Quarter 4: Week 3, Post A

My reading this week of A Thousand Splendid Suns revealed many cultural differences. First of all, the fact that Mariam and Rasheed sleep in separate rooms was strange to me. I'm sure there are similar cases in the U.S. in some places, but for me this is really weird! I've always known marriage to be between two people who love each other enough to spend the rest of their lives together, which usually means spending a lot of time together. I do not know of any married couples who sleep in different rooms, it seems to defeat the whole purpose of marriage-togetherness. But in Kabul, Afghanistan, this is a very common practice. In fact, Mariam is relieved that she gets to sleep alone and the arrangement seems to please Rasheed as well. Strange as it seems to me, this is the norm for couples with arranged marriages in Afghanistan.

Another cultural difference I've noticed is the life of Mariam as a housewife. She is held to very high expectations by Rasheed. For example, she is expected to have dinner hot and ready to eat every day when Rasheed comes home from work so he can eat. She also is expected to keep the house clean and tidy all the time. Furthermore, when Rasheed wants to host friends, Mariam is expected to clean, cook, and set up the house for them but then spend the night in her room, out of sight. And the most surprising part about this is that Mariam actually enjoys this! She likes the fact that Rasheed wants to hide her from his friends-to her, it shows that he's proud of her. If that were me, I would be seriously angry! To do all that work and then be forced to hide out in my room and miss out on all the fun? No way! It just goes to show how extremely different Afghan society is from ours.