TESS AND TTS THEME ESSAY PLANS:
SURVIVAL:
How is survival portrayed in Tess of the d’Urbervilles and A Thousand Splendid Suns:
Intro:
In both ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ by Thomas Hardy (1891) and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled
Hosseini (2007), the survival of the protagonists is greatly affected by society and the men that
surround them, but somehow women adapt to their environment to endure both mental and
physical cruelty.
Paragraph 1: Reliance on a patriarchal society/hierarchy/men to survive
Laila stays with Rasheed in order to protect herself and Aziza - she accepts his offer of
marriage because otherwise she will die on the streets, she wants to protect her unborn
child
“Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman.
Always” (page 7)
Laila has to beg Rasheed to accompany her to see Aziza as women are forbidden to leave the
house without a man.
Women have no steady income to support themselves
In the beginning, in order to pay for the horse, Tess relies on Alec’s income
Because of her rape, Tess feels married to Alec in nature - gives him control over her
In Chapter 13, Hardy introduces the idea of reputation and who suffers the consequences -
the consequences of the rate for Tess are fatal but it doesn’t affect Alec in the same way
Even though the farming community has mostly forgotten about the scandal, Tess stills
suffers - her suffering comes from the expectations of convention and no longer from her
inner emotions
After Angel abandons Tess, when Alec returns she is obliged to rely on him. She becomes his
mistress in order to survive (had nowhere else to go)
How Tess waits around for Angel when he goes to Brazil - she feels helpless without him
‘He was inexorable, and she sat still, and d'Urberville gave her the kiss of mastery’- Tess is
helpless against Alec in a patriarchal society- favours men
Hardy criticises the unfair double standards - women must endure inequality in marriage
and in life → still an issue today
Tess’s aristocratic lineage helps her in no way, whilst her figure and beauty causes her to rely
on men further as Alec takes a liking to her appearance
Paragraph 2: Female survival - how women persevere together
Laila and Mariam’s friendship - they support each other against Rasheed. Mariam kills
Rasheed when he is hurting Laila. Mariam dies to keep Laila and her family safe.
In order to protect Laila, Mariam sacrifices her life
“Tahamul. Endure” (page 18)
“Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have” (page 18)
"I'm sorry," Laila says, marveling at how every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and
imaginable grief. And yet, she sees, people find a way to survive, to go on (page 384)
In Tess, there is a lack of women persevering together. This makes survival harder for them.
Such as the women in the Dairy Farm fighting for Angel’s affections. Context: Women relied
heavily on men in the nineteenth century in a Christian society
Female relationships between Car Darch - they gang up on Tess because she is the object of
Alec’s affection
, Tess declares that she would refuse Angel is he asked her to marry him, but she also thinks
that he will never marry any of them. The other women befriend Tess again but suffer with
emotions that ‘cruel nature’ has thrust upon them >> hardy criticises the arbitrary rules of
society that make angel unavailable to the dairy maids. Tess tries to suppress her passion as
a kind of sacrifice for Angel and her friends’ sake.
Paragraph 3: Religion favours men - women find it harder to survive
Taliban regime releases orders which they use to repress women and control the whole of
Afghanistan- ‘You will not make eye contact with men’, ‘Girls are forbidden from attending
school’, ‘If you are found guilty of adultery, you will be stoned to death’, ‘you will not paint
your nails. If you do, you will lose a finger.’
In order to survive her repressive marriage, Mariam has to murder her husband, however,
the religion does not permit murder so therefore she is put to death. However, the double
standard means that the Taliban regime would favour a man who murdered his disobedient
wife
Nana’s fits are blamed on ‘Jins’ possessing her which ultimately breaks off her only marriage.
Laila fakes her virginity for Rasheed by pricking her finger - sex before marriage is forbidden.
Tess cannot baptise Sorrow as it was born out of wedlock, which means that he cannot have
a proper burial - moral burden
“Justice’ was done, and the President of the Immortals...had ended his sport with Tess.’ (pg
420). A Christian society means that Tess cannot escape her fate- despite Alec’s murder was
one which had to happen in order to survive
Focus on purity and Christian values by Angel’s father when looking for a wife → religion is
oppressive and ruins Tess’s life
Angel loves the version of Tess that is virtuous
Paragraph 4: Endurance against physical cruelty
Rasheed: the pebbles, the gun, being locked away, beatings
Mariam endures physical cruelty, as a result of being barren (something which she cannot
control)
Laila has a c-section with no anesthetic as a result of the new rules implemented by the
Taliban - shut down most of the hospitals for women
In order to maintain physical contact with Aziza, Laila constantly endures beatings by guards
“It wasn’t easy tolerating him talking this way to her, to bear his scorn, his ridicule, his
insults, his walking past her like she was nothing but a house cat. But after four years of
marriage, Mariam saw clearly how much a woman could tolerate when she was afraid.”
(page 97)
In order to resist a beating from Rasheed, Laila must injure herself to fake her virginity
Suffering in the macrocosm reflects the suffering in the microcosm
The rape of Tess - she must endure the social shame that surrounds sex before marriage -
she must bear the shame of Alec’s sins (Sorrow)
When Tess is abandoned by Angel, she must work the fields tirelessly, even as a Gentleman’s
wife
The Social Hegemony which meant control through consent. The concept of purity varied. If
a man lost his virginity it was considered okay but if a woman lost her maidenhood, she was
considered impure. After being raped by Alec, Tess returned home and bore a child named
Sorrow. The society never questioned Alec but never accepted Tess or her child.
Conclusion:
