A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
This novel By Khaled Hosseini is a heart breaking tale of two women raised in the heart of Afghanistan in the middle of communism, terrorist, Taliban, living in constant fear of gun fire and rockets.Although Mariam and Laila, differing in age by 20 years and raised under different circumstances, their paths are thrust over one another. They learn how to live in the most dire of circumstances. They cling helplessly to memories of past lives before the war, marriage, and heartache. With their new found companionship they learn that love has not left them in the dust of a drought.
SLAUGHTER HOUSE-FIVE
A maze of moments of life and death. So it goes. Kurt Vonnegut plunges into all the layers of war while earthlings subjected to indescribable pains, become detached from the past that it can only be told in the third person. Following Billy Pilgrim's life and death through space and time, he finds himself in a moment where he questions "how can a planet live at peace". Weather the aliens are real or not, the point lies with every one's individual power and the lack of courage therein. COMPARISON
Now this is when my mind will get A.D.D. so cross your fingers that I'll pull something intelligible together.
"Do you have it in you?" Laila said.
"To what?"
"To use this thing. To Kill with it"
or another quote I've heard repeatedly "guns don't kill people, people do". between the two quotations I see that all humans have good in them, but with the correct motivation, we all have the capacity to kill a living being, and one person can have the power to kill thousands.
Dresden, Germany was fire bombed at the end of the world's second war killing more civilians than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. And for over three decades Kabul, Afghanistan was under constant attack from different sources. The declaration of war is the most beautifully terrible moment in for a country in contention. For the women in Afghanistan and Laila the character in A Thousand Splendid Suns watches a television as George W Bush declares war, a miracle to her and the women who have lived in the dark hallows of oppression. Days after the firebombing of Dresden the war is over, and peace falls on all prisoners of war. It is amazing that two complete opposite declarations could bring a liberating sense of peace for these characters. War may bring peace but we must look back at the damage made and ask 'was it worth it?'
People think it is a simple act of clean up, an easy way out of a pickle to kill thousands to show they have the upper hand. Kurt Vonnegut displays a moving message through the illustration of a movie of American Bombers seen backwards and then forward, while forward this movie is America's killing and winning, but looking at the film backwards the ragged planes and ragged bodies are brought to life again, Germans save the American lives as the Americans suck the destruction away from the earth, people help take apart weapons of war and hide the chemicals of death. How breath taking cooperation and communication can be.
In the end my blog has failed to effectively compare these two novels in many different places but really you could take anything from our time and scratch the underbelly of war. But what I can compare is this. All the main characters in the two books believe that there is someone or something out there watching us on earth. Someone who knows that peace is something far more intelligent and is sad that humans rejoice in killing each other. These powers are greater than us as a whole and reaching down to try and help and understand us, all we need to do is accept that and use the means of communication to bring peace, use our hearts to do what we can,
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to tell the difference."
4 comments:
I haven't read A Thousand Splendid Suns yet but I have read Slaughterhouse-Five. You wrote about my favorite passage from Slaughterhouse, and one of my favorite passages in literature, where the Dresden fire bombing occurs backwards. The scene employs magical realist devices, as no one but Superman can turn back time, although the idea that man would use his technology exclusively to bless, heal and create may be equally fantastical as you demonstrate with Laila and Mariam's relief at the American declaration of war against the Taliban. I hope that the realization of a peaceful world doesn't depend on the intervention of the Tralfamadorians. As knowledge is shared and empathy grows between people, nations and faiths maybe our fear and suspicions will be exchanged for trust and love.
this post is something i would expect to find on jack's blog. not yours. loves.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a truly marvelous book. And I think that as a women it can be devastating to see the choices that women in other parts of the world are somtimes forced to make. It makes me so incredibly grateful for the women's rights movement and just to be a citizen of a country that respects those rights. Just reading your blog and thinking about the book again kind of brought tears to my eyes.
I love what you had to say about peace and killing and the whole complex thing. I'll add the other book to my list of must reads.
By the way, are you still here? If so, we should get together one last time. Let me know.
Tina! I love that last quote. It's perfect. Thanks for giving me some insight on war and peace, and for suggesting a couple of great sounding books.love you! see you very soon!
Kell the bell
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