Resilience of The Human Spirit

Some Tragic Events That Happen In The Novels

What was

The Kite Runner

about...

What was

A Thousand Splendid Suns

about...

The Kite Runner

-Seeing your Friend get beat up

-Living a lie

-Seeing people die

-Fleeing your home

-Returning to a changed home land

A Thousand Splendid Suns

-Mother commits suicide

-Is married off to Rasheed

-Has multiple miscarriages

-Is abused by Rasheed

-Forced to eat rocks

-Laila's brothers die in war

-Her lover has fled the country without her

-She is pregnant by a man who is not her husband

-She too is abused by Rasheed

-Laila and Aziza are locked in a room with no water and immense heat for several hours

-Mariam is locked in a shed with no water for several hours

-Mariam kills Rasheed

-Mariam is sent to prison

-Mariam is killed in a full arena

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a book that follows the lives of two girls, Mariam and Laila. The novel begins by following 15 year old Mariam, who lives with her mother on the outskirts of Herat. After a disapointing visit with her father and her mothers suicide, she is married off to Rasheed, a business man who is over twice her age. During the marrige she dealt with many miscarridges leading to much mental and physical abuse. Next, the book introduces Laila, who lives with her parents and is well educated, unlike Mariam, but when they are about to flee the country, a rocket destroy's her house and kills both of her parents. Injured and afraid, she is taken in by neighbours, Rasheed and Mariam and will eventually become Rasheeds second wife. The book proceeds to follow the relationship of the two women and how they will survive under the abuse of Rasheed and eventually free themselves from him.

The Kite Runner follows Amir as he grows to his adulthood, with the setting of the story primarily in Afghanistan but also moving to the United States. The story is narrated by the protagonist, and follows his relationship with his father, and his friend Hassan who is their house servant. Amir struggles with the cultural expectations placed upon him as a boy living in a privileged class and his friendship with Hassan and Hassan’s father, Ali who are like family to him. The antagonist in the story depicts the differences between classes and the hatred and bullying that usually happen when one class of people feel superior to another. The story takes a turn when Amir makes a decision, which affects Hassan terribly, and ends up haunting Amir. Amir feels forced to lie and keep a terrible secret, until he finds out that his guilt did not go unnoticed and he must try to repair his mistake.

Quote #3

The Resilience of The Human Spirit

"Then there was blood and she was screaming. The sounds of feet now, slapping against wet cobblestones. Faces peering at her through steam. Tougues clocking. Later that night, in bed, Faribn told her husband that when she heard the cry and rushed over she'd found Rosheed's wife shrived in a corner, hugging her knees, a pool of blood at her feet."

A presentation by:

Jacob, Faith & Devon

Page: 90

Thesis

Quote #2

Quote #5

Thank you for listening

"A gust of wind blew and parted the drooping branches of the weeping willow like a curtain and Mariam caught a glimpse of what was beneath the tree, the straight-back chair, ovetured. the rope drooping from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it."

The question that we'll leave you with is:

"And so Mariam raised the shovel high, raised it as high as she could, arching it so it touched the small of her back. she turned it so the sharp edge was vertical, and, as she did, it occured to her that this is the first that she was deciding the course of her own life. And with that, Mariam brought down the shovel. This time, she gave it everything she had."

Through the use of plot and character development, Hosseni shows in his two novels the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns that no matter the tragic events that can happen to people, everyone has the resilience to overcome the obstacles that many encounter in their lives.

If you were faced with similar situations, would you find the same resilience as the characters in these novels?

Page: 36

Page: 349

Quote #1

Quote #4

'His blue eyes flicked to Hassan. "Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood." He made a sweeping, grandiose gesture with his hands. "Afghanistan for Pashtuns, I say. That's my vision"'

"And when Aziza woke up crying and Rosheed yelled for Laila to come up and shut her up, a look passed between Laila and Mariam. An unguarded, knowing look. Had in this fleding, wordless exchange with Mariam, Laila knew they were not enemies any longer."

Page: 40

Page: 250