Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
ENG2D1-05
Laila and Mariam – A Comparative Essay
During our lives, at some point we will cross paths with the beasts of our society.
Beneath all the heartache and destruction that they may cause, it is still possible to find those
individuals whose acts give us the strength to stand back up on our feet. This is the message
Khlaed Hosseini would like readers to learn throughout his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Putting others before ourselves can be a difficult sacrifice, but it builds one’s character. Laila and
Mariam demonstrate such selflessness as well as bravery and strength.
There are certain people who always choose to think of ways to benefit themselves and
never those around them. When it comes to Mariam and Laila, they differ immensely.
Throughout their life they make many sacrifices to protect the ones they love. The greatest act of
selflessness Mariam displays occurs when she willingly gives up her own life to provide Laila
with one of freedom. She says:
“Don’t do this, Mariam. Don’t leave me. Don’t break Azziza’s heart.”
“They chop off hands for stealing bread,” Mariam said. “What do you think
they’ll do when they find a dead husband and two missing wives?”
“No one will know,” Laila breathed. “No one will find us.”
“They will. Sooner or later. They’re bloodhounds”....
“Mariam, please ---”
“When they do, they’ll find you as guilty as me. Tariq too. I won’t have the two
of you living on the run, like fugitives. What will happen to your children if
you’re caught?” Laila’s eyes brimming, stinging.
“Who will take care of them then? The Taliban? Think like a mother, Laila Jo.
Think like a mother. I am.” (357-8)
Mariam shows the trait of selflessness by offering to give herself up for the death of Rasheed,
rather than taking the chance of them both getting caught and executed. Unlike herself, she
knows that Laila has a lot more to lose, that being her children and Tariq. Laila shows this trait
when she chooses to stay in Kabul and live with Rasheed in order to protect her and Tariq’s
unborn child.
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Before Abdul Sharif’s visit, Laila had decided to leave for Pakistan.... But,
suddenly, leaving was no longer an option. Laila pictured herself in a refugee
camp, a stark field with thousands of sheets of plastic strung to makeshift poles
flapping in the cold, stinging wind. Beneath one of these makeshift tents, she saw
her baby, Tariq’s baby,... its skin mottled, bluish gray... lowered into a hole dug in
a patch of windswept land... How could she run now? .... Laila already saw the
sacrifices a mother had to make. (218-9)
In the beginning of this passage, Laila expresses her desire to leave Kabul and make a fresh start
in Pakistan. Once she discovers that she is bearing Tariq’s child, she decides that leaving is no
longer a suitable option. To supply her child with food and shelter, she chooses to enter an
undesirable marriage with Rasheed. When we become mothers, portraying selflessness becomes
second nature.
Today, our world is full of citizens who exhibit bravery, whether it be our firefighters,
police officers, or soldiers. In the end they are all fighting for the same thing: the safety of the
civilians around them, even if it means endangering themselves. Throughout the novel, Mariam
and Laila show evidence of their bravery on numerous accounts. One of Mariam’s acts takes
place when she kills Rasheed in order to save the life of Laila.
In the toolshed, Marium grabbed the shovel. Rasheed didn’t notice her coming
back into the room. He was still on top of Laila... his hands wrapped around her
neck. Laila’s face was turning blue now, and her eyes had rolled back. Mariam
saw that she was no longer struggling. He’s going to kill her, she thought. He
really means to. And Mariam could not, would not, allow that to happen. He’d
taken so much from her in twenty-seven years of marriage. She would not watch
him take Laila too. Mariam steadied her feet and tightened her grip around the
shovels handle. She raised it. She said his name, “Rasheed.” He looked up....And,
with that, Mariam brought down the shovel. (348-9)
During this moment, Mariam was not thinking of the consequences of her actions; her one and
only thought was saving the life of Laila. Rasheed had robbed her of the life she had hoped for
and she was not about to allow the same to happen to her one and only friend. The events that
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showed Laila’s bravery occurred when she went to see Aziza in the orphanage without the
accompaniment of a male.
And so Laila’s life suddenly revolved around finding ways to see Aziza. Half the
time, she never made it to the orphanage. Crossing the street, she was spotted by
the Taliban and riddled with questions...before she was sent home. If she was
lucky, she was given a tongue-lashing or a single kick to the rear, a shove in the
back. Other times, she met with assortments of wooden clubs, fresh tree branches,
short whips, slaps, often fists.... But for Laila, the reward, if she made it past the
Taliban, was worth it. (320-1)
Laila tolerates these beatings so that the relationship between herself and her daughter stays
alive. She is not about to let the Taliban and their laws stand in her way of being the mother
Aziza needs. When it comes to being there for the ones we love, fear is overcome by bravery.
Throughout life, people are met with many hardships. For some, instead of facing them,
they choose to give up. Others, like Mariam and Laila, find the strength within to carry on and
endure. One of Mariam’s acts that represents this trait takes place when she is being brought out
to the centre of the stadium, and never shows the audience a moment of weakness.
Thousands of eyes bore down on her. In the crowded bleachers, necks were
craned for the benefit of a better view.... Earlier that morning, she had been
afraid that she would make a fool of herself,... She had feared that she might
scream or vomit or even wet herself, that, in her last moments, she would be
betrayed by animal instinct or bodily disgrace. But when she was made to descend
from the truck, Mariam’s legs did not buckle. Her arms did not flail. She did not
have to be dragged. And when she did feel herself faltering, she thought of
Zalmai, from whom she had taken the love of his life... And then Mariam’s stride
steadied and she could walk without protest. (369)
Mariam is about to have her life come to a brutal end for a crime she committed so someone dear
to her could begin their own. Even in the eyes of death, she never fails to gather her strength and
leave us inspired for the last time. An act that reveals how strong Laila is, happens when Tariq
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asks her to leave with him and she says no because she knew her father had already lost too
much.
...Tariq said, “Come with me.”
....“I can’t,” Laila said.
“Don’t say that. I love you.”
“I’m sorry---“
“I love you.”
How long had she waited to hear those words from him? How many times had
she dreamed them uttered? There they were, spoken at last, and the irony crushed
her. “It’s my father I can’t leave,” Laila said. “I’m all he has left. His heart
couldn’t take it either.” Tariq knew this. He knew she could not wipe away the
obligations of her life any more than he could his, but it went on, his pleadings
and her rebuttals, his proposals and her apologies, his tears and hers. (183-4)
All Laila had ever wanted was for those words “I love you,” to be spoken from Tariq’s lips.
When he finally expresses his affection and proposes his idea of her going with him to Pakistan,
she pushes him away. She knows that Babi could not bear to lose something else important to
him, so she passes up a life full of happiness with Tariq. These two acts required a tremendous
amount of strength.
From beginning to end, Mariam and Laila make a number of sacrifices. They show that
putting others before ourselves can be difficult, yet rewarding at the same time. Just like in the
novel, our world is a stage that showcases good and bad. In the end, those who possess
selflessness, bravery, and strength never fail to outshine the evil.
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