Dylan Stracke
Decisions under the sun

In the book "A Thousand Splendid Suns", by Khaled Hosseini, he portrays a character, Mariam, whose insecurities make her depend on other peoples commands. As the book progresses, Mariam grows into a stronger person. She becomes independent, confident, and learns to take action on her own.

Mariam is a very insecure girl at the beginning of the novel. She learns to believe everything her mother, Nana, tells her. When Nana tells her that she cut the cord between herself, Mariam replies with a "sorry" as usual. Mariam has a character that can be easily manipulated. Jalil, Miriam's father tries to help Mariam and Nana, while Nana refuses the help. Mariam is torn between two sides and becomes very insecure and unsure of herself and with her thoughts. Nana calling Mariam "a clumsy little Harami" and a "stupid girl" also makes Mariam very dependant on other peoples opinions.

Later on in the book Mariam realizes that she is living in an unrealistic world. Nana has been protecting her from all the harmful things the outside will do and say. Nana even threatens Mariam by telling her the other children will laugh at her in school. They will. They will call her a harami. They will say the most terrible things about her Mariam, as usual, agrees and doesn't ask again. At her fifteenth birthday Mariam finally develops the courage to go search for her father. Once she is in Heart, Mariam realizes "Nana was wrong" (Hosseini 30) about the outside and about everything else. At this point Mariam is starting to develop the courage she lacks in the beginning. But that courage once again gets crushed when she finds out her mother was right about everything.

Finally near the end of the book, Mariam shows a lot of courage when she saves her