A Thousand Imposing Moons
By Abhay P
One of Nikola Tesla’s famous quotes reads, “The human being is a self-propelled
automation entirely under the control of external influences. Willful and predetermined though
they appear, his actions are governed not from within, but from without. He is like a float tossed
about by the waves of a turbulent sea.” Although humans do not literally resemble machinery,
Nikola Tesla makes a very strong point here. He talks about how humans can easily be
influenced by the external influences that surround them. And it is completely true, as we see it
commonly occur in our modern-day society. For example, people who grow up in rough
neighborhoods tend to be more violent and people governed by high expectations tend to be
more scared to take risks. We have always been told to surround ourselves with good people so
that we can be successful members of society. But that’s not always the case. What if, perhaps,
it was the society itself that conditioned us to act in an immoral way. And there are, in fact,
societies with ideals that the majority of the globe may not believe in. Regardless, the society of
Afghanistan in the mid-to-late 1900s is a paradigm of this, and Khaled Hosseini is able to show
the effect of external influences on people in his novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Therefore,
the actions conducted by the male characters in A Thousand Splendid Suns have been the
result of the society around them; however, not all male characters fit this standard, as proven
by the events that occurred in the novel.
First, let us take a look at some of the ways that the male characters actions’ in A
Thousand Splendid Suns are a product of the culture that they live in. An effective illustration of
this would be when Jalil was pressured into marrying Mariam off by the choice of his wives.
Hosseini writes, “The women grew quiet now. Mariam sensed that they were watching him too.
Waiting. A silence fell over the room. Jalil kept twirling his wedding band, with a bruised,
helpless look on his face. From inside the cabinet, the clock ticked on and on” (Chapter 7 Page
46). By analyzing the word choice utilized by Hosseini, we are able to realize that the final
decision that was made wasn’t truly what Jalil wanted for Mariam, as shown when Hosseini
writes, “bruised, helpless look on his face.” But Jalil couldn’t really do anything about this
situation because even if he went against the choices of his wives, he would still have to deal
with the censure thrown at him by the public for even having an illegitimate daughter. Although
Jalil is at fault for being in that situation in the first place, his actions are the clear result of the
societal pressures around him. Additionally, we can further support the reasoning behind Jalil’s
actions in this scenario by taking a look at Chapter 8, where the story says, “When the bus
jerked forward, she did not turn to see him trotting alongside it. And when the bus pulled away,
she did not look back to see him receding, to see him disappear in the cloud of exhaust and
dust” (Chapter 8 Page 51). Hosseini is able to portray the true thoughts and emotions of Jalil
without using any dialogue. This is evident because we can see how even though Mariam
basically cuts all her ties off with Jalil and says that “It ends here for you and me,” Jalil still
shows that deep down inside him he doesn’t want her to leave. And that is accurately portrayed
when we see Jalil running alongside the bus. Overall, this event serves as a good depiction of
how some of the actions of the male characters in A Thousand Splendid Suns are a result of the
culture surrounding them rather than their own beliefs.
As we proceed in the novel, we come across more male characters in A Thousand
Splendid Suns who also are heavily influenced by the society around them. For example,
Rasheed, a male character known to be abusive to women, is a valid case for this as he has
several moments in the story where he physically harms other women such as Laila and
Mariam. One of the most serious of these incidents occurs in Chapter 36, where Rasheed
brutally beats up both women for trying to escape from him. Hosseini writes, “Laila didn’t see the
punch coming. One moment she was talking and the next she was on all fours, wide-eyed and
red-faced, trying to draw a breath… Downstairs, the beating began. To Laila, the sounds she
heard were those of a methodical, familiar proceeding. There was no cursing, no screaming, no
pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten”
(Chapter 36 Pages 239-240). Although this is one of the more troublesome chapters for the
women, Hosseini is still able to make sure that the readers can understand that events like
these are of normal nature to characters in this society. The phrase, “systemic business of
beating and being beaten,” not only implies to the reader that abuse towards women was a
common occurrence in their household, but it also tells us that it was a common occurrence in
their society as a whole. To further support this, we can look back earlier in the story, “She could
see the effort it took him to keep his eyes from shifting. ‘What a man does in his home is his
business.’ ‘What about the law, then, Officer Rahman?’ Tears of rage stung her eyes. ‘Will you
be there to maintain order?’ ‘As a matter of policy, we do not interfere with private family
matters, hamshira’” (Chapter 36 Page 238). The exchange between Laila and Officer Rahman
confirms that it is the society that influences certain male characters to act in a negative light.
We have to understand that even if some of Rasheed’s beatings have stemmed from his own
personal desire to inflict harm against women, the rules set in stone in the society of A
Thousand Splendid Suns simply encourage men like Rasheed to continue to engage in this type
of behavior since the law enforcement does not do anything to stop or prevent it. Therefore, we
can see how Rasheed is a prime example of a male character whose actions are a product of
the ideals of the society in A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Although there are several male characters whose actions are the result of the culture
surrounding them, not all male characters conform to this belief as there are characters in the
story who commit actions that are unusual to the realms of their society. Some of these male
characters include people such as Tariq, who unlike Rasheed, chooses to protect and care for
women instead of treating them horribly. This is shown prominently when Tariq tells Laila that he
bought a gun in order to protect her, “Tariq tucked the gun into the waist of his denims. Then he
said a thing both lovely and terrible. ‘For you,’ he said. ‘I’d kill with it for you, Laila’” (Chapter 24
Page 158). We are able to see the sharp contrast between the actions of Tariq and the actions
of Rasheed, especially since later in the story, we see that Rasheed has forced the barrel of a
gun into Laila’s mouth in order to assert his dominance over her. In addition, soon after that, we
see a similar situation occur with Babi, specifically when he decides to take over the teaching
duties for Laila since the streets around their house have become extremely perilous. Hosseini
writes, “He took over the teaching duties himself. Laila went into his study every day after
sundown” (Chapter 24 Page 160). Again we can see another sharp contrast between two
characters, this time Babi and Jalil. Babi’s actions here show us how much he cares about his
daughter and how he wants her to succeed in life, whereas Jalil’s situation was almost opposite,
as he allowed himself to send his daughter away. Both Tariq and Babi portray actions that are
completely unique to the society around them since they are both caring for and empowering
women. From this, we can refute the argument that all male characters in A Thousand Splendid
Suns are products of the society that surrounds them.
All in all, from Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, we can see how certain
male characters such as Jalil and Rasheed are outcomes of the culture, norms, and ideals
around them. We can even see that there are male characters in the story who do not fall under
this category, which include people such as Tariq and Babi. As readers, we should be able to
take Hosseini’s novel and realize that sometimes people may behave differently depending on
the external influences that surround them. And we should also let this be a lesson for us to
make sure that we don’t succumb to the negative influences that circumvent us. Let us not
become the mindless, robotic machines that Nikola Tesla says we are.