Literature Review

of

An Analysis of Mariam's Struggle and Redemption in A Thousand Splendid Suns from Freud's Theory of Personality Structure

1.Introduction

Compared with The Kite Runner, the first novel and also an international bestseller written by Khaled Hosseini, his second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns is somewhat less known to the public all around the world. But it can not be denied that it is indeed a masterpiece, and to some extent, the profound meaning it carries surpasses that of The kite Runner. It was published in 2007 in New York, when middle eastern women were receiving more and more attention by the rest of the world. Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan- American, was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and moved to the United States in 1980. The background of Afghanistan gave him access to the deep portrait of those Afghanistan women. A thousand splendid suns tells a story about two Afghanistan women Mariam and Laila who suffered familial loss, domestic violence and war destruction, and finally they followed a path of redemption with love. The book has been studied by a lot of researchers from different angles, such as feminism, existentialism, the initiation story, narrative techniques, and theories like Viktor Frankl#8217;s Logotherapy theory(Indriyany, F. N., 2014). But this research attempts to analyze the main character Mariam and its struggle and redemption in her whole pitiful life while applying Freud#8217;s psychoanalysis theory and specifically, personality structure. And in order to accomplish it and make it valuable, a good deal of literature has been offered as references.

2.Previous Studies on A Thousand Splendid Suns

For getting a deeper understanding of Mariam, the main character of A Thousand Splendid Suns, it is necessary to have a glance at her life experience. Mariam was born as a harami-an illegitimate daughter, and she lived with her mother at Kolba since her birth. But when she was 15 years old, she left the Kolba to look for her father because he didn#8217;t keep his promise to pick her up. Her mother committed suicide after her left, and at the same time, her father#8217;s weakness and avoidance disappoints her greatly. The tragedy of her life began with her marriage with Rasheed, a man who is much older than her. She was suffered from children loss and domestic violence in his house. Then she met Laila, the other wife of her husband. She set up a filial sisterhood with Laila after those days of hostility and fighting. It was Laila#8217;s children and their love that gave her great comfort, and in the end, she chose to sacrifice herself for the sake of Laila#8217;s life and her future. Zhang Liying(2014) conducted an research on the issue of Mariam#8217;s growth from the perspective of the initiation story. She pointed out that Mariam experienced from ”confusion” to ”epiphany”, and finally her self-consciousness was awakened(Zhang Liying, 2014). Truly, Mariam was in confusion in her early life when she was a child and later suffered from domestic violence from her husband, she finally had epiphany as a woman with dignity. But what determined the direction of Mariam#8217;s life? Feng Yao(2012) gave her answers. She summarized the reasons that lead to Mariam#8217;s tragedy in three aspects; male dominated society, religious extremism, and the war(Feng Yao, 2012). Without a specific social background, it seems that it is hard to get close to Mariam and understand her struggle and the final redemption as a poor woman. It is the harsh environment that makes her life so difficult and she can hardly beat it. Stuhr R.A.(2011) held a similar point of view that under the circumstance of war and upheaval of Afghanistan the two main characters struggled for their survival. Some researchers believe that it is the lack of good education that makes Mariam a tragedy. Perhaps it is true in Afghanistan at peace for Mariam and Laila live a totally different life; one lives a rural life with district mores and the other has an urban life with educational and professional opportunities (Stuhr, R.A., 2011). But the war makes education a less crucial thing because both Mariam and Laila live a hard life and they have to share experiences. So education has not such a great impact that some people imagine on Mariam#8217;s tragedy.

After a thorough analysis of Mariam#8217;s growth and struggle during her lifetime, it#8217;d better to give a brief introduction of Freud#8217;s theory of personality structure. In Freud#8217;s theory, the id refers to the internal world of human beings. And ego is essentially the representative of the external world(of reality). The superego is discussed in terms of modifications effected in the ego during development(Freud, S., 1989). Based on the basic definition of this theory, a lot of researchers summarize and develop it. As a member of them, Sun Shuqiao(2010) conducted a study on personality theory of Freud. He believed Freud#8217;s personality theory which consists of id, ego, superego and three system components, has a great significance to the study of human beings(Sun.S.Q., 2010). In his research, driven by instinct, id seeks immediate pleasure and gratification regardless of moral principles, such as sex. Different from id, ego follows reality principle which means it is govern by the external environment. Superego is the ideal of ego for perfection. In other words, it accommodates ego to traditional cultures, moral principle, values and social norms. In conclusion, id, ego and superego follows three different principles; pleasure principle, reality principle and ideal principle. When applying to Mariam, it can be seen that Mariam is constantly being tortured by the fighting among her id, ego and superego. But the problem is which dominates her mind. Is id, ego or superego? Since she has different attitudes toward life when her life changes, it is better to analyze it accordingly.

There is also a theory about the relationship between the personality structure and one#8217;s behavior. In 1931, a book named The structure and meaning of psychoanalysis as related to personality and behavior was published. It was said that psychoanalysis including the personality structure consisting of id, ego, and superego made contributions to one#8217;s personality(Healy,W.,1931). Therefore, the personality structure reliably has something to do with Mariam#8217;s behaviors. Both F Fitri(2016) and N Sumiati(2015) made psychoanalytical studies on the personality of Mariam, in which they analyzed her personality with Freud#8217;s personality structure; id, ego and superego. Further more, Hu Jie(2012) vividly described the interation among Mariam#8217;s id, ego and superego, and Li Qingshuang(2012) found out the hope of Mariam in plight and finally she reached redemption with love, which was the result of her ego. Through the portrayal of Mariam, N Silima(2013) got the conclusion that the the resistance to subjugation was Mariam#8217;s only way to salvation. Indriyany F. N.#8217;s point of view -search for meaning of life, I believe, explained Mariam#8217;s guts to kill her husband driven by her ego.

However, in F Fitri#8217;s research, with the use of Freud#8217;s theory of personality structure, it explained Mariam#8217;s personality as related to her behavior on the basis of the character#8217;s childhood rather than the three parts of the psychic apparatus in her nature which is stressed in this research. Similarly but not exactly, N Sumiati argued that the the three parts of the psychic apparatus put forward by Freud caused the external conflict in Mariam#8217;s character because the desire of id undesirable by superego(Sumiati,N., 2015), which forms her personality, which to some extent offers some references to this research.