February Blog: Survival vs. Hope

One of the discussion questions of A Thousand Splendid Suns Socratic seminar questions asks if this was a story of survival or one of hope.  I feel that each of the protagonists, Laila and Mariam, live for either one of these reasons.  For Mariam, her entire life has been a struggle for survival and the main reason she is so submissive towards Rasheed, until the end, is strictly so he won't beat her to death.  Mariam never had an understanding of what life is like outside of poverty and tyranny.  For Laila she knew life was better than what her life was like for Rasheed.  It was the hope that things would get better that drove Laila to endure her life with Rasheed.  By stashing away money and planning an escape, Laila had hope and determination that somewhere life was better than her current situation.  Laila hoped to escape from this abusive relationship and Mariam did only what Nana told her she should do, endure.  For many women even in this country the struggle for survival and hope is a real part of their lives.  For most women being in an abusive relationship it is simple a struggle for survival not to be beat to death but also a struggle for hope that one day their situation might get better.  When you are in a struggle for survival you have to hope that you will survive.