In Khaled Hosseini’s book “A Thousand Splendid Suns” we are told the story of two women (Mariam and Laila) who after living their own separate lives in Afghanistan, are joined by fate and end up living in the same house while being married to the same manipulative and abusive man; Rasheed. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, the cruelty displayed by Rasheed exhibits his backwards mentality while living in the more progressive time of Afghanistan as he chooses to stick to his old customs and subtly manipulate Mariam early on in their marriage. His ongoing cruelty eventually affects the way she behaves when Laila is brought into their home.
Rasheed’s cruel acts were showcased early on upon marrying Mariam, but they were subtle enough, minor, and seen as the “norm,” that Mariam found satisfaction despite these actions being blatant manipulation. Rasheed gave Mariam one week to “recover” from all the events she went through and demands that 15-year-old Mariam starts “acting like a wife” and catering to his every need as in cooking, cleaning and engaging in nonconsensual sex. Rasheed later then gives her a burqa to wear since according to him a woman’s face is only for her husband to see.
Mariam might be horrified when she is thrown into the role of being a wife at a young age, but after time in her mind, Rasheed made her feel legitimate unlike Jalil which balanced everything out. Rasheed was aware of what he was doing to Mariam from the beginning, he knew that he would be able to control a young, naïve girl and force her to be the perfect wife for him after losing his first wife years back.
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The loss of his first child also made him long for another which is why he put Mariam through multiple failed pregnancies before finally giving up. Not being able to conceive a child after a multitude of tries enraged Rasheed and started the abuse on Mariam. He tells her to shut up when she speaks, criticizes her food, hits her, and goes as far as to making her chew on rocks which cause her teeth to break. Rasheed destroys the last bit of self-esteem that Mariam has and manages to depersonalize her over something that she couldn’t control in the first place.
Rasheed doesn’t bother to think about how Mariam feels. He immediately begins to take all his anger out on her which makes Mariam feel like a burden, and instead of arguing back she settles and decides to just accept that this will be her life now on and there is nothing she can do about it. Rasheed is cruel to Mariam after realizing he can’t get what he wants from her, subjecting her to years of abuse and inflicting self-blame on herself. Rasheed’s acts of cruelty exposed his true colors as it is now known that he doesn’t agree with the modernized version of Afghanistan, he views Mariam and women in general as property and doesn’t plan to change his mind soon, if ever.
Mariam grows accustomed to Rasheed’s cruelty but when Laila is brought into their home and Rasheed completely drops his cruel ways towards Laila, Mariam pick us up where he left off. Rasheed sees a wife in Laila, which makes him be nice to her while of course continuing his abuse towards Mariam. Rasheed ends up marrying Laila rather quickly and it’s revealed that she is pregnant. Mariam was already jealous of the relationship Laila and Rasheed were starting to have but the pregnancy news fueled her to begin her cruel ways. Rasheed obviously is excited for the new baby and worships Laila at this point, Mariam unenthusiastically informs that being pregnant does not excuse her from chores and continues to act cold towards her.
Mariam having to witness her husband marry a younger and prettier girl who he treats with much compassion unlike the way he treated her when they got married makes her develop hatred for Laila when it really isn’t her fault, Rasheed was the root of everything as he deliberately humiliated Mariam in front of Laila out of spite. Mariam becomes bitter and gets upset at Laila for small things, such as a missing spoon, which caused both to argue and release all their anger. Having been married to Rasheed for many years already, Mariam has endured much abuse and all though she didn’t show it to Rasheed, she had pent up anger that needed to be let go of.
This argument marked the end of Mariam’s cruelty and the start of a friendship that would develop over time. Mariam was projecting all the abuse and self-hate onto an innocent girl who was in the same circumstances as her and trying to survive just like her. But she failed to view the similarities because of Rasheed’s decision to humiliate Mariam while uplifting Laila and the overall manipulation he knowingly imposed all those years on her. Rasheed’s cruelty had a lasting effect on Mariam that caused her to adopt it and as a result be cruel in her own way to an innocent person as well. Throughout A Thousand Splendid Suns, cruelty and the act of being cruel is proven to be harmful not only while it’s happening but overtime it will become a cycle that seems to have no end since sometimes, we are blinded by our own personal beliefs and feelings.
