¶ … Khaled Hosseini's novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, one of the protagonists, Mariam, is perceived as an "illegitimate" child because Jalil does not publically admit that he is her father. Similarly, the relationship between Mariam's mother and Jalil is considered "illegitimate" because she is of a low social class standing and unable to become one of Jalil's many wives. Mariam's "illegitimacy" as a human being haunts her for the rest of her life. She is of an already low socio-economic status, and her being labeled as illegitimate makes Mariam even more of a social outcast. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khalid Hosseini argues that legitimacy is completely arbitrary, and the only legitimate acts or statuses are moral ones.
For example, the society that shuns Mariam throughout her life is a society that can be considered morally illegitimate. Mariam's father has several wives and several children with those other wives. There is no morally legitimate reason why Jalil cannot or could not have married Mariam's mother,...
Jalil seems to know deep down that he owes Mariam the opportunity at social legitimacy, which is why he brings her gifts. Therefore, on some level Jalil recognizes that his restrictive social order is illegitimate on a moral level. Mariam, who is innocent, should not be labeled as an "illegitimate" person, but she is. And because Mariam is labeled as an "illegitimate" person she has no political power at all. Other people end up controlling her life, and those other people are always men. Men in the Afghan society that Hosseini describes possess authority and political power. They also possess economic power and control over women. Their power is not legitimate from a moral standpoint, as it makes half of the entire society dependent and subservient to the other half. Nevertheless, the patriarchal order is considered to be legitimate and treated as such by nearly everyone in the society.
When Jalil marries off Mariam because he views her as a problem, his act is morally…
As mentioned in the introduction to this study, Hans-Georg Godamer is making both an epistemological claim and an ideological claim in his formulation of faith. Epistemological, because is discussing the extent and ways of knowing, but also ideological, because faith holds a privileged place in society, and based on the above discussion, one might go so far as to say that faith's privileged place in society is due precisely to
It increasingly seems unlikely that Christ will show up on a white horse to purge the world of sin. If this is necessary to the ideology of salvation, then one might do well to scoff at it. It does not seem to be legitimate to project that Christ will save the world from the evil which is wrecked upon it by humans or by nature. Indeed, it seems remarkably
American marriage would reflect American principles of liberty and self-government. Unlike the hordes of serfs, servants, and subjects in other parts of the world, American citizens were going to shape their own lives and determine their country's destiny. Just as citizens would be self-governing in the political realm, they would also choose their spouses freely." (Hymowitz, 2004) Hymowitz shares the fact that the development of the idea of romantic love
Reasoning with clear ideas and examples, what are at least two of the main justifications for the legitimacy, authority, and usefulness of the UN, and two of the main criticisms? Legitimacy means the acceptance and right of a given authority such as a law for governance, or a specified regime. Legitimacy refers to a whole set of governance system. On the other hand, authority refers to a specified position in a
The Egyptian King Faud (1922-36) repeatedly disbanded popularly elected Wafd governments, despite huge majorities, due to their distinctly nationalist platform. The fickleness of the British position is exemplified by their later coercion of King Farouk (1936-52) to appoint an enfeebled Wafd government due to their need for a neutral Egypt during the Second World War. This intense irony does not detract from the fact that the monarchs in Egypt
Concept: In order to understand Goddard's reasoning, one must understand the nature of feeblemindedness. Inferences: The data establishes that the combination of feebleminded individuals with poor environments is likely to result in criminality. Assumptions: Goddard assumes that morality and feeblemindedness are negatively correlated, without providing any data to support that assumption. Implications: If one were to accept Goddard's reasoning, one would assume that criminal behavior was genetic and linked to intelligence, which could