The Freedom of Choice

In modern developed countries, we take it for granted that we have the right to make our own choices. For example, women now have the ability to choose their role in society. Women can still choose to stay at home and just take care of family, but they can also enter the working force. This is not the result of any legislature. Instead, it is the result of a societal change. In the past, it was assumed that all women would stay at home to manage the household. That is the society seen in A Thousand Splendid Suns. To go against the stiff mold set would be to go against all of society, which would be impossible.

In Part I of Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, a woman is forced to marry against her will. In the past in the United States, and presently in some other countries, arranged marriages are/were common. As countries develop though, the freedom of choice grows and it becomes more socially accepted for the people to pick their own spouses. As we see in A Thousand Splendid Suns, forcing someone to make a choice they oppose causes them to resent the result. Jalil forces his daughter, Mariam, to marry off to Rasheed. Mariam opposes the marriage, but is forced to agree to it. The marriage is thus built on top of lies, so it makes everyone anger. In democracies, which are becoming much more common around the world over time, the majority make the choices to an extent. Since the majority are taking some power, it makes sense that now the majority are being given more social rights to choose. People expect that everyone should have a say, so parents no longer impose the marriage onto their children. A stigma has arisen around forcing people to do things because it defies someone's natural rights.

The most contemporary application of the freedom of choice is abortion. I don't expect abortion to be made illegal because it is the choice of the mother before her child has been born, and the United States is a developed country. It is run through a democracy where every person has the choice to vote how the country will be run. It would be ironic if abortion were made illegal because of this. In my opinion, it is best the abortion remains legal because the mothers didn't always have the choice of whether to create the baby, as rape is not an entirely rare occurrence. We can't completely take away women's right to choose whether or not to have a baby by banning abortions. However, it is a tricky topic because you could also argue that you can't take away the babies choice to live. I think that ultimately the mother's choice will win because their decisions can be more obviously discerned than the unborn babies'.