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A Thousand Splendid Suns - Coggle Diagram
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Rasheed
Education
The book doesn't specify on what type of education he has gotten, but from the way he speaks and everything he knows about the situations going on in the country. He seems like he got at least a full high school education.
Social Status
Rasheed, a male in his late 40. Shoemaker who lives in Kabul. He has his own shop and is well known there. (People in high places get their shoes made by him, such as diplomats).
Family
His wife died during child birth, years ago. And a few years later, his son drowned in a lake
Beliefs
Rasheed believes in strict Islamic treatment of women, one of which is forcing his wife to wear a burqa in public. But he probably grew up in a family with that type of mindset and norms such as beating your wife.
Tariq
Family
He lives with his mother and father. He does not have any sisters or brothers. They both pass away years later.
But he ends up having a family of his own with his childhood bestfriend and lover Laila, when they are older they get married, (long story short) they have a child together and they also raise the child Laila had with her dead husband Rasheed
Ethnic Group
Tariq is Pashtun man, who lost one of his legs at a young age. He is a Sunni Muslims I think.
Social Status
It does not have a stable job or salary until we get towards the end of the story. But he worked in a hotel as the person who opens the door.
Education
I don't think he went to school, or he did go to school but at a young age and the when the war stated he stopped going.
Laila
Beliefs
A Tajik girl who is Muslim. She does not believe or accept the beating of a wife by her husband. She didn't grow up in a Muslim family that did that. And she believes that women should be allowed to study, like her father wanted her to.
Family
Laila had two brothers, Ahmad and Noor, who left to fight for the Mujahideen when she was very young, they later died at war.
She had a closer relationship with her father that she did with her mother. Her father was more emotionally available for her, than her mother was.
During the time period that her brothers were fighting the war, her mother was going though a depression (literally speaking). So they didn't spend much time together. Both her her parents not long after her mother came out of her depression.
Education
Laila was one of the smartest kids in her class, and at home her father tutored her, he wanted her to become a smart, educated woman.
When the war got really bad and her friends died on their way back from school, were killed by a stray rocket, it really affected her. She stopped school around 6th grade because of how fast the war was escalating, and because it wasn't safe to be in the streets.
Social Status
Laila didn't have a job or career of any kind for most of her life (that is recorded in the book), she got married to Rasheed and was financially provided for. And when she get back together with Tariq, he got a job at a hotel to try and help provide for her and the kids (after Rasheeds' death)
Mariam
Education
Other than her Quran teacher who taught her everything that she knows about the Quran, but also other things like writing and reading, she did not go to an actual school. Her mother couldn't afford it.
Family
Laila's mother (Nana) was not a very happy woman in all, and she had a lot of life regrets that she would often express and explain to her daughter Mariam. they live together, a little outside of Herat.
Mariam's mother and father were not married, Mariam came to be because her father had an affair with her mother, even though he was married. When he found out that she was with child, he made sure to get them a small hut/house as far as possible from where he lived and where his life was. Out of shame. He continued to provide for them throughout the years though.
Mariam's father was one of the wealthiest men in Herat, a businessman who owns his own cinema
Later on in the book, Laila and her children sort of become Mariam's second family. And she learns a lot from them.
Beliefs
She is Muslim as well. But other than her religion she does not have many strong beliefs in other things, because of knowledge and experience (having not gone to school or learned about the government etc)
Social Status
Mariam is not employed and does not have a job, she is a full time wife to Rasheed (who she was forced to marry at age 15).
Her husband doesn't like most of the other woman in their neighborhood so she is not allowed to socialize and be friends with them, meaning she spends most of her time at home alone or with her husband
Jalil
Family
He has 3 wives and 10 legitimate children. He also has a illegitimate child named Mariam, who's mother he wasn't married to and had an affair with.
He made sure to get them a little house/hut, far away from him and his life (out of shame of his affair and illegitimate child). But he provides for them, sends them food (that he has two of his sons bring them).
But he still loves his daughter and he goes to visit her once a week, on Thursdays.
Education
We do not know much about his education or how he was brought up, but he is very wealthy. and he is a businessman, so he must have gotten some kind of high education to be as smart and successful as he is.
Social Status
He is one of the wealthiest men in Herat, he is a business man, who own his own cinema (that is a sucess).
Beliefs
We do not go in to much detail on Jalil's life, but we assume that he is a Muslim man as well. And as to the way he treats his wives you can assume that he respects his wives and the decisions they make even when he might not agree with them. We see this when his wives decide to marry Mariam off to an older man, and even though he might feel bad, he still lets them.