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Elaine Joy Consolacion

3A AP Lit
March 30, 2017
War and Terror Q3: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Prompt: In a novel by William Styron, a father tells his son that life is a search for justice. Choose a character
from a novel or play who responds in some significant way to justice or injustice. Then write a well-developed
essay in which you analyze the characters understanding of justice, the degree to which the characters search
for justice is successful, and the significance of this search for the work as a whole. Dont merely summarize the
plot.

Justice is a constant cycle of searching and serving. In A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled
Hosseini, the author uses the theme for justice as a shining beacon of hope in the harsh life of war and
terror. He demonstrates the concept of justice more significantly through the life of Mariam. Set during
the war of Afghanistan, in this novel, Mariam faces a war in her own home, oppressed by the villainous
husband Rasheed. Seeking justices from the abuse he has placed on her and her family, she did what
she had to do. She killed him. Her action provided legacies that extended way beyond herself. She
symbolized Hosseinis theme of justice that a dark soul deserves a dark end.

The reason why Mariam has performed this violent act of justice is because for so long she has
only known injustice. Her mother was ill towards her as a young girl, and her father was the reason why
she ended up married to Rasheed. He gave her away because she was inconvenient to him. In this
arranged marriage, Rasheed quickly revealed his abusive and silencing nature towards her. He made her
cover up in a burqa everywhere she went. He striked her with punches every time she did something
wrong, sometimes knocking out teeth. Eventually, he deemed her absolutely worthless because of her
failed attempts to give him a son. However, despite all of those mistreatments, her greatest injustice by
him is when he marries again, adopting a second wife into their house Laila, a much younger girl. But
soon, Laila becomes her best friend, almost like a daughter to her. That great injustice turned into her
greatest ally.

As Laila and Mariam grew closer through the years, their abuser grew more violent as well. He
reduces them to nothing, along with Lailas own young daughter Aziza. He holds guns to their faces and
starves them most of the time. It keeps happening until one day, enough was enough for Rasheed. He is
ready to kill Laila because he hates her defiant behavior towards him. As he strangles Laila, Mariam
performs the unimaginable she kills him, pounding him to death with a large shovel. Her deed marks
the end of her and Lailas abuse. It was the justice they needed. Reinforcing the ideals of justice, her
resilience proves that when one drags others to the bottom, it will not put him on top, as this is what
Rasheed has put them through.

However, Mariam does not make it to the end. She turns herself in to the Taliban, Afghanistans
strict government authority as a punishment for her crime. But, before she does this, she urges Laila,
Aziza, and Lailas son Zalmai to flee before the Taliban reaches all of them. She did this bold deed because
Zalmai is also Rasheeds son. She knew she robbed him of his father so she gave him the justice she felt
he deserved out of love for Zalmai. It was a dark act she performed, so sadly she herself was granted a
dark end. But her death was not a true loss because Mariams maternal-like love and sense of justice
provided a legacy. Laila, Aziza, and Zalmai received the beautiful life that they deserved innocently and
that Mariam wanted for them in the end, despite her absence in it.

Without Mariams acts of justice, the novel would never have reached the levels of emotional
impact that it did because they caused much of these events mentioned. Hosseini was skillful in using a
maternal figure like Mariam to symbolize justice in its harshest forms that it must be sought and served.

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