Victoria Bernhardt
Period 7
Mrs. Buchanan
English 2 Honors
1-25-2013

A Change In The Future
The theme or message is the central idea or ideas explored by the literary works. In other words, it’s the message the author wants you to realize from the story. There are multiple themes in A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner, both written by Khaled Hosseini. Putting together these stories, I thought finding hope, and fighting for what you believe in as the themes. Hope is the feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Hope in A Thousand Splendid Suns is happening to very few people, considering the Taliban, the war, and the bombing of family and friends. You never know what is going to happen next or if there will ever be a tomorrow. For Laila, she has had a very rough life and even worse, having her parents blown up right in front of her. Not being loved your entire life by your own mother is something everyone wants to avoid, but Laila was one of the unfortunate. She only had attention from her dad and then she became alone from the bombing. She married at a youth life to a man who was three times her age who was very abusive to Laila and his other wife, Mariam. This life she had never wanted, but it happened, and she didn’t know what to do. When she was a teenager before marrying Rasheed, she met a boy named Tariq. She fell in love with him from day one even after he moved away with his family. She thought she would never see him again until years later, after many journeys with Rasheed, Tariq shows up, unannounced. Rasheed found out that Tariq had visited and tried to choke Laila until she would die, but Mariam found a shovel and hit him against the head until he fell to floor in a pile of blood. That was the day that both ladies and children of their family became free. Laila never gave up on hope or of finally living life. She moved on and had three kids with the man of her dreams. In The Kite Runner, Amir has always been a writer since he was a boy. His dad’s best-friend would read his stories and say “Bravo”. His best friend Hassan would always ask for him to tell him a story and he would always say he loved them. When Amir grew up and his father was talking about Amir going to become a doctor, Amir told him he didn’t want that. He wanted to become a writer and tell his story. Not about Kabul or the world but fiction, fun stories. He had a passion for writing and his wife loved them too. She would read them and give him feedback on them to help him improve. With Amir and his hope of writing, he finally published a book and this book was read throughout the world. He felt so accomplished and happy that when you never give up, there is always a prize at the end of the tunnel. Fighting for what you believe in is one of the bravest and most proud things anyone could ever do. Considering something bad might happen, they do it anyway to either help themselves or someone else. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Mariam couldn’t stand Rasheed and his abusiveness any longer for herself or Laila's. She had enough and needed to do something about it. One day Tariq came over to see Laila and Rasheed became so mad about that. He thought Laila was going to leave him for Tariq and Rasheed tried to choke Laila till she would die. Mariam tried to get him off her but he was too big for her. She ran out to get a shovel out of the shed and slammed it down on Rasheed's head. She hit him twice, and then he fell to a pool of blood on the floor. Laila was safe and so was Mariam from then on. Mariam didn’t only kill Rasheed for her sake but for Laila’s and the kids too. Mariam didn’t want to run from the Taliban so she turned herself in and died on the chopping block. She died a hero to other people and that is so brave and she fought for what she believed in. In The Kite Runner, Amir found out that Hassan was his half-brother when he grew up. He just thought that Hassan was his best-friend but he ended up being more to him. He was part of Amir’s family and Hassan had a family of his own. When Hassan died from fighting for what he believed in, his son, Sohrab was sent to an orphanage. Amir went to Kabul to get Sohrab, but found out that he was sold to the Taliban as a slave dancer. Amir knew that you should never mess with the Taliban but this was something that needed to be fixed and he needed to save Sohrab. Amir went to the Taliban and fought the guy in charge physically for the child. They ended up escaping and moving back to the Americas. Sohrab became a part of Amir’s life in a very big way. Amir fought for what he wanted and he ended up saving a boy’s life and maybe his own. A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner all have something in common, finding hope, and fighting for what you believe in. Amir finds his passion in writing and saves his nephew from being a slave to the Taliban. Laila finds her true love and Mariam dies a hero. These stories make a huge impact on life and change the way you think about things.