A Marxist Criticism of A Thousand Splendid Suns

Mariam is defined as a “harami.” As a young child she comes to realise she is unwanted and worthless in the grand scheme of things. “She was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance.” In society, she is seen as the lowest class a person can be. This status defines Mariam as a person, the way she was brought up causes her to develop into the character she is. She learns rejection at a young age and this is all she knows throughout her life. This catches up with her later in the novel as she is married off to Rasheed, believing he is all she deserves. A Marxist would say that Mariam’s place in society seals her fate, her social class makes her who she is and effects the way her life will play out.
Her birth caused her mother to be thrown from society and together the pair are forced to live miles out from civilisation. They are beyond poor, their survival depends on Jalil, Mariam’s father, an upper class man, ashamed of his daughter. Their differences in social class are clearly contrasted when Mariam treks many miles to visit her father, however he shuns her, leaving her to spend the night out on the street. This is when Mariam’s eyes are opened to the reality of her dreary life as she sees the splendour her father and his “real” family live in compared to the poverty she had to endure growing up.
Laila spent most of her childhood living as a middle class citizen, she is taught by her father that education is the most important thing as it will be vital throughout her life. However this proves difficult, when there is a power shift in Kabul. Education becomes illegal and dangerous for women, so she is left helpless. She is left with no other choice but to marry Rasheed, where money is not an issue but she may aswell be counted as a working class citizen because she is mistreated and abused despite all her hard work.
When Laila and Mariam choose to fight back and break free from Rasheed, the Marxist theory would say this is them making the right choices and moving up the social ladder. They are choosing their own path and future and not having society and their circumstances decide for them.

Coursework

I am going to write about A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. The themes in this which I am thinking of using are war and how this effected women. I am still choosing my second text, I am looking at Trolius and Cressida by Shakespeare, All Our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginsberg, Sweet Francaise and Bookseller of Kabul. I am also thinking of linking in the theme of culture but am yet to develop this further.