Pomegranate Tree and Kite Runner: Hosseini’s Afghan Tapestry

Juxtaposing Despair and Hope: A Deep Dive into Hosseini’s Afghan Narratives

A Thousand Splendid Suns, the 2007 novel by author Khaled Hosseini, is a moving and breathtaking story set over the course of thirty or so years in Afghanistan – starting just before the Soviet invasion and occupation from 1979 to 1989, to the reign of the Taliban and the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, to post-Taliban rebuilding. It is a story full of equal amounts of despair and hope.

The main characters are two women, Mariam and Laila, who are brought together by marriage and tragedy, and their existence is inextricable from the history being made around them.

The same storytelling intuition that made the author’s first book, The Kite Runner (2003), such a popular novel also propels A Thousand Splendid Suns. Khaled Hosseini’s second book is technically historical fiction, but there is a healthy dose of social commentary. He is an Afghan-American who was born in Kabul. When he was fifteen, his family moved to the United States, where he went on to become a doctor before he began his writing career. Many critics compare A Thousand Splendid Suns with The Kite Runner, but the general opinion is that his second book is more fully developed. The language the author uses to place us firmly in the setting of 1970s to 1990s Afghanistan is a great success in that it informs us of the geographic location and political upheaval of the times, which establishes the theme of the entire book.

From The Kite Runner’s Pomegranate Tree to A Thousand Suns: Personal Reflections on Hosseini’s Evolving Narratives

Having read Hosseini’s first book, I was eager to start A Thousand Splendid Suns. My experience with The Kite Runner was very emotional, and I finished the book feeling shocked and mortified that any person would stoop to the level of cowardice and betrayal displayed by the narrator and protagonist, Amir. Amir is an unlikeable coward throughout most of the book. Having learned more about the author since reading it, I also feel it is possible there is a small bit of autobiography woven into the character of Amir. His family leaves Afghanistan right before the Soviet invasion to resettle in California, and Amir attends college to become a writer. However, his character never quite grows out of his cowardice, despite opportunities and circumstances that would have facilitated his growth.

A Thousand Splendid Suns pick up almost where The Kite Runner left off, at the start of the Russian invasion and occupation, also with a somewhat cowardly character in Mariam due to the social station of her birth, as she is a harami, or illegitimate. In this way, we understand Mariam’s similarities to The Kite Runner’s other main character, Hassan. However, this is where the connections between the two books end. Hosseini’s use of third-person narration with two protagonists in A Thousand Splendid Suns is beautifully written. Though both books make excellent use of their individual narrative structures and voice, I preferred the narrative structure of A Thousand Splendid Suns because of the way it enhances the story. Amir’s first-person narration in The Kite Runner was expected, but the structure of A Thousand Splendid Suns lent a more participatory feel to the experiences of the main characters. I felt like I was suffering right along with Mariam and Laila, and the personal growth of the protagonists was far more satisfying in this novel.

“Contrasts and Contradictions: The Dualities of Afghanistan Through Mariam and Laila’s Eyes

A Thousand Splendid Suns is divided into four parts: Part 1 is told from Mariam’s point of view, from her earliest memories as a young girl through the first few years of her marriage to Rasheed. Part 2 is told from Laila’s point of view, her daily life with her childhood friend and eventual lover, Tariq, up until the death of her parents when she was 15. Part 3 is written in alternating chapters between Mariam and Laila, as the two women come together in their marriage to Rasheed and their relationship with each other, despite their age difference. Part 4 is told from Laila’s point of view after the death of Mariam, who was publicly executed for killing Rasheed to save Laila.

This book is a somewhat cursory lesson on Afghan history, much of which I was embarrassingly unaware, but it was also a deeply personal and relatable story of family and friendship. Mariam and Laila’s story illuminates the contradictions of Afghanistan. Their mutual husband, Rasheed, is a Muslim fundamentalist in his view toward women, but he is not a good Muslim practitioner. He drinks alcohol, enjoys pornography, rarely says his prayers, and does not fast during Ramadan. We despise the hypocritical Rasheed for his abuse and appalling insensitivity to women. His contrast is Hakim, Laila’s father. Hakim is a Muslim man who respects his wife and daughter, and he is a well-read intellectual. Hakim warns Laila, “A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated.” This is directly opposite to Rasheed’s comment to Mariam, “A woman’s face is her husband’s business only.”

Strength in Adversity: The Radiant Resilience of Mariam and Laila Amidst Kabul’s Shadows

The female protagonists themselves are another contrast. Mariam is a poor, rural outcast harami child, whereas Laila is a more educated girl from an urban middle-class family, and yet both conflict with their oppressive, misogynistic society. The author manages to structure a balance between the horrible circumstances Mariam and Laila live in, within their home as well as within their country, and their strength of character and love for each other. Both together and separately, they survive several painful situations (literally and figuratively) despite living as second-class citizens, and both become surprisingly strong despite (or perhaps because of) this constant adversity.

The novel’s title is taken from a poem written by Saib-e-Tabrizi in the seventeenth century about the city of Kabul: “One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,/Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.” Ironically, this is not the Kabul the reader discovers through the eyes of Mariam and Laila. The poem is first quoted to Laila by her father, and we are reminded of it in Part 4 when Laila quotes the same poem as a eulogy to Mariam. “…mostly, Mariam is in Laila’s own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.”

The narrative structure of the novel has a beautiful symmetry, alternating the dual points of view from Mariam to Laila, then weaving the two together in Part 3 for a more omniscient point of view using both protagonists. The conclusion of the novel from Laila’s point of view gives the reader a sense that despite all the women suffering, hope remains for their country and the family the reader has grown to love.

References

1. Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. Center Point, 2003.
2. Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Bloomsbury, 2007.
3. The Poem – WebQuest: A Thousand Splendid Suns, webquestsplendidsuns.weebly.com/the-poem.html.
4. “Bio.” Khaled Hosseini, khaledhosseini.com/bio/.

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