a. What are the major struggles and conflicts that your characters encounter? How do the characters face the conflicts and how does going through these conflicts help the characters to learn more about themselves?

In the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, Mariam's struggles develope early in the book. From whne she was little she had been told that she was nothing, "this is my reward for everything i've endured. An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harami."(4). Her mom blames Mariam for all her hardships, but Mariam doesn't believe that she is the reason for the hard life her and her mother live until she hears it from someone else. Unfortunetly, that doesn't take long to happen. Her father soon gives her the impression that he too is ashamed of her and doesn't want her in his house.
Another conflict that Mariam is forced to struggle with in her young age is her mother's death. When Mariam goes to her father's house, her mother yells and scream at her, "Don't leave Mariam Jo. Please stay. I'll die if you go." (26). Mariam leaves anyway because she is tired of her mother's constant negativity towards her. But when she finds that her father is ashamed of her as well she comes back to find her mother had hung herself. So now not only does Mariam have to cope with the fact that she has no one , but also with the feeling that she had that the death of her mother was her fault.
Through these struggles, Mariam's self esteem is shattered believing that she is a nobody, and that nobody loves her. But with the reassurance of her long-time mentor, Mullah Faizullah she finds that these struggles have also made her stronger.