Discussion Topic A

In the heartfelt novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, incorporates the use of literary devices to showcase the issue of domestic abuse. The use of these literary devices such as personification and simile, can illustrate the countless abuses and sufferings the people had to undergo through. Hosseini's captivating narrative comprises of intimate details of life in a world where it's a struggle to survive.

The two main women that play a key role in the novel are named Mariam and Laila who survived two decades of warfare while being subjected to the worst kinds of domestic abuse imaginable. "Mariam wondered how so many women could suffer the same miserable luck to have married all of them, such dreadful men. Or was this a wifely game that she did not know about, a daily ritual, like soaking rice or making dough? Would they expect her soon to join in?" Hosseini incorporates the use of simile by comparing that men were playing games with their wives, and asking them if this was a daily ritual to them such as making dough or soaking rice. In a quote stated by Nana, she exclaims "Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam." The author uses this quote twice in the novel to reemphasize how unfair men treat women. Hosseini also inputs personification “A man’s heart isn’t like a woman’s womb, Mariam! It won’t bleed; it won’t make room for you. A man’s heart is a wretched, wretched thing. I’m all you have in this world, Mariam and when I’m gone, you’ll have nothing. You are nothing!"  In this quote, the character is using personification to show the qualities of a man's heart, not physically but emotionally, by stating that a man's heart won’t bleed and won’t make room for another person.

The use of these literary devices helps the reader understand the setting of the novel by how two women brought together by war, cultural mores, and marriage to the same abusive man. Mariam and Laila both had to overcome many obstacles to get to where they are now. The domestic abuse that these two people had dealt with shows a dramatic climax towards the end.