45 thing comes to them. Rasheed can not skip his bad feeling. He is very angry. He
catches Laila and hits her. He almost kills Laila. Mariam tries to save Laila. Rasheed abuses Laila badly. Mariam remember all the things she has got from
Rasheed. She can not control her emotion. She takes a shovel and kills Rasheed. Mariam knows that Laila will be killed by him. She does not want it. She saves
Laila. “And so Mariam raised the shovel high, raised it as high as she could,
arching it so it touched the small of her back. She turned it so the sharp edge was vertical, and, as she did, it occured to her that this was the first
time that she was deciding the course of her own life. And, with that, Mariam brought down the shovel. This time, she gave it
everything she had. Hosseini 374
The analysis above shows that the family conflicts are the cause of the friendship betweeen Mariam and Laila. Mariam and Laila are a team who need
one another. They must face many hard situations in their family. By being good friends, they have more power in handling and solving their problems. Based on
Maslows’ theory of motivation as cited by Kasschau 143-144, human beings need to have safety needs. Mariam and Laila need to be secure and safe. By being
friends, Mariam and Laila can help to care for one another.
b. Social and Historical Background
As a good moslem, Mariam can not refuse Rasheed’s will. She accepts Laila to be Rasheed’s wife. It is very hard. However, Mariam can not do anything.
Rodwell 54 says that there is a verse in Koran which says that men are superior. Afghanistan allows a man to have more than one wife. On the other hand,
Rasheed is a Pashtun. The Pashtun is the largest ethnic groups. They also have an
46 authority to become more than other ethnic groups Anderson 274. It makes
Rasheed feels strong and do anything he wants. As wives in a polygamy marriage, Mariam and Laila are hoped to be good
friends. At the first time, it is difficult for Mariam to share what she has to another woman in her house. However, the real situation has changed their feelings. The
shared feelings appear among them. They realize that there always be God’s purpose in every step. One day, when Mariam and Laila is on the way of escaping
from Rasheed, Mariam’s hand slid across the bench and closed over Laila. Then Mariam says “The Koran says Allah is the East and the West, therefore wherever
you turn there is Allah’s purpose.” Hosseini 279 Mariam and Laila live in a hard regime. According to Saikal Maley 1
Afghanistan faced a traumatic regime change. War happened in their country for a long time. So, they had no safe place. In the home, Rashed can not give a warm
situation for his family. He is too selfish. He is bad–tempered. Outside, their country, Afghanistan is in a bad situation. Women are not allowed to go outside
alone. They are asked to stay at home. No education for women. No entertainment for them. However, men are allowed to marry the orphans or other women who
have no family any longer. Afghanistan limits women’s movements. Women are much different to men. Freeman 84 explains that men in general have higher
status and authority over the women of their families, although older women may have influence, even some authority, over junior men.
Since the Mujahiden take over in April 1992, Afghanistan’s name had been changed to the Islamic State of Afghanistan. The Supreme Court
under Rabbani was filled now with hardliner mullahs who did away with the communist-era decrees that empowered women and instead passed
47 rulings based on Shari’a, strict Islamic laws that ordered women to cover,
forbade their travel without a male relative, punished adultery with stoning. Even if the actual enforcement of these laws was sporadicat best.
But they’d enforce them on us more, Laila had said to Mariam, if they weren’t so busy killing each other. And us.Hosseini 277
The novel states that Afghanistan faces drought in 1998. “It was the
drought, started in 1998, in its second year now, that was wreaking havoc everywhere” Hosseini 313. Mariam and Laila face the difficult thing. They must
survive and save Aziza and Zalmai. They have no food. However, their togetherness can minimize their difficulty.
When the money ran out, hunger began to cast a pall over their lives. It was stunning to Mariam how quickly alleviating hunger became the crux
of their existence. Rice, boiled plain and white, with no meat or sauce was a rare treat now.
Hosseini 326 A friend in need is a friend indeed. Mariam and Laila are in the same
position. They face many hard things and problems. As Afghan women, they must obey all the regulations. They can not rebel. They are not allowed to go outside
freely. They can go outside with a man who must be their relative. Moreover, they are not allowed to watch TV. “The Taliban had banned television. Video tapes
had been gouged publicity, the tapes ripped out and strung on fence posts” Hosseini 318. Taliban is a big community of moslems who have an authority in
Afghanistan. Taliban is a guerrila force. Taliban collects young Pashtun men whose families has fled to Pakistan during the war against the Soviets Hosseini
292. Historically, The Pashtun has an authority as the majority ethnic group Saikal and Maley 14. However, Mariam and Laila are creative. They do not give
up for that situation. They do something together in order to have entertainment.
48 In this case, Rasheed does agree with them. They keep the television and take it at
night to watch in the darkness. It is stated in the novel “A dozen times or more, they unearthed the TV from behind the toolshed, late at night, with the lights out
and quilts pinned over the windows” Hosseini 324. The limitation makes them closer.
Everyday, they must keep the house well. They have to treat the family well. As ordinary persons, they must be bored and tired. Mariam has no friend
except Laila. So does Laila. This situation gives the reason why they must be a good friend.
In Afghanistan, there is a traditional food, halwa and a traditional beverage named chai. As a tea time which become gathering time, Mariam and Laila enjoy
halwa and chai to relaxe. They talk to one another and share what they feel. They like drinking chai time as the special time which makes them forgetting all
problems, especially their rough husband, Rasheed. They are too tired. They need a freedom. “They sat on folding chairs outside and ate halwa with their fingers
from a common bowl. They had a second cup, and when Laila asked her if she wanted a third Mariam said she did” Hosseini 266.
2. Maintaining Their Friendship
