Eastern vs. Western Culture

Reflection: In class, we had group discussions about religious points in the book, A thousand Splendid Suns. Kids were broken into groups and had to come up with questions and lead discussions on different aspects of the book. When we had finished with this, we had to write an essay on one of the aspects that we discussed to show our full understanding of the topic. I chose to write about the Eastern and Western culture that were present throughout the book. This becomes one of the main struggles with women in Afghanistan because they have no rights and are not treated fairly. This allows husbands to take advantage of their wives by beating them. This issue stood out to me because i do believe in the power of us women. We are just as strong mentally and capable of doing anything men can do, which is why I chose this subject of Eastern vs. Western culture in the book.


Prompt: Talk about the presence of Eastern and Western ideology at different periods in Laila's life.

Throughout history the Eastern and Western culture has been viewed as two totally different views. The Western culture is less strict then the Eastern, where women have specific roles and duties in society. In the first half of Laila's life, she had more of a presence of Western culture, but as she lived more with Rasheed, here was a shift to a presence of Eastern culture.

Laila grew up with parents who were not traditionally following the norms of Afghan culture. Laila's mother would talk back her husband and be more dominate over him, which is not typical. Usually men had control over their wives, and the wives cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children. Laila's father wanted Laila to have an education and not marry young. He wanted her to be educated an have a job before having children. Young girls are usually taught to clean and cook. The role of a women is traditionally to get married, have children, clean, and cook. Women did not have a lot of economic opportunities or even rights, so Laila's father taught her more view of Western culture starting at a young age. This Western culture is also shown when Laila and Tariq are together all of the time. They were not married, so it was perceived as bad by others in the town. When Laila married Rasheed, she still kept with her the Western views. Western views are based on freedom and independence for all, so when Marrium is getting beaten by Rasheed, the Western influence on Laila causes her to stand up for Marrium and fight back. It is also shown when Laila steels money from Rasheed and plans to run away. Throughout the first half of Laila's life she shows her  eagerness for freedom, which is translated by her actions. She does things most women wouldn't because she is influenced by Western views of independence, equality, and freedom.

After a while, Laila started to give into the Eastern culture. This is first shown by Laila covering up for Rasheed when going outside. Laila becomes obedient and is cooking, cleaning, and having children for Rasheed. This role she takes is now how Afghan women are suppose to act. Due to Laila's parents being killed by a rocket hitting their house, this forces Laila to be married at a young age. She is forced to have sexual relations with a man who is much older than she is, which causes Laila to become pregnant with a second child. This series of events are what caused Laila to have more of an Eastern presence. She doesn't have an education or any rights, so she is becoming like every other Afghan women. This is also shown when Rasheed beats Laila and Laila lets him. This shows that Laila had allowed Rasheed to be dominant over her and lost her view of integrity.

Laila had goals and dreams in life. She had views of being a strong, independent  women, which are views found in Western culture. As time passed, those views had been forgotten, and Laila started to follow a lifestyle traditionally lived by Afghanistan women. This is a life of cleaning, cooking, and children, which are views from the Eastern culture.