In his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini masterfully crafts a heartbreaking tale including themes of misogyny and war. It covers historical events in Afghanistan such as the rise of the Taliban through the lens of two women, Mariam and Laila. While the novel was published two decades ago and the setting of the book even further back in time, the themes of the novel are still relevant today.
The novel follows Mariam, an illegitimate child who is forced into a marriage with Rasheed, a man thrice her age. Rasheed makes her life a living hell through abuse. Laila, a bright young girl with noble ambitions, has her life change when war claims her home city of Kabul. Just like Mariam, she marries Rasheed to protect herself and her baby Aziza. Despite their initial animosity, Aziza acts as a doorway for both women to open their hearts to each other.
The novel portrays very specific historical events, yet the issues it highlights remain strikingly relevant today. The devastating impact of war and the brutality of misogyny are two of the book’s central themes. And these themes are still very much visible in current global conflicts.
The reality of war: from Afghanistan to Ukraine
War is not just a backdrop for history books or an assembly of data. It’s very real, tangible, and unfortunately still active. It tears apart families like an unrelenting force of nature and only leaves misery for the victims.
The leagues of war in Afghanistan broke generations of families in Hosseini’s book, and now it’s doing the same for the people of Ukraine. The devastating reality is the same. So are the families being torn apart, and so are the cries of misery.
Modern conflicts in the Ukraine war cause untold suffering. It began in February 2022 and it has now reached the third year since the conflict started. Yet, there are still no concrete signs of resolution. It shows one of the largest refugee crises in Europe since WWII.
Khaled Hosseini’s heartbreaking novel is not just a reflection of Afghanistan’s past. It’s not just a book to be forgotten after one read, either. It is a tribute to those who struggle in war, and also a warning for the future.
The silent suffering of women
One of, if not the most hauntingly well-written parts of A Thousand Splendid Suns is the suffering of women in war zones. Of course, the innocent men who suffer are wrongly treated as well. But what about their female counterparts left behind to suffer? Who speaks for them?
Hosseini’s novel does not hold back on the brutality that the women suffered in those wars. Just as Laila and Mariam endured brutality and oppression, so do the women in Ukraine who are forced to abandon their homes with their young children. With no one to protect them, they are the most vulnerable group that gets taken advantage of in the most unspeakable ways.
Yet A Thousand Splendid Suns don’t just portray women as vulnerable victims but show their resistance and strength. Rather it is through secretly fighting against the Taliban by teaching little girls, it shows that they will always fight back. And that’s what makes this novel so endearing. It both shows the cruel reality that women have to endure, yet gives them hope to fight back. Just like how the women in Ukraine are now strongly enduring all the oppression, and sexual violence for a better day to arrive.
The unseen psychological damages
The bullets in war don’t just pierce the flesh of men. It also pierces the minds of families, leaving a scar more haunting than any physical one. This scar, this trauma, shapes the lives of others and mutates it into something unrecognizable as time passes by. It did for the characters in Hosseini’s novel, and it did for the people suffering in the Ukraine war.
The impact of war – the killing of men drafted, the scars they are forced to bear – is beyond the initial killings. The later loss that the families cope with, the scar and trauma they are left with. Those are none other than the victims’ responsibility to bear. And why should they deserve such trauma in the first place?
This trauma left Laila’s mother unable to love her daughter as she mourns her son’s death in the war, and there are leagues of mothers who do the same. There are thousands of mothers mourning their children in Ukraine, and thousands of children waiting for their fathers. In this way, the bullets claimed two victims: the men who were killed, and the families who lost their loving member.
(Image: Shutterstock/ArtMari)
Plenty of media about war touches on the subject of physical damage, the injuries caused by bullets. But so many others that don’t discuss it discuss Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and A Thousand Splendid Suns is unique among those. Instead of the PTSD of soldiers, it rather focuses on the PTSD of the people that remained. It shows Aziza fearing to return to her very home in Kabul, and this is not just some fictional story. It is a reality for little children in Ukraine, who now wait in refugee camps.
Literature’s significance
Understanding literature such as A Thousand Splendid Suns is crucial. It reminds us that behind every statistic, behind every fact written in history books are the tales of real people. Real people just like us, who once had dreams and aspirations that were torn away by circumstances out of their control.
It reminds us that war is not, should not just be considered a chapter in history books. War should not be seen as just battles and lost/gained territories, but a horrifying tale of suffering for those who remained. No gained resources and no gained land will ever make up for the families that suffered, the trauma they had to endure.
No textbook or news report will ever make war feel so real and haunting as literature, and that includes A Thousand Splendid Suns. Reading about the news reports surrounding Ukraine will never be able to compare to reading about the tale of tragedy. Mariam and Laila’s tales in the book may differ from the suffering of those in Ukraine. But the pain and suffering they endured will remain eternal through all wars, not just the one in Ukraine.
We should not let the suffering of people in war ever reach the likes of A Thousand Splendid Suns. We should not let the people of Ukraine suffer. And most of all, we should always keep the themes from Hosseini’s novel alive in our hearts.
