her self in and accepted full responsibility for her actions even though she knew this would mean certain death. After this point, if goes on to seeing how Laila and Tariq get married and are finally happy. Their children grow up and they are finally a family again. > > **What Are the Major and Minor conflicts Solved?** > > For one, Rasheed beat his wives and punished them for talking back to him, leaving the house, and for not successfully carrying a baby to term. Mariam took the most of this beat in the beginning but when Laila gave birth to a female baby and Rasheed became more and more suspicious that is was not his, but instead Laila's previous love: Tariq, he began being violent with her as well. One day when Laila gets him really mad he tries to strangle her and Mariam, out of panic, grabs a shovel from the shed and hits him over the head with it. This kills him. Mariam later turns herself in and is executed. This concludes the main part of the story and everything following is more or less "tying up loose ends" of the story such as what happens to Laila, Tariq, and their children, and where do they go after that? Some minor conflicts that are solved are things like what happened to Mariam after she turn herself in but before execution? She was sent to a prison where she stayed for ten days and she had a trial that was not to par with the more just trials here. > > **Is there a message or main theme emerging in the book? How is it shown?** > > The main theme of the book is to stand up for what you believe. in this case Rasheed's two wives were poorly treated and the eventually endured it and broke free of his wrath. They stood up for themselves an each other because they had no other choice. The way the author shows this loyalty to each other is amazing because they hated each other in the beginning.
 * 1) What is the climax of the novel?
 * 2) How are the major and minor conflicts solved?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Is there a message or main theme emerging in the book? How is it shown?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">January 13, 2011

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Entry #5

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Page #399-448


 * 1) Why would you (or why wouldn't you) recommend this novel to a friend?
 * 2) Why did (or didn't) the novel meet your expectations?
 * 3) Why did you select this novel

__**Why would you (or wouldn't you) recommend this novel to a friend?**__

I would not recommend this book to most of my friends unless they had read Khaled Hosseini's first book, Kite Runner, in which case they would know what to expect. The book was very graphic in some aspects and Rasheed beat both of his wives. It also describes their sex lives, which were not very pleasant for the wives because they had no say into anything. The wives did not consider it rape as a husband has a right to have sex with his wife but they didn't exactly consent to it either. This book is overall very emotionally upsetting and would make most people cry. The formatting is generally hard to read as well and it is easy to get confused about who is who and what is happening. All the above reasons are the main reasons why I would not recommend this book to most people because it may not be suited to all readers.


 * __Why did (or didn't) the novel meet your expectations?__**

Since I had almost no idea what this book was about I expected the plot line to be a lot different yet I would say it did live up to my expectations. The end of the book was very moving and the scenarios are realistic for the time period and physical place. The character interactions were realistic as well and were almost predictable in some cases. I enjoyed this book near the end but I would not read it again or recommend it for a friend due to the difficult formatting of the book.

__**Why Did You Select This Novel?**__

I selected this novel because I have always been quite interested in Afghan culture. The major language, Farsi, the major religion, Islam, and the overall feeling of the culture there always seemed interesting and I hoped this book would help me learn more on these issues. It did just that! Also, it started during the 70's so you got a look at how everything changed during that time and the time when the characters moved.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">__//FOCUS ASSIGNMENT://__ ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">In the beginning of the book, Rasheed is around 40. He is described as tall and native to his hometown, Kabul. Later on in the book is forced to grow a beard by law. He is the antagonist in this novel and has two wives: Mariam and Laila. Rasheed is a hot-tempered, very traditional, and has a low opinion of women. He does not treat his wives as equals and does not believe they deserve his mercy as he owns them. Rasheed is aggressive towards his wives and impatient with his daughter, as seen many times when he slaps her and locks her in her room for days. When his son is born, Rasheed quickly showers him in gifts. He makes it public knowledge that his son is more important. To a point where he has almost killed his daughter and wives several times yet never laid a hand to his son. The other characters get fed up with Rasheed’s temperament but have no choice but to endure it. Rasheed is important to the novel because as a result of his abuse the wives form a close bond which is the moral of the novel. Nobody in his family actually liked him but Mariam always felt compelled to be a good wife to him and his son idolized him. Partially due to the amount of patience Rasheed seemed to have for his son and the amount of gifts he gives to him. Glogster