Character Analysis: Heathcliff and Mariam as Outsiders

Both Heathcliff and Mariam are defined by their status as outsiders in their respective societies:

• Heathcliff lacks a surname and is described as an "outsider" and even referred to as "it," creating an enigmatic and ambiguous aura around him.
• Mariam is labelled a "harami" (an unwanted thing), suggesting she has "no legitimate claim" to family or acceptance.
• Both characters are condemned by their societies – Heathcliff by Hindley as a "usurper of his parent's attentions and privileges," and Mariam for her illegitimate birth.

Their responses to rejection differ significantly:

• Heathcliff takes pride in his lack of identity while Mariam longs for love and acceptance.
• Catherine's attitude toward Heathcliff reveals 19th-century views of marriage as a "business" arrangement when she states, "it would degrade me to marry Heathcliff."

Key Concept: Both novels explore how society's rejection shapes individual identity. Heathcliff embraces his outsider status as power, while Mariam's rejection becomes a source of lifelong suffering, reflecting different approaches to social marginalization.

Symbolic elements reinforce their characterisation:

• Mariam's association with the tuberose (white flower) represents purity despite her societal status.
• Heathcliff's lack of origin story creates mystery that becomes central to his character.

Psychological Manipulation and Identity

Both novels explore psychological manipulation but through different narrative approaches:

• In Wuthering Heights, Catherine experiences internal repression, declaring "I am Heathcliff" and "I cannot [live] without my life... my soul," using short, fragmentary syntax that reveals her emotional state.
• In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Rasheed employs direct manipulation, telling Mariam "your brain is empty," while Jalil uses pathos and emotional manipulation: "Goddamn it Mariam don't do this to me."

The narrative voice in both works reveals important contrasts:

• Wuthering Heights was first published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, allowing Brontë to explore themes more freely.
• A Thousand Splendid Suns alternates perspectives, showing both individual suffering and shared female experience.

Symbolic representations of oppression appear throughout both texts:

• The burqa becomes a symbol of oppression, described as "tight and heavy... suffocating."
• Catherine's hyperbolic expressions of distress ("Don't you see I can scarcely stand?") reflect her internal suffering.

Important Comparison: While Wuthering Heights presents love as an all-consuming force that transcends rational thinking ("If all else perished and he remained..."), A Thousand Splendid Suns offers sisterhood as a counterforce to suffering ("Laila began to laugh and mariam joined in"), presenting different paths to emotional survival.

The novels also reflect their historical contexts:

• Victorian England's low life expectancy (25-41 mortality rate)
• References to the Quran (2:256) in A Thousand Splendid Suns contextualise the cultural setting.

Violence and Symbolic Imagery

Both novels utilise powerful imagery to convey violence and suffering, though with contrasting approaches:

• Water symbolism appears in both texts but with opposite meanings:
  • In Wuthering Heights: "his face and throat were washed with rain" suggests moisture and purity
  • In A Thousand Splendid Suns: "rockets begin to rain on kabul!" associates rain with war and destruction

Physical violence manifests differently in each text:

• Hindley threatens Heathcliff "with an iron weight" – a direct physical threat
• Mariam experiences sexual violence: "his sweat on the girls skin" and the threatening sound of a belt that "jingled loudly" followed by her plea "don't do this"

Literary Technique: Both authors use sensory details to make violence visceral for readers. The sounds, physical sensations and visual imagery create an immersive experience that heightens the emotional impact of the characters' suffering.

The fundamental difference in moral frameworks:

• Wuthering Heights explores a "transgression of human law" where characters follow "naturalistic instincts where morals are nonexistent"
• A Thousand Splendid Suns sets violence against a backdrop of cultural and religious expectations, making the transgressions even more shocking

Is reading Wuthering Heights tough? Its exploration of amoral characters and complex psychological states can be challenging, while A Thousand Splendid Suns, though containing difficult content, offers a more straightforward narrative structure that many readers find more accessible.