The Sun Shines on Olympus Aaliyah Warrington 12th Grade

Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns does more than tell the story of two ordinary women struggling in war-torn Afghanistan but, describes what would happen if the Gods of Mount Olympus were sent to live in the country during its pre and post Taliban years. The purpose behind Hosseini’s symbolic characters is to show that men and women are both capable of incredible feats. Hosseini has written a feminist novel with A Thousand Splendid Suns. The characters in Hosseini’s novel are representatives of the Gods of Olympus from Greek mythology in order to show how these actions have been commonplace for years but, that does not mean that they should be accepted.

Hosseini uses the character Rasheed and his connection to the Greek God Zeus to show how men have historically been given an abundance of power, just for being born male, and this power comes with a superiority complex that leads them to believe that all females are beneath them and should be treated accordingly. The introduction to Rasheed frightens the audience with descriptions of how massive and threatening the man appears physically. Hosseini writes, “Mariam smelled him before she saw him. Cigarette smoke and thick, sweet cologne not faint like Jalil’s...The size...