Hi.
I am writing an character sketch on the character Mariam from a Thousand Splendid suns- due tomorrow. Can you help me edit it? Im not sure if this is where i am supossed to post this but i hope it works. Thanks
Here it is:
The actions one makes demonstrates ones characteristics that develop and change during ones life. A person's characteristics create their purpose and shape that one is. Mariam jan, a female Afghan character in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, proves how powerfully her actions can affect those involved in her life. A Thousand Splendid Suns is about the journey of Mariam and those who are affect by her actions. Mariam began her life as a young, hardworking, independent child. Her father, Jalil, was a rich man with many children but he, as to the distaste of her mother, Nana, kept her isolated from the rest of his family. Mariam was curious and did not understand why she was forced to live at the kolba with Nana instead of with Jalil. She assumed he loved her and wanted her but she found out differently when she left her home of fifteen years to live with Jalil. She had never been to the city before but she was determined to find her father and stay at his home with his legitimate children and wives. Mariam was raised to fend for herself because Nana was often attacked with a jinn making her unable to complete her household tasks having Mariam tend to them instead. She was independent and strong especially for her age but when she arrived a Jalils' house, for the first time in her life, she was crushed to be denied entrance inside his home and forced to return to Nana. However, when Mariam arrived back at the Kabla, she found her mother hanging from a tree. She had committed suicide as soon as Mariam left her home. Mariam was heartbroken. She had always strived for a better life, an education and happiness but it seemed that life would not grant her those aspects. Jalil was forced to take Mariam under his roof after the tragic death of her mother but she did not remain with him for long. They married her off. Rasheed, an older shoemaker, took her hand in marriage. He lived far away but made a living and that was all Jalil needed to have her sent away and no longer a hassle.
Mariam was young and unsure of herself. She did not know how to be a good wife and had never meet Rasheed before which made her even more timid living Kabul. Rasheed was not a kind husband. In the beginning, he was happy to have another in person in his house, especially after the death of his past wife of so many years but soon after their wedding he changed. He began to show his true side which meant regular beatings for Mariam. Nothing was ever good enough though Mariam constantly put her heart into everything she did for him. Mariam was growing older with this man and wars were going on in Kabul daily which put everyone in danger and hundreds of people would die daily. Mariam and Rasheed had lived their marriage on a quite street and Mariam was always observing other families lifestyles. Laila, was the daughter of a friend of Mariams, and she had watched Laila grow from the moment she was born. Laila was known as the Juilette of the town because of the Romeo, Tariq, whom she spent every waking hour next to. Mariam had never gotten to know Laila only watched her from the windows of Rasheeds home. Tariq had moved away with his family because more and more bombings were occurring closer to their home everyday. Laila was left home with her family. Then the day came, when Laila joined Rasheeds house, becoming his new wife. Lailas parents and house and been bombed, destroying everything and she had no place to go. The months that Laila had lived with Mariam were filled with varieties of struggles. More bombings, beatings and arguments. In the beginning, Mariam was rude and did not like that Laila had barged into her life but her view changed after Laila defended Mariam while Rasheed was beating her. Mariam accepting Laila, and Lailas child, Aziza which she had just given birth to. Mariam treated Laila as her own and Aziza as her grandchild. She loved them and understood how Laila was felt living with Rasheed and losing her family. Mariam showed how sensitive and selfless she truely was everyday living with them. She protected them from Rasheeds beatings and when the draughts took over Kabul, Mariam would go without food just so the baby and Laila could eat. "...a look passed between Laila and Mariam. An unguarded, knowing look. And in this fleeting, wordless exchange with Mariam, Laila knew that they were not enimes any longer." (A Thousand Splendid Suns- Page 224.) Mariam was very generous and gave all of the baby clothes she had hand made for her child, which never did come, to Laila, knowing that Rasheed would be furious to know that the woman are finally on the same side.
Mariam loved Laila and her now two children, Aziza and Zalmai. She refused to see them hurt in anyway and would continuously save them from Rasheeds beatings, accepting the punishment herself. Rasheed would lock them up, starve them, and beat them all, even the children, but Mariam would not let his hatefulness waver her bravery and disgust toward him. Mariam almost died many times but she would not have cared as long as Laila and the children were free. She became the selfless, loving, protective mother she never had and Laila was eternally grateful. The times in Kabul because rough, constant bombing and killing and raids. Rasheed was a horrible as ever and never let up. Mariam wanted more than anything to be free, and to set Laila and the children free. She never had her own children and Laila meant the world to her. They were the only happy memory in her life that she had. She wanted to save them and feel that she had a purpose and one night she did just that; save them.
One night Rasheed was beating Laila and threating to beat the children. He shoved a gun into Lailas mouth with the children watching and Maraim trying to fight back. She had had enough of him. Mariam was taken over by a desire that she had been attempting to achieve for her entire life and she would not accepted it if she took no action. She showed extreme courage when she ran to the back shed to grab a shovel which she used to murder her husband of almost thirty years. In the era that the woman lived in was a time where they had no rights and a mans word was believed a thousand times over a womans. Laila never saw Mariam again after that frightful night. For murdering a man and husband she never had a chance to live. It did not matter to Mariam that she was going to die because "she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back. She was leaving it as a friend , a companion, a guardian. A Mother. A person of consequence at last."(A Thousand Splendid Suns. Page 329)
