A Thousand Splendid Suns, a book with a lot of suffering and the revelations of what women in Afghanistan have to "endure" but an underlying and almost sentimental but irrevocable theme is that of hope that comes towards about ¾ of the novel.
The second protagonist that we meet is called Laila and she is in love with a boy two years older than her called Tariq. He is a cripple and defends her against the bullies in her neighbourhood, he picked up his leg and "brandished it like a weapon." Although almost comical in my opinion it is obviously an incredible generous and loving gesture. They are best friends and she frequently goes to his house for dinner etc. he goes away for a while and an "emptiness" descended upon Laila. She becomes lonely incredibly quickly.
The novel goes on, character development and the time changes but they remain just as close as in childhood. He has started smoking and "hanging out" with other boys that Laila does not like very much. Has jealousy crept into the novel? Maybe.
Tariq and Laila declare their love for each other and then Tariq drops a bomb. He is leaving Kabul. He attempts to convince Laila to come with her but she does not because she says that she cannot leave her father, commitment to family. Similar to Mariam because Mariam would have done anything for Jalid, her dad. However, Laila’s father would reciprocate the gesture but Mariam’s father would not.
They realise that they don’t have a whole lot of time so they have sex and stuff. He goes away. Bomb hits her house, parents die, Rasheed finds her, at Rasheed’s someone tells Laila that Tariq is dead. It’s a pretty mental turn of events to be honest. Absolute loss. A big theme, Rasheed and the loss of his previous wife and son, Mariam and the loss of her whole life pretty much – mother etc and now Laila has joined them on the bench of destitution and loss.
Laila marries Rasheed and I was like "wth, why?" but then all is revealed because it turns out that she is pregnant with Tariq’s baby. Marries Rasheed to pretend it’s his etc. Quite simple really. She has a girl which is incredibly disappointing for Rasheed, wanted a boy to replace the one who died. We find out that a lot of people blame Rasheed for his son’s death because Rasheed was steaming drunk. Mariam and Rasheed both blame themselves in a very harsh way for the deaths that have come about, Laila does as well but not to the same extent. The theme therefore is not only loss but the self reproach and self blaming that comes about from loss. Regret. That is the word.
Mariam, earlier in the novel had found a photo of Rasheed with his wife and son and he looked genuinely happy, those days are gone and will never come again. The environment of Afghastan reflects this motif, things gone and non returnable.
Anyway. Lalia and Mariam do not get on; Laila attempts to become friends although saying friends is a slight exaggeration. They shout at each other and Laila thinks they have more in common. It shows that people have a "dark side" and the reason that some people get angry and stuff is because they are hiding demons.
Laila and Mariam become friends when Laila stands up to Rasheed and stops her from beating Mariam. They decide to try and run away but their attempts are thwarted and they are sent back to Rasheed. He punishes them by locking them in the shed, it is boiling hot and they have a little girl – Aziza with them. Laila thinks that the little one is going to die. It’s not very fun in all honesty.
NOW, back to where I started with the idea of hope. I was once told by one of my fun loving friends that hope is pointless because it only leads to more pain in the future. Although this is incredibly pessimistic it is not without justification. Friedrich Nietzsche said that "Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
For example, Mariam and Laila try to run away and the audience gets their hope up only to be disappointed when they are found out and returned back to Rasheed.
However, never was there a more powerful emotion than hope in my opinion. It unites the weakest of souls and this is exactly what happens with Laila and Mariam. In each other they find safety and solace and they are proud personifications of the belief that hope can conquer evils. Maybe so far it is the strongest theme. A lot of rubbish can happen but somewhere there is somewhere who understands and it doesn’t necessarily have to be someone close to you. Look at Mariam and Laila, they were bordering on enemies and now they are each others confidant.
