ATSS Rasheed

Rasheed's Oppressive Behavior In the late 1800's and early 1900's in American history, women fought for the right to vote as part of the Women's Suffrage Movement. Great activists such as Susan B. Anthony stepped up for the equality of women in America. Women eventually did receive the right to vote in 1920 after years of hard work, making America one of the leaders of nations in the fight for gender equality. To this day however, that is hardly the case in many other countries. Women are more often then not treated as nothing more than a man's property, as shown with Rasheed of Afghanistan in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Young women are forced into marriages, out of need or family obligations as seen with Mariam and Laila who are given no other choice than to marry Rasheed. He treated the women with disrespect and abuse, treating them almost like animals whose only purpose was to serve and please him. Through Rasheed, the author Hosseini illustrates the struggle with oppression that the of women of Kabul are faced with. Despite Rasheed's devastating loss of his wife and son, his abusive and oppressive nature was inexcusable. Rasheed thought instead of letting Laila and Mariam be friends, he decides to pit them against each other and make them compete for him by being better wives. This understandably creates animosity, but the women get over their indifferences "they were not enemies any longer" (Hosseini 151) through their mutual dislike of their monstrously abusive husband. Rasheed treated Mariam and Laila like his property. Rasheed's entitlement led him to believe it was okay to beat women, but eventually Rasheed's "continual condescension and violence, his faultfinding and meanness" (Hosseini 210) helped Mariam to finally take charge of her life by killing him. Rasheed's selfishness drove him to do things that he is oblivious to. An example is Rasheed feeling as if he was doing Laila a favor by marrying her. "I'd say this is downright charitable of me." (Hoessini 133). Knowing Laila was in love with Tariq, referring to them as the Farsi version of a Romeo and Juliet before Laila's cruel twist of fate came to be in the form of a rocket. Rasheed still felt as if if he was being nice to Laila by marrying her, even during their marriage where he put her through a living hell. Rasheed in turn hurts Mariam with his proposal, as she compares it too "a blinding whack to the side of her head" (Hosseini 132), the older woman felt as if she was being replaced by Laila who could give Rasheed the son he wanted so badly. Rasheed was yearning for a son to replace his deceased one. He kept a picture of his son in his drawer hidden away "Mariam tried the bottom drawer of the dresser. It was there that she found a picture of the boy." (Hosseini 55) showing how he still cared about his deceased son. Rasheed felt wronged by not having a son to call his own . He felt as if it is more the work of something out of his control that killed his son instead of what it really was, his recklessness. Rasheed blamed bad fortune on the loss of his son when in reality it was just his drunken foolishness that caused his son's death. In turn, when Rasheed finally did have a son through Laila named Zalmai, he spoiled the young boy, and showed Zalmai the patience and love comparable to a "well that ran deep and never dried" (Hosseini 176), but Rasheed never treated his daughter Aziza the same way. To portray the oppression and suffering of an unfortunate number of women in countries and cities such as Kabul, Afghanistan, Hosseini utilizes Rasheed. Through the author we experience how Rasheed treats Mariam and Laila after the loss of his first wife and son with a selfish and abusive nature, which led to his wives' understandable resentment of him. Hosseini also includes Rasheed's selfishness, and his yearning to replace his son with another one given that it was his fault he was without his son to begin with. The oppression caused by Rasheed prevented his wives from ever having a life outside of being his wife, holding them back from accomplishing much of their own, illustrating the need for progression in gender equality in countries such as Afghanistan where the women have no voice. Rasheed himself had a tough life full of hardships, but his way of overcoming them through unending abuse rightfully caused his demise.