Love in WH and ATSS:
LOAS:
1- Love in marriage is ultimately undermined by expectations of
childbirth
2- Sacrifice of love in order to prioritise social status
3- Capacity for love to end cycles of violence
In ‘WH’ and ‘ATSS’, love in marriage is presented as being ultimately
undermined by the societal expectations of childbirth for female
characters. In ‘ATSS’, this is conveyed through both Mariam and Laila.
Hosseini initially presents love in Mariam and Rasheed’s marriage
following the news of Mariam’s pregnancy, which coincides with Mariam’s
feeling ‘for the first time a kinship with her husband.’ This love within their
relationship can be seen in Rasheed’s gestures of building a crib and
purchasing baby clothes, which symbolise his anticipation of fatherhood
and seemingly newfound tenderness and care in marriage. This love in
marriage is ultimately undermined, however, following Mariam’s
miscarriage, which marks Rasheed’s reversion to ‘stiff, perfunctory…
gesture[s].’ Hosseini uses this transition to highlight the transactional
nature of this marriage, whereby Mariam’s worth is intrinsically linked to
her ability to bear children. As such, the undermining of love here allows
Hosseini to depict marriage as a construct shaped by patriarchal values,
where a woman’s role is reduced to that of a child-bearer rather than a
partner. This notion is furthered through Rasheed’s despondency with
Laila following her failure to give him a son. Again, Rasheed’s tenderness,
being described as ‘overtly tentative’, dissipates following Aziza’s birth, as
‘he let the gate go prematurely, and it almost hit [Laila] on the face’, a far
cry from his previous, careful ‘escort[ing]’ to show the conditional nature
of his affection. The ‘gate’ may act as a metaphor for the closing off of
emotional intimacy Rasheed previously affords Laila, symbolising the
speed at which marital love in tender action can be revoked following the
failure of women to meet patriarchal demands of childbirth, in particular
to have a male heir in Afghan society. As such, Hosseini criticises the
notion of marriages being governed by social expectations like childbirth,
which serve to undermine love and exacerbate female suffering in the
revoking of affection.
Similarly, in ‘WH’, Bronte conveys the undermining of love in Isabella’s
marriage to Heathcliff. Isabella’s indignation that “I love him more than
ever you [Catherine] loved Edgar” seems to convey their marriage to be a
loving union. Much like ‘ATSS’, however, Bronte conveys the transactional
LOAS:
1- Love in marriage is ultimately undermined by expectations of
childbirth
2- Sacrifice of love in order to prioritise social status
3- Capacity for love to end cycles of violence
In ‘WH’ and ‘ATSS’, love in marriage is presented as being ultimately
undermined by the societal expectations of childbirth for female
characters. In ‘ATSS’, this is conveyed through both Mariam and Laila.
Hosseini initially presents love in Mariam and Rasheed’s marriage
following the news of Mariam’s pregnancy, which coincides with Mariam’s
feeling ‘for the first time a kinship with her husband.’ This love within their
relationship can be seen in Rasheed’s gestures of building a crib and
purchasing baby clothes, which symbolise his anticipation of fatherhood
and seemingly newfound tenderness and care in marriage. This love in
marriage is ultimately undermined, however, following Mariam’s
miscarriage, which marks Rasheed’s reversion to ‘stiff, perfunctory…
gesture[s].’ Hosseini uses this transition to highlight the transactional
nature of this marriage, whereby Mariam’s worth is intrinsically linked to
her ability to bear children. As such, the undermining of love here allows
Hosseini to depict marriage as a construct shaped by patriarchal values,
where a woman’s role is reduced to that of a child-bearer rather than a
partner. This notion is furthered through Rasheed’s despondency with
Laila following her failure to give him a son. Again, Rasheed’s tenderness,
being described as ‘overtly tentative’, dissipates following Aziza’s birth, as
‘he let the gate go prematurely, and it almost hit [Laila] on the face’, a far
cry from his previous, careful ‘escort[ing]’ to show the conditional nature
of his affection. The ‘gate’ may act as a metaphor for the closing off of
emotional intimacy Rasheed previously affords Laila, symbolising the
speed at which marital love in tender action can be revoked following the
failure of women to meet patriarchal demands of childbirth, in particular
to have a male heir in Afghan society. As such, Hosseini criticises the
notion of marriages being governed by social expectations like childbirth,
which serve to undermine love and exacerbate female suffering in the
revoking of affection.
Similarly, in ‘WH’, Bronte conveys the undermining of love in Isabella’s
marriage to Heathcliff. Isabella’s indignation that “I love him more than
ever you [Catherine] loved Edgar” seems to convey their marriage to be a
loving union. Much like ‘ATSS’, however, Bronte conveys the transactional
