Discussion Topic B

    Throughout the novel Hosseini discusses the difference between gender in Afghanistan, early in the novel he uses what I later find to be ironic. Jalil tells Mariam about Queen Gauhar Shad who raised famous minarets in Herat. After Mariam is married her husband quickly sets boundaries that she should wear a burqua in public and when men are invited to there home, she should always go up to her room as an act of respect. It is clear that men are dominant so why would a queen be so respected to raise minarets when a man has so much power?

Discussion Topic C

         In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns Nana, the mother of the main character constantly shows her hatred towards Mariam's father. Mariam never believes the things that Nana tells her about her father because of his loyalty to her. Nana warns Mariam to feel the same hatred towards her father because he caused her to move away from society and was ashamed of her. Although Mariam did not believe the lies about her father, she still listened. When Nana died Mariam was forced to live with her father for a while who sent her away to get married she quickly realized that her mom was right all along. That influenced her life tremendously, she took those values with her into her marriage and was unable to emancipate herself from her thoughts of the past.