Revision Pack

Paper 2: Essay (2 hours)

In response to one of six questions students write an essay based on at least two of the
literary texts studied in part 3. (Weighting 25%). You should try to establish connections.
Look for similarities, links, relations, bonds, etc. as well as different approaches.
Here are some sample questions to give you an idea:
-Explain how the authors of at least two literary works have portrayed a social group in a
particular way. How might the contexts of the authors have influenced their portrayal of these
social groups?
-It is often said that literature is a voice for social commentary. How is this true of at least two
works that you have read.
-To what extent can the meaning of a literary work change over time? How does this question
apply to at least two works that you have read?
-To what degree are readers influenced by their culture and context. Explain how at least two
works could be read differently depending on the culture of their audience.
-'Coming of age' is a common theme in literary works. With regards to at least two literary
works, explain how the author's own youth influenced their portrayal of this theme.
-With regards to at least two literary works, explain how the setting both influences the
characters and reflects the author's own context.
-How are the characters from at least two literary works representational of people from the time
and place in which they were written?
-Why might two of your Part 3 works be considered 'timeless'?
-With regards to two literary texts, explain why authors may have chosen to depict events in a
particular sequence or order.
-How do two literary works both reflect and challenge the spirit of the times in which they were
written?
There are five assessment criteria for HL.
Criterion A Knowledge and understanding 5 marks
Criterion B Response to the question 5 marks
Criterion C Understanding of the use and effects of stylistic features 5 marks
Criterion D Organization and development 5 marks
Criterion E Language 5 marks
Total 25 marks
Establishing connections between Death and the
Maiden, Master Harold and the Boys, and A Thousand
Splendid Suns.

1) Context: Political oppression in the second half of

the 20th Century.
Death and the Maiden 1990, set in the 1980s.
-Aftermath of dictatorship in an unnamed South American country: a country that is
probably Chile but could be any country that has given itself a democratic government
just after a long period of dictatorship. (Read the article in The Guardian, it is in
Schoology DATMs relevance today).
-Focused on the past. Dealing with the past. Memory.
-Oppression related to politics: rightwing vs. leftwing politics.
Master Harold and the Boys 1982, set in South Africa in
1950.
-Aftermath of Apartheid in South Africa.
-Focused on the future. Hopeful.
-Oppression related to race and social class: whites vs. blacks & rich vs. poor.
A Thousand Splendid Suns 2007, set in Afghanistan
from 1960s to early 2000s.
- Focused on the present and the future. Hopeful.
- Takes place over approximately forty years, were Afghanistan was subjected to a
series of violent, brutal wars and numerous political coups, civil wars and invasions.
- Oppression related to gender roles, religion and social class.

2) Themes: raising awareness about social change

being needed, violence (bigotry, hatred, pain, cycles of
violence, prejudices), empathy, personal and family
consequences of state-led violence, victimisation of
women
Death and the Maiden
-A) Violence: Violence comes from the state, from the military but also from person to
person. It manifests in psychological ways but it is also physical. Paulina has been
raped, incarcerated and tortured for many years. This has scarred her for life. She
cannot feel safe anymore, she could never become a doctor, she cannot enjoy sex
because of the horrible sexual torture she suffered, she cannot enjoy love or trust
people and she becomes a perpetrator of violence herself.
-B) Cycles of Violence and the possibility of Empathy: The term cycle of violence
refers to repeated and dangerous acts of violence as a cyclical pattern, associated
with high emotions and doctrines of retribution or revenge. The pattern, or cycle,
repeats and can happen many times during a relationship. (Wikipedia). Paulina is first
abused and later becomes an abuser, she gags, ties up and threatens Roberto. The
reader is uncertain of whether she kills him or not. One of the ways by which Paulina is
now in command (Act 2, scn.1) is portrayed through the masculinisation of Paulina
who imitates Robertos voice, uses his very own words and violent expressions (Give
her a bit more. This bitch can take a bit more. Give it to her), she speaks in
monologue, controlling the situation, she has all the authority and does not allow
freedom of speech: While you point at me there is no possible dialogue, says Gerardo
(Act 1 scn. 4). She also carries a gun and shoots. In her new position as a
masculinised violator, Paulina also confronts Gerardo who has previously been
patronising her: When are you [Gerardo] going to stop telling me [Paulina] what I can
and cant do (Act 1 scn. 4).
Gerardo represents those who believe that violence is not the solution to
suffering: I spent a good part of life defending the laweven if this man committed
genocidehe has the right to defend himself; imagine what would happen if everyone
acted like you [Paulina] diddemocracy can go and screw itself (Act 2, scn.1). But
Paulina represents the rage and suffering of those who were unjustly violated,
she wants to feel free again and not be scared anymore. For that she plans on doing
to them systematically, minute by minute, instrument by instrument, what they did to
me(Act 2, scn.1), but finally she decides that she wants him to confess. So she wants
Roberto to experience the paradox from which she suffered: If he [Roberto] is
innocent? Then hes really screwed (Act 2, scn. 1). Let us remember that she was just
a student and they imprisoned her, there was no evidence against her, it didnt matter.
Even Gerardo gets violent out of the impossibility of knowing the truth and threatens to
kill Roberto at one point: An eye for an eye is here, a tooth for a tooth, right, isnt
that our philosophy? (Act 2, scn. 2).
The big question that this play poses is whether it is possible to forgive and forget
violence and whether one can forgive without forgetting. The latter would be the only
way to close and break the cycle of violence. As Gerardo says: forgive yes, forget, no.
But forgive, so we can start again (Act 2, scn. 2). However, Paulina cannot separate
one from the other, this prevents her from forgiving and it destroys her.

Master Harold and the Boys

a) Racial Violence,Xenophobia and Segregation: Like DATM, and ATSS in
MHATB violence comes firstly from the state. Apartheid was the system of racial
segregation in South Africa, enforced through legislation by the National Party (NP),
the governing party from 1948 to 1994. The word means, the state of being apart,
literally apart-hood. During this period of time in South Africa, whites and blacks
were not only separated and segregated but blacks were treated in very violent
ways, as if they were an inferior race. Being white meant you got decent health
care, your kids could go to school, and you could live where you wanted. Blacks
were corralled into townships, if they could get jobs in the city. If not, their urban
shacks often were bulldozed and they were forcibly moved to unproductive
homelands. This was at the heart of the policy of apartheid, or separateness.
(web)
Much like the other books, the play exposes how the state-led violence is
reproduced at the level of family and friendship. Thus, the text is concerned
with showing how politics affect personal relationships. However, unlike DATM but
like ATSS, MHATB is a hopeful play. Sam and Willy represent those who believe
that social change is possible and that the answer to violence is love. The fact
that they understand, accept and even, perhaps, forgive Harold at the end of
the play, and the fact they leave the stage singing and dancing, shows us that
Fugard intends to offer a peaceful and amicable alternative to violence. He
portrays Sam as being a wise black man, a caring, thinking and committed person,
a father figure.
The climax of racist violence in the play is when Hally transfers the resentment and
anger he has for his father onto Sam. He tells Sam of a racist joke his father and
him share: It's not fair, is it, Hally?" Then I have to ask; "What, chum?" And then he
says: "A nigger's arse" . . . and we both have a good laugh The joke rests on a pun
with the word fair which has many connotations: white, blonde, decent, just, among
others. This joke is extremely racist and offensive, on top of being also sexually
motivated. As a result Sam replies violently too: SAM: how do you know it's not fair?
You've never seen it. Do you want to? [He drops his trousers and underpants and
presents his backside for Hally's inspection.] Have a good look. To retaliate, H spits in
Sams face, again, another offensive gesture. But Sam reveals the real motives behind
the joke: And you're a coward, master Harold. The face you should be spitting in is
your father's . . . but you used mine, because you think you're safe inside your fair
skin . . . and this time I don't mean just or decent.
b) Cycles of Violence and the possibility of Empathy: Just as whites treat black
people in a derogatory, insulting and degrading manner ( [H] Grabs his ruler and gives
Willie a vicious whack on the bum), Willie treats women (whom he considers to be
inferior) violently too. This gives him the illusion that he is in power. It gives him the
illusion that he too, like the whites, can be a figure of authority. But, in fact, it is just a
sad consequence of the cycles of violence and abuse which are difficult to break.
Similarly, just as Hs father treats him and his mother violently, H takes revenge on S
and W: HALLY: why don't you start calling me Master Harold, like Willie.
SAM: And if I don't . . . HALLY: You might just lose your job.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
a)Violence: In ATSS women were their husbands property, which meant that they had
to comply with all their needs. One of Rasheeds needs was to have a son.
Unfortunately, Mariam could not give him one, she had 7 miscarriages. This made
Rasheed really angry, so he started to be violent to her. One of the most violent scenes
in the novel, is at the end of part 1: "through the mournful of grit and pebbles, Mariam
mumbled a plea. Tears were leaking out the corner of her eyes ...Mariam chewed.
Something in the back of her mouth cracked... Mariam spit out pebbles, blood and the
fragments of two broken molars. This is just the beginning of an extreme violent
relationship. Rasheed will like her if she is fertile, and is not interested in her but
in her male descendants. Then, there is also the very violent scene in which Mariam,
Laila and the baby are locked up, no food and no water for days in the darkness of their
rooms. Isolation and torture are Rasheeds ways of communication with his wives.
Violence through religion: From the religious point of view, the Qoran stated that
women had to serve men and.. This also implies that the inequality was
socially accepted. Wives are objects to men, inferior, despicable and they are
only needed to have children. They have to wear a burqa because they are mens
property and cannot be seen by other men apart from their husbands. Child abuse
and child marriage: some women in Afghanistan were raised to accept abuse. They
spent their childhood learning how to be good wives in order to satisfy their future
husbands needs. Mariam had no voice in the decision and was forced to be married to
an unknown man when she was 15 years old: He asked the question two more times.
When Mariam didn't answer, he asked it once more, this time more forcefully . She just
had to satisfy his middle aged husband with only fifteen years of age. Her father...

b) Shame and Guilt: Shame and guilt are intertwined, one stems from the other. On
the one hand, Mariam is a symbol of shame in ATSS, because she is an illegitimate
daughter (a harami). Furthermore, she also suffers from extreme guilt after her
mothers death (because she had run away with Jalil). All this contributes to her
accepting and not complaining about her disastrous marriage with Rasheed. On
the other hand, Laila has a connection with guilt because she was the only survivor of a
bomb attack that killed both her parents. (survivors guilt) Rasheed feels ashamed of
Mariam since she can not have a child. Jalil feels partially guilty because Mariams
mother committed suicide, after Mariam runs away with him but also his family is
ashamed from his harami daughter.

c) Cycles of violence: The Cycle of Violence depicts a pattern often experienced in

abusive relationships which does not only repeats it within it, but it also emerges later
in the relationships of people who experienced and witnessed violence in their homes as
they grew up. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, violence is imparted primarily by the state
and it is then reflected in the daily relationships between people and mostly, with regard
to the female gender. This aspect can be seen within the quote;"Fariba, all these people
know is war," said Babi. "They learned to walk with a milk bottle in one hand and a gun
in another." Babi is making a point that war is a cyclical process which is constructed by
Children growing up in war-torn countries which are forced to experience the horrors of
war on a daily basis, and as a whole, shapes them.
The Mujadeen, the talibans the US and USSR invasions, all foster hatred and violence
within the citizens and the Qoran seems to permit these types of aggressions.
The female roles such as Mariam, Nana and Laila are the main receptors which embody
all women.
d) Education:
Education is a tool to achieve freedom. Books are powerful because they represent
open-mindedness, internationalism, global perspective and knowledge. It is the
only source that allows people to change their circumstances. Characters have
different perspectives about education: Education is controversial it could destroy
the islamic traditional culture, that sustains womens inferiority and their need to
satisfy mens needs and wants systematically. This is known as the objectification
of women. The traditional/ conservative perspective about education is portrayed
through the lessons Mariams mother teaches to her. Nana is unable to understand the
importance of education: "What's the sense schooling a girl like you? It's like shining a
spittoon. And you'll learn nothing of value in those schools. There is only one, only one
skill a woman like you and me needs in life, and they don't teach it in school. Look at
me. 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." Clearly, Mariams mother doesn't believe that education can afford her
daughters freedom because she knows how society is like and being a Harami dooms
her life forever. The quote also shows the traditional values that are strongly ingrained
in her beliefs. Simile explain
Lailas father has a modern perspective about education. He considers
education as a method of progression and liberation: Marriage can wait,
education cannot You're a very, very bright girl. Truly, you are. You can be anything you
want, Laila I know this about you." Explain This quote foreshadows the hopeful future
of Afghanistan. It also presents the idea which the author wants to transmit: having a
well-educated society is needed in order to change Afghanistan.
3) Topics: lack of freedom (censorship) and music.
Death and the Maiden
A) One might think that censorship and lack of freedom is a thing of the past. Its
been years since the dictatorship was over. However, the characters dwell in the past
and their actions are related to what they lived before. Moreover, the present is not a
time of entire freedom either. For example, in spite of the fact that the new government
has created a Commission to investigate what happened to people who disappeared
back then, the commission can only work with the most serious cases, beyond
repair, that ended in death. Dorfman is being very ironic about what democratic
governments can do: very little. The dictatorship may be over but people are still
not free because the people in power continue controlling what is accepted and
what is not. Gerardo recognises that he is indeed limited and Paulina points out how
the judges (who supposedly represent unbiased justice) are actually corrupt and never
intervened to save one life in seventeen years of dictatorship. So the play shows that
democracy can not guarantee freedom, and that despite Roberto suggesting that
this commission is going to help us close an exceptionally painful chapter in our
history, this is not true, people are still not free to go against those in power
(government, military people). People still live in fear, and fear produces inaction,
paralysis: Do you want to see these people [military people, torturers] back in power?
You want to scare them so they come back to make sure we dont harm them?, asks
Gerardo to Paulina when she is ready to kill Roberto (Act 2, scn. 1).
-Gender inequality: At the beginning, the stage directions present Paulina as a victim,
a very scared person hidden behind the curtains. She is also presented as
vulnerable and mentally unstable. The play suggests that this puts Gerardos
reputation in danger and thus, it suggests that women are weak and crazy, therefore,
dangerous to mens political careers. Roberto and Gerardo also exchange rather
misogynistic ideas about women being mysterious, they talk about the unpredictable
female soul, as if women were objects to be explored and understood. Paulina has a
different perspective: why do they always say son of a bitch, why the bitch instead of
the father who taught them in the first place? (Act 2, scn.2).
B) Truth: The play is very much concerned with eliciting truth. But, as a postmodern
text, Dorfman suggests that The Truth as a singular, objective and unquestionable
idea does not exist. DATM proposes that there are many truths, that they are all
subjective and they can even be contradictory. Paulinas truth is not the same as
Robertos truth, for example. There are many ironies that help us understand this idea
of the multiplicity and relativity of truth better. For example, Robertos repetition of the
real real truth, as if it were possible to find one answer valid for all. Dorfman, clearly
says that this is impossible. The readers will never know for sure, really, whether the
truth is that Roberto Miranda is Paulinas torturer, for example. Also, the play is ironic
with the tools used to obtain truth. Military personnel would torture people to get the
truth out of them (where were they hiding, who were they working with, etc). In a
democracy, people will record what you say in a trial, or you will write a confession. But
DATM shows us how all these tools are useless and pointless. Paulina records
and has Roberto writing his confession but we can never be sure if what he says is true
or not. Furthermore, the military tortured Paulina and she never told them the truth they
were looking for. This shows the failures of democracy and our justice system as well
as explains how truth, understood as a single perspective, does not exist. Contrarily,
Paulina represents that when looking for one of the many truths possible, one
might trust ones senses (she can recognise Robertos voice and smell), never
mind if they are subjective and relative because truth is subjective and relative
too.
Another technique to subvert the idea of truth is the interplay with light and darkness.
We hear but we dont see who is on stage, and the voices of Paulina and Roberto mix
and overlap.
Finally, the mirror, facing the audience, is a postmodern technique that has us all
questioning ourselves: what would we have done if we were Paulina? Do we tell the
truth?
As previously mentioned, we never know whether Paulina killed Roberto or not: he
could be real or he could be an illusion in Paulinas head, claims the stage
direction (Act 3, scn. 3). The phantasmagoric moonlight quality of the light used to
illuminate Roberto contributes to blurring his identity as a ghost or as a human.
C) Music: Schuberts quartets symbolic title (Death and the Maiden) relates to
Paulina as the maiden who has been tortured (the iron maiden). After the violence
inflicted by the dictatorship, Paulina is unable to enjoy music and this quartet in
particular: One night we were dining andour hostess happened to put Schubert on
my body decided for me, I felt extremely ill (Act 1 scn. 4). Schubert used to be her
favourite composer (Act 1 scn. 4) but violence killed her inside, art cannot give her
peace. She thought she could bring him [Schubert] back from the grave, so to speak
(Act 1 scn. 4), listen to him again and enjoy him, but she couldnt.
A cassette with this quartet is found by Paulina in Robertos car. This is believed to be
one of the proofs to accuse him as the doctor who tortured her because that doctor
used to play Death and the Maiden while torturing the prisoners. In fact, he is
presented as the doctor who played Schubert (Act 1 scn. 4).
There is also Mozarts Dissonant Quartet (Act 3, scn. 1). It plays when the mirror is
offered to the audience to reflect upon themselves. The dissonance implied
suggests conflict and confusion.
Master Harold and the Boys
a) Lack of freedom (censorship): The title of the play is very symbolic of the racial
violence denounced by the text. Historically, in the US and South Africa, "boy" was not
only a term for domestic servants but also a disparaging term towards black men,
implying their subservient status - the usage ran from the period of slavery through
segregation and apartheid. The term Master refers to a slave owner (showing the
superiority and power of whites over blacks) and it is also a form of address, especially
employed by servants. To show the lack of freedom the blacks had in South Africa
in the 1950s, Fugard uses these terms to suggest an infantilised and inferior
image of blacks that opposes a powerful and adult image of whites. For example,
this is Willies subservient and subordinate reaction to Hally: [Springing to attention
like a soldier and saluting.] At your service, Master Harold!. The title is even more
violent and ironic when we realise that H is the boy and S and W the adults.
-Racial violence: Hally is a white teenager struggling to become a man. He is
confused and influenced by two opposing father figures: his absent and crippled
father (who represents sadness, rage, resentment, racism and violence) and Sam
(a more positive role model, who has in fact raised him and taught him how to
interact in the world). But as much as Hally has learned from Sam, race and social
class matter too much. He cannot have a black servant as a role model, that would go
against his status as a high-class white boy. People would laugh at him and disregard
him. He yearns to be powerful, like his father, although he hates his father for being
violent with him. He is trapped in contradictions, he wants to change the world
into a better place, he wants to be a social reformer, but is afraid of the
consequences of racial and social equality: It's a bloody awful world when you
come to think of it. People can be real cruelIt doesn't have to be that way, says
Hally. He continues: I oscillate between hope and despair for this world as well, Sam.
But things will change, you wait and see. One day somebody is going to get up and
give history a kick up the backside and get it going again. But, sadly, this does not
happen, he remains trapped in his own prejudices.
-The Kite represents the possibility of racial equality and interracial friendship.
Moreover, it was a fatherly gesture of love and generosity from S to H:
I [H] realized what you [S] were doing. "Sam is making a kite?" And when I
asked you and you said "Yes" . . . ! [Shaking his head with disbelief.] The
sheer audacity of it took my breath away. I mean, seriously, what the hell
does a black man know about flying a kite? I'll be honest with you, Sam, I
had no hopes for it. If you think I was excited and happy you got another
guess coming. In fact, I was [ . . . ]-scared that we were going to make
fools of ourselves. When we left the boarding house to go up onto the hill, I
was praying quietly that there wouldn't be any other kids around to laugh at
us.

Sam makes the kite because he wants H to feel proud of himself, to look up and not
be afraid and ashamed of his father. But H is both excited (because someone is paying
attention to him, playing with him, giving him a present) and ashamed (because that
person is a black man and, for a white boy in South Africa, that is embarrassing).
Contrarily, H remembers this moment with pride and joy: I was so proud of us! It was
the most splendid thing I had ever seen. I wished there were hundreds of kids around
to watch us. However, S, the adult, takes care of H the boy. He does not want to hurt
him and protects him by not telling him that it is impossible for them to be seen together
as equals because of the segregation imposed by apartheid.
-Gender Violence: Willie is overtly violent with women, he beats them and threatens
them psychologically speaking: You hit her too much. One day she going to leave you
for goodBeating her up every time she makes a mistake in the waltz? No, Willie! That
takes the pleasure out of ballroom dancing, says Sam. And he also suggests this is
not the first woman Willie has beaten up: You had the same trouble with Eunice. Also,
he fails to give Hilda money to support their baby, which proves him selfish and an
absent father and he animalises Hilda, comparing her to a horse and suggesting she
should see a vet to fix her leg problems. This proves that violence is circular and
difficult to escape.
-Child abuse: Hallys father is a crippled bigot who mistreats his family. His son is very
unhappy and does not even want him to come back home: Life is just a plain bloody
mess, that's all. And people are fools. The father is a drunkard who makes life hell for
me [H]. He steals money from the mother and abuses his son. The fact that he is
crippled symbolically refers to the idea that he is a bad dancer, therefore, a trouble
maker, someone who is not a bearer of harmony, peace and equality.
-Education: Hally disapproves of Sam reading: You haven't been reading them,
have you? SAM: Just looking. HALLY: [Examining the comics.][Gosh], what
rubbish! Mental pollution. Take them away. The image of mental pollution suggests
that H considers that reading (education) will contaminate Sam. This is ironic, Hs real
motives rely on the fact that he does not want S to be educated and realise that he is
being abused. Educated people always pursue freedom, H does not want that. In fact,
the play proposes that S is a very educated person. He holds philosophical discussions
with H and proves himself to be a thinking individual. They talk about great thinkers and
politically-committed people such as Napoleon, Darwin, Tolstoy, Churchill,
Shakespeare, Jesus, Mohammed, Flemming and Lincoln. Sam proposes Lincoln to be
a social reformer but Hally is dismissive and destroys his arguments because Lincoln,
who abolished slavery in the USA, is dangerous. Hally does not want Sam to be free
from social restrictions that make him be a poor servant: You've never been a slave,
you know. And anyway we freed your ancestors here in South Africa long before the
Americans. Sam may not be a slave, but Hally is wrong because Sam is a servant,
which is a violent form of degrading people.
Sam has also helped H with his homework since he was a boy, but in his delusion of
superiority he feels it has been the other way round: Tolstoy may have educated his
peasants, but I've [Hally] educated you. H always finds a way to insult him, patronise
him and underestimate him so as to maintain his role as the powerful Master: HALLY:
Just get on with your bloody work and shut upYou're only a servant in here, and don't
forget it.
B) Music: Foxtrot, Quickstep and Jazz. Willie and Sam prepare for a dance
competition. Music helps them face the violence they suffer. Music and dance, as forms
of art, are presented as redeemers, salvation. The message of the play is that art can
bring harmony and balance into ones life and that even those who suffer the most can
find solace in art. Ballroom dance is first a metaphor to show that the peaceful co-
existance of blacks and whites in the same place is possible: a world without
collisions.The metaphor shows that respect and collaborative efforts are possible and
needed: it takes two (or more) to dance, in the same way that it takes two or more to
rebuild a country divided by hatred, to reach equality in society: Nobody trips or
stumbles or bumps into anybody else. That's what that moment is all aboutlike being
in a dream about a world in which accidents don't happen, mentions Sam.
The metaphor extends to politics, race and social interaction, as Sam says Global
Politics on the Dance Floor:
That's what I've been trying to say to you all afternoon. And it's
beautiful because that is what we want life to be like. But instead,
like you said, Hally, we're bumping into each other all the time.
Look at the three of us this afternoon: I've bumped into Willie, the
two of us have bumped into you, you've bumped into your mother,
she bumping into your Dad . . . None of us knows the steps and
there's no music playing. And it doesn't stop with us. The whole
world is doing it all the time. Open a newspaper and what do you
read? America has bumped into Russia. England is bumping into
India, rich man bumps into poor man. Those are big collisions,
Hally. They make for a lot of bruises. People get hurt in all that
bumping, and we're sick and tired of it now. It's been going on for
too long. Are we never going to get it right? . . . learn to dance life
like champions instead of always being just a bunch of beginners
at it?
This idea of art as being beautiful, peaceful and making people happy is emphasised
by another dialogue in which Sam tells Willie that Ballroom must look happy, Willie, not
like hard workit must look like romance[A] Love story with a happy ending. On the
other hand, ballroom dance also stands as a symbol of resistance. The authority in
South Africa may be white and they may forbid the blacks to dance in their own parties
and places but the blacks created the Rainbow Balls, a black version of the white
galas with black musicians and they embraced music and dance as a an expression of
pride and protest against racism.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A) Lack of freedom (censorship and religion) Islamic religion is very oppressive and
it restricts people from behaving freely. In ATSS, women have to walk behind men,
have to wear clothes that cover their faces and body. Men have to respect the Taliban
or the Muslim group leading the country, have to go to war, have to dominate their
women. Only a few Modern men escape this, those are Rasheeds clients. There is
some very little room for disobeying the religious traditions, but our characters are
trapped in the constraints of the dogma. If they go against it they are killed. Because
Afghanistan is a Theocracy, the laws and social rules are based on religious
boundaries. Qoran.

Gender inequality:
Women are inferior to men. This can be seen in the way Rasheed treats Mariam, Laila
and Aziza and also in the way Jalil treats Mariam's mother, Nana and Mariam. This
inequality is sustained in the Quran, the Muslims Holy Book, in which the female
characters have fewer rights and are presented as mens objects. These are some
examples of how women were supposed to behave according to their religion and their
beliefs:
Quran: (Inheritance) "The male sh
all have the equal of the portion of two females"
Quran (24:31) - "Women are to lower their gaze around men, so they
do not look them in the eye."
Quran (2:223) - "Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your
tilth when or how ye will..."
Quran (4:24) and Quran (33:50) -"A man is permitted to take women
as sex slaves outside of marriage."
As Nana states at the beginning of the book: "Like a compass needle that points north,
a man's accusing finger always finds a woman." (p. 7) Through this simile, one can
perceive how women are subordinated and accused by men. They are mere puppets
of the accusations, abuse and dominance of men and their vital role is caring for their
husbands or any paternal figure. These quote becomes a refrain for Mariam as she
gets older. Jalil shifts the responsibility of Mariam onto Nana, and Rasheed blames
Mariam for everything that goes wrong in his life.

After the Civil War, when the Taliban came to power in 1996, they instituted a system of
gender apartheid which put women in a state of constant house arrest unless
accompanied by a male relative. Women's progress in education and employment was
crushed with the harsh laws imposed by the Taliban. Their only purpose in life was to
serve their husbands and give them the possibility of continuing the family name. Most
men in the book are rigid and uncompromising, especially when women are concerned,
"A man's heart is a wretched, wretched thing, Mariam. It isn't like a mother's womb. It
won't bleed, it won't stretch to make room for you." (p. 17) On the other hand, the
female characters of the novel (Mariam, Laila, and Aziza) embody the ability of women
to change and adapt.
His powerful hands clasped her jaw. He shoved two fingers into her mouth and pried it
open, then forced the cold, hard pebbles into it. Mariam struggled against him...
Through this violent moment, gender inequality can be identified by the way Rasheed
aggressively forces Mariam to eat pebbles just by not preparing the food the way he
wanted to. In this case, Mariam could not do anything to stand up for herself. Moreover,
Rasheed represents all men who treated women as objects, as if they were their
property. "Where I come from, a woman's face is her husband's business only" (p. 63)
He is in a way portraying and showing how women did not have rights and freedom. "...
women were rarely seen on the streets and only then in burqa and accompanied by
men." (p. 76)

Female bonding: One constant topic is friendship between women. The relationship
between Mariam and Laila is the most important of the novel. Part I takes Mariams
perspective, Part II takes Lailas, and Part III alternates between them. Laila also
treasures her friendship with her classmates Giti and Hasina, with whom she shares
laughs, games ands secrets about boys forgetting for a time about the violence and
dangers of their adolescence. By the time the Mujahideen impose their own restrictions
on the place of women in Afghanistan, female friendship becomes one way to endure,
cope with, resist these restrictions from within. Mariam and Laila for instance, bond
together against Rasheed, the husband of both and the man which makes them suffer
a lot. Most drastically, this takes the form of their plot to escape. The time they spend
together drinking tea, joking, and laughing allows them to draw strength from each
other and endure their oppression. Even in a society where women cannot participate
in the public sphere, the book suggests, relationships between women serve not only
as a source of escape but as a means to assert their own legitimacy and dignity.
Sisterhood + hope.

People were killed or seriously injured by violence:

Violence is mainly identified from Rasheed towards all the women living under his roof.
Some of it was daily violence that include both verbal and physical abuse, but in some
special cases, the violence towards the women was extremely aggressive reaching to
the point of people being seriously injured by it or, in a special case, dead..
His powerful hands clasped her jaw. He shoved two fingers into her mouth and pried it
open, then forced the cold, hard pebbles into it. Mariam struggled against him.. Just by
a disagree of the way Mariam cooks, physical violence was the answer for Rasheed to
make her understand the wrongs that she was committing.
There are many examples similar to this one, where just by slightly bothering Rasheed,
the one at fault was severely punished to make her learn how to behave the way he
wanted them to.
Clearly all of this violence that Rasheed causes comes back to him when, Mariam and
Laila cannot take it anymore and team up against him and kill him. It is all an evolution
that starts from Rasheed violently beating Laila for seeing Tariq and then Mariam
reaching for a shovel and finally killing him, ending with all the domestic violence they
have been going through.

-Child marriage and the burqa:

Child marriage was very common at that time, once girls reached the age of fourteen,
their parents started looking for their future husband to be. Clearly, this did not happen
in all of the cases presented in the novel, as Laila is not forced by her parents to be
married. However, for Mariam, the situation is a little bit different as the wives of Jalil do
not appreciate the presence of her at their house and make a plan to get rid of her.
Burqa: The burqa is an important symbol of the novel as it separates women from
men. It symbolizes the imprisonment that marriage brings to women in the middle east.
Neither Mariam nor Laila had to wear one before living under Rasheeds roof, yet it was
one of the first things he enforced after being marriage.Mariam had never before worn
a burqa. Rasheed had to help her put it on. The padded headpiece felt tight and heavy
on her skull, and it was strange seeing the world through a mesh screen." (p. 65)
Also, this might symbolize the way Afghan women feel regarding their status in the
world, invisible women with unseen problems and ignored inequality. "And the burqa,
she learned to her surprise, was also comforting. It was like a one-way window. Inside
it, she was an observer, buffered from the scrutinizing eyes of strangers. She no longer
worried that people knew, with a single glance, all the shameful secrets of her past." (p.
42)
For Khaled Hosseini, the burqa is a form of expressing to the readers how unfair it is
the way women were and are being treated in the Afghan culture.

b) The power of education (resistance to victimisation):

Education is a very important theme in the book which is characterized through Fariba,
Lailas father, which is one of the main characters which symbolizes educations power
and evokes diverse quotes which represent its real value such as, Marriage can wait,
education cannot. Moreover, Hakim, Mariams tutor when a toddler, also exemplifies
educations value which is why he constantly teaches Mariam about books and
specifically, The Holy Quran.
A Thousand Splendid Suns exposes constantly the lack of education the population in
Afghanistan suffered because of the invasions, wars, and the existing provisional
governments like the talibans which made it even harder to go to school. Additionally,
only men could enjoy the right of education, whereas women were prepared for house
education such as learning how to cook, clean and knit in their homes
On the other hand, education is not valued in Mariam's childhood home. As a result,
she romanticizes the idea of learning. In truth, her lack of education is directly tied to
the persecution she feels as a harami and Nanas resentment towards society.
Education reflects transgression, freedom and new opportunities which can act as a
double-edged sword for such a primitive society with an abrupt lack of rights and an
enormous problem of inequality going on.

The women in A Thousand Splendid Suns have very different educational experiences.
Mariam is tutored by Mullah Faizullah in the Koran, and she learns how to read and
write. Yet, when she asks her mother about going to school, Nana insists that the only
lesson that Mariam needs to learn is to "endure." Laila, in contrast, has a father who
emphasizes the importance of her education. Hakim diligently works with Laila on her
homework and provides her with extra work in order to expand her education. He
emphasizes that Laila's education is as important as that of any boy. After the streets of
Kabul become too dangerous, he insists on tutoring Laila himself. He comments about
the importance of women attending universities.

Aziza is educated by both Laila and Mariam, who contribute what they know in order to
educate her. Mariam teaches the Koran, and Laila eventually volunteers to teach at her
school. The end of the book feels hopeful in terms of the education of women in that
Zalmai (a boy) and Aziza (a girl) head off to school together.

She pictured herself in a classroom with other girls her age. Mariam
longed to place a ruler on a page and draw important-looking lines.
Education is not valued in Mariam's childhood home. As a result, she
romanticizes the idea of learning. In truth, her lack of education is directly tied to
the persecution she feels as a harami.

"[T]he husband fancies himself some kind of educated intellectual. But

he's a mouse. Look at him. Doesn't he look like a mouse?" Rasheed's
attitude towards the educated is part and parcel with the Taliban's. In his eyes,
intelligence is tied to weakness in men. He is against women being educated
due to his conventional way of thinking, preventing him to see any good
outcome from education. He wants women to be men's servants and in his
mind that is how it is supposed to be. As the quran states it. Educated women
would change that.
A society has no chance at success if its women are uneducated, Laila.
No chance. (Laila's father) Babi, on the other hand, is a devout believer in
the importance of education. His dedication to the education of women stands
out, as there are few pro-women male voices in the novel. He also says
marriage can wait, education dont. He strongly believes that a change
regarding the educational system, giving women that opportunity is the only
chance for Afghanistan to proceed and overcome itself.

c) Truth

Marriage Vs True Love (Ines Ruiz) how is this related to truth???

As many of the marriages in the novel tend to be forced, they are not likely to be
influenced by love. For example Nana, the prospect of marriage was ruined by a "jinn."
She remembers the lost prospect fondly. Mariam finds hope in her marriage as
something that could lead to possibly to love, but the marriage actually devolves into
abuse and oppression. Only Laila escapes the abusive bonds placed on her by
Rasheed when she finds true love with Tariq. The contrasts between forced marriage
and true love are obvious once Laila and Tariq finally are able to marry and live as a
family. Daily living in a forced marriage, for Laila, involved disgust and futile hopes for a
better future. With Tariq, in contrast, daily routines leave Laila content and fulfilled.
Sexual relations between Laila and Rasheed were completely one-sided, with Rasheed
forcing himself upon Laila. With Tariq, however, Laila finds safety in making love.
Perhaps most importantly, Laila felt fearful and restrained with Rasheed, but she can
be honest and brave once she finds true love with Tariq.

Through these conflicting birth stories, Hosseini establishes a theme of multiple

truths. As Mariam hears her father and mother's stories, no hint is given as to
which one is "right" or "true." Rather, the stories stand side by side and create a
full picture of Nana, Jalil, and Mariam. As far as their ability to establish Nana's
bitterness and Jalil's kindness, and both of their attitudes toward Mariam, the
stories are true. Through these stories Mariam must develop a third truth, her
story of herself and who she is, separate from but informed by her parents'
depictions.

d) From Childhood to Adulthood

Angela Gomez, Agustina Malvar & Sophie Bragard:
The change from childhood to adulthood is something that can be seen through the
main female characters of the novel, Mariam and Laila. Both of these female
characters had to detach from their childhood to immediately become grown women in
matter of days.
For Mariam, after her mother's death, she was forced to marry a stranger at the age of
fourteen. "And do you, Mariam jan, accept this man as your husband?" Mariam stayed
quiet. Throats were cleared. "She does," a female voice said from down the table."(p.
31). Once she arrived at the house of her husband, she was immediately forced to
behave like a wife and act like one by doing all the chores in the house and cook for
him everyday.
For Laila, the situation was very similar with slight differences from Mariam, she had to
become a woman in order to raise her child soon to be born without the presence of
the real father and her parents.
One girl had to become from a child to a wife and the other from a child to a mother.

f) Shame and reputation (Francesca Puppi)

Jalil and Rasheed characters, highlight how shame due to reputation is a very
important theme in 1000 splendid suns. When Jalil takes action by casting Nana out
of his house once she becomes pregnant with his illegitimate child, clearly we can
see portrayed the theme of shame and reputation. We can also visibly see this in
Rasheed, when he notes that he would need to marry Laila because he could not
have her living in his house without some sort of pretenseotherwise, people would
gossip about him. Therefore it is evident how both men behave in such a shameful
way in order to protect their names and reputation. They neglect or even abuse
their sons and wives in order to protect their face.
Moreover, it is interesting to perceive how shame is presented in different ways
throughout the novel. Several times, shame is linked to responsibility and ensuing
guilt for an incident in a characters past. Mariams mothers suicide, after Mariam
runs away to Jalil, is one example of such shame.
Another type of shame is intimately linked to social standing and reputation, and
that particular type of shame has the power to inflict deep psychological damage.
As a harami (bastard), Mariam is made to feel deeply ashamed by her father Jalils
family, by others in the village, and by her husband Rasheed. She becomes
convinced as a result that she does not deserve to be loved, and will never find a
place where she belongs. By beating Mariam, Rasheed combines psychological and
physical harm, making her feel pain but also shaming her and asserting his own
power over her.

Related quotes;
She understood then what Nana meant, that a harami was an unwanted thing:
that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim
to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance
(CHAPTER 1)

But Im a different breed of man, Mariam. Where I come from, one wrong look,
one improper word, and blood is spilled. Where I come from, a womans face is her
husbands business only. I want you to remember that. Do you understand?
( CHAPTER 10)

Victimization of Women (Ignacio Alvarez Juan Delger)

How Taliban Culture affects women in: The book is not only concerned with Taliban this
is not specific to the novel and it is not well explained.
Wandering around and Jobs
Women were not permitted to leave the house without being without her husband or a
mahram
If women were caught in public without an appropriate chaperone, they would be
beaten.
Gender-segregated buses
Women could not work
Women were generally advised to stay at home at all times and were not allowed to
walk or be alone.
Education and Healthcare
All females older than the age of 8 were prohibited from going to school
Many women were denied access to proper healthcare and medical services-
Women could only be seen by a male doctor or nurse under the supervision of her
husband or her mahram
Hospitals were virtually the only place where women kept their jobs, and it was very
limited
Punishments
Organized or spontaneous beatings
Whippings and lashings
Removal of fingers, hands, and/or feet
Execution (hanging, gunshot, or stoned)

CONNECTIONS:
The three books portray the family and personal consequences of state-led
violence: apartheid, dictatorship, coups and invasions.
The three books show how it is difficult to be free from racial, religious, gender
or political prejudices.
The three books are concerned with creating awareness that when violence is
present, social change is needed. Black people needed to fight for freedom and
equality in the same way that Afghans (and especially women in Afghanistan)
needed to fight against the social, religious and political impositions, in the same
way that left-wing people needed to fight for freedom against the military
dictatorship. BUT, the three of them show that justice will cost more than the
fight, it will cost tolerance, empathy and forgiveness. Beyond the characters
personal experiences, beyond their pain and suffering, the books show that the
best antidote against bigotry, hatred, prejudices, cowardice and censorship is
love. As Fugard said once, You cant answer violence with counter-violence
The answer is love and so Sam gives Hally a second chance. DATM exposes the
failure of counter-violence. Paulina did not forgive, she fought back and,
therefore, Dorfman shows us how she was destroyed by her own hatred. Mariam
decided to die in order to offer Tariq and Laila a way out of violence, she died for
love. Laila and Tariq finish the book ready to spread that love to continue the
cycle of love; they will honour Mariam naming the baby girl after her.
The three books are both local and international. They are focused on specific
contexts (the consequences of a Latin American dictatorship, the consequences
of the coups and foreign invasions in Afghanistan, the consequences of
apartheid in South Africa) but their themes transcend these particular contexts
and are general enough to affect any part of the world at any time. The three
books deal with ideas that are global, that are important for all of us, that have
international implications.
4) Text Type.
Death and the Maiden
Play, divided into acts and scenes. Dialogue and stage directions. Postmodern.
Master Harold and the Boys
Play. Dialogue and stage directions. Modern.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Novel. Divided in four parts and chapters. Dual focus on Mariam and Laila, and its
covering of a multi-generational-period of nearly forty-five-years (Wikipedia).
Postmodern.

Lucia and Ins: Culture:

-Islam is practised by the majority of Afghanis and governs much of their personal, political, economic
and legal lives.
-Friday is the Muslim holy day. Most shops and offices are closed. Government offices and businesses
may also close on Thursday.
- During the holy month of Ramadan all Muslims must fast from dawn to dusk and are only permitted to
work six hours per day. Fasting includes no eating, drinking, cigarette smoking, or gum chewing.
- Foreigners are not required to fast; however, they must not eat, drink, smoke, or chew gum in public.
- The family is the single most important unit in the Afghan culture.
-Women are generally responsible for household duties, whereas men will be the breadwinners. In the
cities professional women do exist.
-Hospitality is an essential aspect of Afghan culture.
-No matter whom you are, if you visit a home you will be given the best the family has.

Religion
Main Religion: Islam
Muslim: Person who practices the Islam.
Islam: Religion
The constitution of this country states that Islam is the "religion of the state" and that no law can be contrary to the beliefs and
provisions of the sacred religion of Islam. The constitution and other laws and policies restrict religious freedom and, in practice, the
government enforced these restrictions. Nuristanis is a small but important ethnic linguistic group living in eastern region of the
country, practiced an ancient polytheistic religion until they converted to Islam in the late 19th century. Some non-Muslim religious
practices survive but they are hard to find.

Muslim (99.7% Sunni 84.7 - 89.7%, Shia 10 - 15%)

other 0.3%

Lucia Larrobla

IMPORTANT QUOTES ( NOT FROM TEXTS):

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express

their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real
safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. F.D.
Roosevelt
(DATM, ATTS) ATTS there is no democracy as half of the population
is not educated...

We have learnt to fly the air like birds and swim the
sea like fish, but have not learned the simple art of
living together as brothers. M.L. King We must
learn to live together as brothers or perish together as
fools.
Even though humanity is able to do so many things (ex
tech advances, trains, planes, tanks, WWII, etc) but we
don't do the simple things: brotherhood. Die together
instead of loving together
 An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind
Gandhi
Paulina seeks revenge, she embraces this strategy (eye for
an eye), while Sam and Willi reject this.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be

insane by those who could not hear the music.
Nietzsche
Do something different and not being accepted. Not being
accepted (Sam and Willy: world without collisions), Laila
was moved by loved, she knew it. Others dod not
understand it as they have never been loved.

HOPE: you must not lose faith in humanity.

Humanity is like an ocean if a few drops of the ocean
one dirty, the ocean does not become thirty. Gandhi
If some people in the world are evil, others are not.
Believe in humanity.

We must accept finite disappointment but never lose

infinite hope M.L King
Sam, Willie, gerardo, Laila, Tarik, never lost hope.