Human dignity, a major social issue in today's day and age, is written upon for a massive amount in A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini. Hosseini’s writing contained many examples of human dignity from front to back, however it is shown in a negative manner. His ability to portray a theme of human dignity comes through the brilliant plot as well as the deep characters. Hosseini creates the story through the eyes of three different women, Nana, Laila, and Mariam. These three girls are shown in the book going through their life as they live in a struggling Afghanistan area. The stories of the three women’s struggles with the men in their lives, show a common theme of lack of human dignity as well as the toll that it takes on each…show more content… Mariam, who is shown a lack of human dignity from two separate men in A Thousand Splendid Suns, struggles with not being treated well. The first to show a lack of human dignity toward Mariam was her father Jalil. Jalil, who kicked out Mariam’s mother as mentioned earlier, in turn kicked Mariam out of the house as well. Mariam’s struggles in the book stem from her uncertainty of how much her father really did love her. Mariam argues with her father as he is about to force her out of living in his house, and force her to marry a man she did not know. She exclaims, “I used to worship you… On Thursdays, I sat for hours waiting for you… I thought about you all the time… I didn’t know you were ashamed of me”(Hosseini 50). Mariam struggled with the thought that her father never really did love her as much as he had thought. As she is about to depart into this marriage with a man she has never met, she feels that she is not being treated with any human dignity from her father due to him giving her up to another man. Subsequently another way in which Mariam felt she was treated with a lack of dignity is after she becomes married to Rasheed. From the moment she first moves in with Rasheed to the end, there is nothing but hateful, wrong actions that are acted upon Mariam from Rasheed. The cruelty by Rasheed toward Mariam, becomes first prevelant through…show more content… Laila, is also treated with a lack of human dignity from Rasheed whom she marries in the later stages of the book. Laila becomes the second husband of Rasheed along with Mariam, and with this her life changes. Rasheed treats Laili in the same manner as he treats Mariam. His cruelty towards Laila becomes the source of the struggles that Laila faces much like Mariam. Along with the struggles, Laila finds motivation to gain a good quality of living. With this motivation to gain a better life for not only for herself, but her kids and Mariam, it leads to even more cruelty and trouble from Rasheed. Mariam and Laila are shown plotting their escape from the wrath of Rasheed. Laila tells Mariam when the two of them will take the kids and attempt to escape. Laila demands, “We’ll Leave in half an hour” (Hosseini 230). Laila and Mariam, who had become very close finally looked to make their move and escape from Rasheed. Laila, the planner of the escape demands of Mariam to be ready to leave on time. After attempting to escape Laila, Mariam and the children are caught and taken by police car back to Rasheeds home. Moments after Laila is brought back from trying to flee the area, Rasheed beats the two women, mostly Laila, which sets fear into Laila’s mind. He explains, “You try this again and I will find you. I swear on the Prophet’s name that I will find you. And if I do, there isn’t a
