Essay Example on Weakness is a disease caused by Division

Then meaning no harm Zalmai tells Rasheed that Laila has a new friend at dinner With this new found knowledge Rasheed turns barbaric He begins beating Laila over and over with a belt But this beating was different because this time Laila and Mariam knew Rasheed meant to kill them While Rasheed is strangling Laila Mariam goes out to the toolshed and grabs the shovel She hits Rasheed once and then prepared to once more the author says She turned it so the sharp edge was vertical and as she did it occurred 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 349 Mariam and Laila have created a bond that has no bounds The person Mariam loves most has been threatened and if she does not give it all she has Rasheed will kill them both Mariam puts her life on the line for Laila this puts her in the role of a mother Mariam is willing to do anything for Laila even murdering Rasheed Her motherly role is born from love Mariam feels for Laila Even after Rasheed s death Mariam tends to Laila as if she was her mother Mariam also acts like a mother when she sacrifices the rest of her life for Laila and the children by deciding to stay behind and turn herself in The mother daughter bond gave Mariam the strength she never thought she had Mariam and Laila were able to find strength through their bond An intolerable situation to outsiders became tolerable because of their compassion for each other and the sacrifices they made Mariam and Laila s strength were shown when Laila sacrificed herself to save Mariam when they sacrifice their lives to escape and when Mariam sacrificed herself to save Laila The strength of a person is revealed when bonds are created formed by compassion while exposed to a harsh environment