A reacquiring theme in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is feminism. This is because Mariam’s life is mainly controlled by men, even before she was born. She and her mother were in a restricted situation, forced to stay in an isolated farm never to leave, because her father had placed them there. When her mother committed suicide, her father arranges for her marriage to Rasheed, an older man whom she had never met before. One of the first things Rasheed says is what she does is his business only. He also wants her to dress in a burqa and complete her duties as a wife. Rasheed’s other wife, Laila, struggles to free herself and Mariam from Rasheed’s abusing nature and when they do manage to escape the house, they are caught at the train station and are not given the justice they deserve. Here the girls confess to a police officer that their husband has been abusing them. The officer responds that what a husband does to his wife in his house is none of his business. When Rasheed hears of this act, he threatens Laila,”You try this again and I will find you. […] And, when I do, there isn’t a court in this godforsaken country that will hold me accountable for what I will do.” (3.36.147) This shows the injustice that women women would face and the strict expectations they were required to follow which is what inspired me to write the following creative.
I leave the house to go to a long-awaited girls’ night. As I leave, I pass by the mirror and decide to take one last look. I’m wearing a black dress that comes just above my knees and a leather jacket because I often get cold. Satisfied with my outfit, I grab my keys and purse and leave.
We decided on going to the club and I was appointed as the designated driver like always. I didn’t mind because I don’t have to worry about the safety of my friends nor did I have to worry about mine.
As I was waiting for my friend at the bar, I felt a tap on my right shoulder and turned around. It was a cute guy maybe in his mid 20s, around my age. He looked innocent, so I smiled.
“Hey.” He started off with. “It seems like you’re almost done your drink, let me buy you another one, what are you drinking?” Not accepting drinks from strangers, I said it was alright and that I don’t drink.
“Oh well, why don’t you finish up your drink and we move our conversation to that couch over there?” Before responding, I looked around to see my friends busy with each other or someone they met. Assuming they should be okay, I agreed. I took one last swing of my coke. It tasted a bit weird but I didn’t think much of it and I followed him to his seat.
The conversation was going well but at some point I started feeling a bit dizzy and my mouth started getting quite dry. It was a bit weird because I only drank coke. Maybe it was my allergies or I was getting deprived of sleep or water or something? All I knew was that I should be getting home. I told Aaron who insisted he drop me off. I would have agreed but I still didn’t know Aaron’s intentions. Instead he offered to walk me and my friends to the cab since I was in no condition to drive.
As I was waiting outside for Aaron to collect my friends, my vision kept getting blurrier and blurrier. My mouth had gotten to the point that I couldn’t open it or compose words.
A car rolled up as many other have, but a man who looked like Aaron came out of the back. He made his way towards me. Confused, I started backing up. He continued moving towards me until I hit the exterior of the building behind me, which was when this man grabbed me. I tried to escape from his grasp, but he was too strong for me and I couldn’t do anything. He pushed me inside the back of the car, which he accompanied me in. As soon as he had closed the door, the car sped off and this man picked me up and placed me in his laps and I was barely able to move at this point. Once again I tried to escape but wasn’t able to due to this new weakness. He started to place his lips on mine and unbuttoned my shirt, that was the last I remembered of that memory.
The next morning I woke up in an unfamiliar environment and a pounding headache. The headache was different from a hangover since I still remembered how those felt. Then all of a sudden I felt a cold breeze over my body and looked down to notice… my clothes… which weren’t on my body… but on the ground… What had happened last night? Clearly nothing of my consent as I have no recognition of what happened.
It has been eleven months. Eleven months since… I’d been a victim of sexual assault and was drugged. The past months have been hell. I can’t even look at a man anymore – including my father. I have learned to never trust men. The only time I’ve left my home was to get a pregnancy test from the store and to go to court.
The court hearings were worse. The male judge was clearly biased. He labeled it my fault because I was being asked to be raped due to what I was wearing. Since when did it become my fault that some men had negative intentions? How is it my fault that… that… thing, which doesn’t deserve to be called man, had drugged my coke when I was on my phone.
But on this journey I have met women at court who had come to visit me to share their stories of similar crimes and the injustice they had also received.
What I don’t understand is how is it our fault that those creatures were unable to keep their genitals in their pants…