The climax of the novel occurs after the revelation that Tariq is alive and he visits Laila without Rasheeds knowledge. 18 Apr. Tariq agrees. "[18], A Thousand Splendid Suns received significant praise from reviewers, with Publishers Weekly calling it "a powerful, harrowing depiction of Afghanistan"[4] and USA Today describing the prose as "achingly beautiful". bookmarked pages associated with this title. Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Glamorous Suns follows Mariam and Laila who, despite a 17-year age difference and unique circumstances, equally finish up artificial up marrying the equal abusive man, Rasheed. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Tariq and Laila have sex before he leaves, a choice that creates lasting consequences. Sometimes it can end up there. She makes her wishes known by asking Jalil to take her to see Pinocchio for her fifteenth birthday. A Thousand Splendid Suns Theme Analysis Lesson Subject: English Language Arts Grades: 912 Timeframe: Four 45 minute sessions Student Outreach for Shelters (SOS) Program Overview This lesson is designed to deepen students' analysis of the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. She is tutored at home. Mariam and Laila heal their broken relationship by uniting to push back against Rasheed in an attempt at finding agency for themselves. Nana resents Jalil for his mistreatment of her and his deceptive attitude towards Mariam, whom he visits every Thursday. Motivated by both lust and a sense of propriety, Rasheed asks Laila to become his second wife. Zalmai is at first adverse to Tariq, but he warms up. Mariam, a young girl, lives in a small shack with her mother, Nana, outside of the city of Herat in Afghanistan. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The box contains a videotape of Pinocchio, a small sack of money, and a letter, in which Jalil expresses regrets at sending Mariam away, wishing he had fought for her and raised her as his legitimate child. Get free homework help on Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns: book contents, chapter summary and analysis, and character analysis courtesy of CliffsNotes. However, after Laila gives birth to a daughter, Aziza, the women come to see themselves as allies against Rasheed's abusive, manipulative ways. Laila and Zalmai pick up Aziza and leave town. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% When Laila gives birth to Aziza, who is actually Tariqs daughter, Rasheed acts much more cruelly to Laila for giving him a daughter rather than a son. She becomes pregnant with her third child, whom she will name Mariam if it is a girl. Tariq appears at the family home and reunites with Laila, who learns Rasheed hired a man to falsely claim that Tariq had been killed so that she would agree to marry him. They do not feel a true revolution has occurred and question the future. eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 908 Hosseini best develops the. Always. The family return to Kabul and use the money to repair the orphanage Aziza had stayed in, and Laila works there as a teacher. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, following the huge success of his bestselling 2003 debut The Kite Runner. When he attempts to take Lailas life by strangling her, Mariam knows that to protect the family she has grown to love, she must kill her husband. The story "A Thousand Splendid Suns", is not only a narration based on true life situations, instead provides a deeper understanding of the struggle of an afghan woman. [1] However, he found the novel easier to write once he had begun, noting "as I began to write, as the story picked up the pace and I found myself immersed in the world of Mariam and Laila, these apprehensions vanished on their own. Both women, however, acknowledge he is powerful and wealthy and that he is able to use his power for or against them as he sees fit. She asks Mariam to come with her and Tariq to Pakistan, but Mariam refuses. Mariam protests to no avail; Mariam and Rasheed marry and go to Kabul. Growing up down the street from Rasheed and Mariam is Laila, a young, intelligent girl from a loving family. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. Jalil's chauffeur drives Mariam back home, where she finds that her mother has hanged herself. A Thousand Splendid Suns is divided into four parts. Already a member? She lives in their neighborhood. The Taliban come to power, and strict laws are placed on women. Did you know you can highlight text to take a note? Analysis In two succinct scenes, Hosseini establishes that both Afghanistan as well as Laila and Tariq are at a crossroads. Having trouble understanding A Thousand Splendid Suns? In Part Two, the structure of Lailas introduction is both mirrored and juxtaposed to that of Mariams. The reference to "a thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls" likely refers to the women of Kabul, glowing beauties cloistered in hearth and home, tantalizingly hidden from the outside world but nonetheless providing vital life-giving warmth to Afghan society. [26] Despite these objections, she concluded, "Gradually, however, Mr. Hosseini's instinctive storytelling skills take over, mowing down the reader's objections through sheer momentum and will. Their most outward show of defiance comes when they try to escape with Aziza to Pakistan. He prayed for a boy and held Laila in even higher esteem. When Laila hears Rasheed beating Mariam, she thinks the sounds she heard were those of a methodical, familiar proceeding. Meanwhile, in 1978, on the eve of the Soviet takeover of Afghanistan, a daughter, Laila, is born to Fariba and Hakim, Rasheed and Mariams neighbors. Marrying Rasheed in haste, Laila attempts to pass off the child as his own. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. Mariam has complicated feelings about her parents: She lives with her spiteful and stubborn mother, Nana; while her father Jalil, a successful businessman, visits Mariam his only illegitimate child once a week. 2023 Course Hero, Inc. All rights reserved. Historical Context of A Thousand Splendid Suns The novel takes place over approximately forty years, from the early 1970s, when Mariam is a teenager, to 2003, when Laila is settled once again in Kabul with her family. He wants a younger wife that will give him at least one son. Laila endures a number of beatings from Taliban when caught travelling alone to attempt to visit Aziza when Rasheed refuses to accompany her as her guardian. When she gives birth to a daughter, Aziza, Rasheed rejects them due to her being a girl. Mariam temporarily stays with Jalil, but is quickly married off to Rasheed, a widowed shoemaker from Kabul thirty years her senior, and moves with him to Kabul. Purchasing Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. However, when the baby, Aziza, is a girl and not the hoped-for son, Rasheed becomes cooler towards Laila and hints that he has suspicions that he is not the childs father. Rasheed finds a job at a hotel and can sustain the family again. Her difficult life on the outskirts of Herat makes her long for the imagined comfort of her fathers home. GradeSaver, 13 June 2008 Web. Mariam resents her limited place in Jalil's life; she wants to live with him, his three wives, and her half-siblings in Herat. Laila blocks his blow, the first time anyone has ever stood up for Mariam. Meanwhile, Mariam's young neighbor Laila grows up close to her father, Hakim, an educated school teacher, but worries about her mother, Fariba, who experiences poor mental health following the death of her two sons fighting for the Mujahideen against the Soviets. Laila and Tariq leave Afghanistan and move to Murree, Pakistan, where they get married. They took care of her as she healed. However, by not translating it, jinn retains a certain mystery and power that seems appropriate: as a child, Mariam is not sure how or why the jinn enters her mother just as the English-speaking reader is not sure to what sort of feeling or condition the word refers. After Rasheed leaves for work, the women do their best to avoid each other throughout the day. Then, one afternoon, after years of abuse and sadness, Laila is shocked to see a man standing at her front door: Tariq. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Women as Protagonists in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Knowing that the two wives of a murdered husband would not have a chance of victory in a Taliban court, Mariam gives herself up and is sentenced to death, while she encourages Laila to elope with Tariq and the children. "[26] Similarly, Yvonne Zipp of The Christian Science Monitor concluded that A Thousand Splendid Suns was ultimately "a little shaky as a work of literature". "[23], On November 5, 2019, the BBC News listed A Thousand Splendid Suns on its list of the 100 most inspiring novels. When the story opens, Afghanistan has recently undergone a bloodless coup in 1973. Jalil sits with Miriam and they sing songs and draw pictures together. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. A Thousand Splendid Suns Chapter 31 Summary and Analysis Part 3: Chapter 31 Summary Laila, Mariam, and Rasheed settle into a routine. Laila and Tariq live in Pakistan for a while, but after a year return to a more peaceful Kabul, to help rebuild the city. . As penance for his adultery, Jalil comes to visit Mariam weekly, bringing her small gifts and news of the world. United by their love for Aziza and their distaste Rasheed, Laila and Mariam form a powerful bond. After the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001 and the onset of President George Bush's War on Terror, which has toppled the Taliban, Laila hears that conditions in Kabul are improving. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. Eventually Rasheed refuses to go at all, so Laila risks the walk alone, often suffering beatings by the Taliban. One day, Tariq, who was not dead but instead living in Pakistan, turns up at their doorstep. Rasheed only cares about himself. Thousand Splendid Suns: a Novel by Khaled Hosseini (Trivia-On-Books) - Aug 08 2022 Trivia-on-Book: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Take the challenge yourself and share it with friends and family for a time of fun! And when Laila becomes pregnant, she decides that if she has a girl, she'll name her Mariam. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. However before they can get away, a bomb explodes, killing Lailas parents. The box contains a letter apologizing and providing an update for Mariam. Laila and Mariam realize that Rasheed hired Abdul Sharif to tell Laila about Tariq's untrue demise so she wouldn't run away. He doesn't gloss over the horrors his characters live through, but something about his direct, explanatory style and the sense that you are moving towards a redemptive ending makes the whole narrative, for all its tragedies, slip down rather easily."[24]. Finally, the book ends during the American occupation of Afghanistan following the events of September 11, 2001. Subscribe now. However, when seven of Mariams pregnancies end in miscarriage, relations become fraught between the couple. The story, epic in scope and spanning three decades, follows these two indomitable women whose fortunes mirror those of their beloved and battered country'nothing pretty to look at, but still standing'and who find in each other the strength they need to survive. As Tariq and Laila grow up, she falls in love with him. Not long after they marry, Rasheed forces Mariam to chew pebbles as a punishment for undercooking rice. The first two parts of the text, on Mariam and Laila respectively, introduce readers to each character but also establish key contrasts between the two girls upbringing and sense of self. She protests, but he does not care. The novels structure first highlights Mariams narrative and then Lailas. For Mariam, even though she loses her life, she dies believing that she has gained more than she or her mother ever expected. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. "[1], "I hope the book offers emotional subtext to the image of the burqa-clad woman walking down a dusty street in Kabul. Continue to start your free trial. In the moment, Mariam realizes that Rasheed will not relent, that in [his] eyes she saw murder for them both. Knowing that their husband will likely kill them both, Mariam decides to act against Rasheed for the first time. Dont have an account? Finally, the central action of the chapter, Mariam's over-eager breaking of the sugar bowl, provides symbolic foreshadowing for the rest of the book. A Thousand Splendid Suns, a 2007 novel by Afghan-born Khaled Hosseini, is the story of Mariam and Laila, two women married to the same man, Rasheed. Despite the violence that defines many events in the plot, Hosseini ends A Thousand Splendid Suns with the idea that it is possible to rebuild after overcoming a challenging past. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. eNotes.com, Inc. Laila becomes pregnant again and gives birth to a boy, Zalmai. A rare beauty, Laila grows up intellectually encouraged by her ex-schoolteacher father but ignored by her unpredictable mother, who thinks only of her sons fighting in the Mujahideens army, against the Communists. Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. A few years later, war reaches Kabul and bombs fall on the city regularly. Part 1: Chapter 1. You can view our. This structure allows Hosseini to explore the effects of Afghanistans history across decades while crafting complex relationships between the characters. She weeps and hugs Tariq. Up until the novels climax, the story has been told in past tense. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! Available I did not intend this, but I am keenly interested, it appears, in the way parents and children love, disappoint, and in the end honor each other. Struggling with distance learning? Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. Laila has returned to Kabul with Tariq and the children and is working to improve the city by teaching at the orphanage. Steven Zaillian finished writing the first draft of the screenplay in 2009[31] and was also slated to direct; Scott Rudin had signed on as a producer. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. When they attempt to run away, they are discovered and returned home, where Rasheed punishes them brutally. Ultimately, the novel does not paint Mariam as a victim but as someone who neither Rasheed nor the Taliban will be able to break. It is through the way she lives on in Laila and Aziza in particular that Mariams legacy becomes so much more than the pain she endured. However, Mariam's love for Jalil does not diminish, even after she learns he banished her mother after their affair resulted in a pregnancy. on 2-49 accounts, Save 30% In addition, this lesson is designed to provide educators with a core . They stop en route to Herat, where Laila visits the village where Mariam was raised. When Rasheed begins hitting Laila, it comes as a surprise: It was as if a car had hit her at full speed. The womens contrasting reactions to Rasheeds violence stem from their different upbringings and their expectations for their own lives. for a group? Purchasing The novel concludes with Laila becoming a teacher and making efforts to improve Kabul. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. After Nana's funeral, Jalil takes Mariam in, but she no longer adores him. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. At first, Rasheed tries to convince Mariam that it'll be good for their reputation it is not proper for a young unmarried woman to stay with them. They develop a friendship. Rasheed, who desperately wants a son to compensate for the one who drowned in a previous marriage, is violent and contemptuous towards Mariam. The Taliban rise to power in Kabul and impose harsh rules on the local population, severely curtailing women's rights. Culture Shock When Hosseini arrived in California as a fifteen-year-old, he only spoke a few words of English. Removing #book# Mariam, an Afghani woman, remembers her mother calling her a harami when she was five years old although it is many years later before she learns the word means "bastard child." Refine any search. But that is the emotionsubterranean, powerful, beautiful, illicit, and infinitely patientthat suffuses the pages of Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. Through Laila and Aziza, Mariam finally found the love she was denied as a child, and taking the blame for their crime is a way to allow Lailas story to continue. For instance, when Mariam expresses fear that the "jinn" has returned to her mother, the reader must rely on the context Mariam is being punished for breaking the sugar bowl to understand that jinn is something uncontrollable that comes over Nana. With a shovel, Mariam kills Rasheed. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. . Laila is forced to give birth to a son, Zalmai, via a Caesarian section without anaesthesia due to the women's hospital being stripped of its supplies. As a girl, Miriam loves Thursday visits from Jalil, who tells her stories of Herat, although she never visits the city and her mother takes pains to remind the growing girl that her father brings her only stories, none of the wealth Jalil describes to her. Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. The family comes close to starvation. In this novel, both religious and political dimensions of the afghan society is depicted. Mariam asks Laila if she would accept Rasheeds hand in marriage, and Laila answers at onceyesshe is pregnant and wants Rasheed to think that the baby is his. Since her youth, Laila has a close male friend named Tariq. It is Hosseini's second novel, following his bestselling debut, The Kite Runner. Laila and Mariam struggle with raising Zalmai, whom Rasheed dotes on and favours over Aziza, causing difficulties in managing Zalmai's behaviour. and any corresponding bookmarks? Analysis "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a dazzling masterpiece by Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-American author. The box also contains cash in American dollars and a copy of Pinocchio on video. In one way, the two novels are corollaries: The Kite Runner was a father-son story, and A Thousand Splendid Suns can be seen as a mother-daughter story. date the date you are citing the material. -Graham S. The novel takes place over approximately forty years, from the early 1970s, when Mariam is a teenager, to 2003, when Laila is settled once again in Kabul with her family. Instant PDF downloads. She tries to explain that she was defending herself when she killed Rasheed, but the judge sentences Mariam to death. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. Hosseini attempts to anchor the reader in this complex history, by showing how specific historical eventsthe departure of the Soviets from Kabul, for instance, or the arrival of the Talibanimpacts the lives of the characters. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini, Khaled, hardcover, Used - Very Good at the best online prices at eBay! April 17, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 Do tie this specifically to this text as well. All the major characters, except perhaps for Amir's wife Soraya, were men. Grossman, Lev; "The 10 Best Fiction Books"; "For 'A Thousand Splendid Suns,' a well-timed journey from the page to the stage", "Arts, Briefly; 'Kite Runner' Author To Release a New Novel", "A Thousand Splendid Suns: The plight of Afghan women only partially depicted", "Jonathan Yardley: A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS", Grossman, Lev; Top 10 Fiction Books; time.com, "A Woman's Lot in Kabul, Lower Than a House Cat's", "A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini", "100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts", "Khaled Hosseini, Kabul's Splendid Son (Extended Interview)", "Khaled Hosseini: 'If I could go back now, I'd take The Kite Runner apart', "One Community Acquires 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' By 'The Kite Runner' Author Khaled Hosseini For Limited Series", "Seattle Opera's 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' is a poignant, timely tale", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Thousand_Splendid_Suns&oldid=1143972196, Print (hardback & paperback) and audio CD, This page was last edited on 11 March 2023, at 01:40. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, following the huge success of his bestselling 2003 debut The Kite Runner. Never truly knowing her older brothers, Laila grows close to Tariq, a carpenters son whose leg was blown off by a land mine. However, both characters initial narrative sections end in tragedy: Mariam is married to the abusive Rasheed and has not been able to bear a child, and Laila has just lost Tariq, who fled with his family to Pakistan, and her parents, who died in a bombing. Word Count: 908. She also could not look at Zalmai every day knowing she had killed his father. A Thousand Splendid Suns is the second novel written by Khaled Hosseini. A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes With Page Numbers, Part 1, Chapter 1 "Learn this now and learn it well. When asked what led him to write a novel centered on two Afghan women, Hosseini responded: "I had been entertaining the idea of writing a story of Afghan women for some time after I'd finished writing The Kite Runner. Their lives become eerily similar once the newness of his marriage to Laila wears off for Rasheed. They are taken to a police station and are returned home. -Graham S. The village leader, who often comes to visit, A neighborhood troublemaker, who pulls practical jokes on, The kindly orphanage director who looks after, The owner of a hotel in Murree, Pakistan, who hires, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Hosseini does not end their story there, though. This event wakes Fariba to the ongoing risks of living in Kabul, so she agrees to move. Suspicious of Laila and Tariq's relationship and suspecting he is Aziza's real father, Rasheed beats Laila and attempts to strangle her; Mariam strikes Rasheed with a shovel, killing him. He is a misogynist who uses women for what he wants. Like his first novel, The Kite Runner, it is set in Afghanistan. In an unsanitary and underfunded womens hospital, she gives birth to a son, Zalmai. I remember watching them walking in pairs up the street, trailed by their children in ragged clothes, and wondering how life had brought them to that pointI spoke to many of those women in Kabul. Despite her father Hakim's emphasis on attending school, Laila must quit because the streets are too dangerous. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Jalil's wives want nothing to do with Mariam, so they force him to let her marry Rasheed, a widowed shoemaker in Kabul. A few weeks later, Lailas own family is packing to move away from Kabul. One day after visiting Aziza at the orphanage, Laila sees Tariq standing at the front door of Rasheed's house. As Mariam grows older, she learns her father has three wives and nine legitimate children. Jalil, on the other hand, feels as if he owes Miriam something. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. It is Rasheed who pulls Laila from the rocket blasts rubble and nurses her back to health. When Zalmai tells his father of their visitor, Rasheed has Laila in a death-grip. Youve successfully purchased a group discount. LitCharts Teacher Editions. However, when they are caught and sent back, Rasheed responds by locking them away and refusing them basic necessities like water. Laila seeks comfort from her best friend, Tariq, a boy a few years older than her. When the Soviets leave in 1989, much guerrilla fighting follows and the streets are so dangerous that Laila has to be taken out of school. "[1] He also found his second novel to be more "ambitious" than the first due to its larger cast of characters; its dual focus on Mariam and Laila; and its covering a multi-generational-period of nearly forty-five-years in total. John Freeman from The Houston Chronicle found them "enormously winning"[28] while Carol Memmott from USA Today further described them as "stunningly heroic characters whose spirits somehow grasp the dimmest rays of hope". If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original The A Thousand Splendid Suns quotes below all refer to the symbol of Saib-e-Tabrizi's Poem. "A Thousand Splendid Suns Summary". The developing story captured me and enabled me to tune out the background noise and get on with the business of inhabiting the world I was creating. A Thousand Splendid Suns is set in Afghanistan from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Like a compass facing north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. When he was fifteen, his family came to the US as asylum seekers and settled in California. He is kind and loving to her, but he makes no attempt to integrate her into his legitimate family. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. For example, the inciting incident in Lailas story also involves a death in her family. You'll also receive an email with the link. [7] During its first week on sale, it sold over one million copies. Cathleen Medwick gave the novel a highly positive review in O, the Oprah Magazine: "Love may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you consider the war-ravaged landscape of Afghanistan. 2023 Course Hero, Inc. All rights reserved. She recognizes the sacrifice Mariam made and honors her memory by stating that she will name her unborn child after her if she is a girl. A Thousand Splendid Suns Characters Next Mariam Mariam One of the novel's protagonists, Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of one of the most successful businessmen in the city of Herat, Jalil. "[1], He considers both novels to be "love stories" in the sense love "draws characters out of their isolation, that gives them the strength to transcend their own limitations, to expose their vulnerabilities, and to perform devastating acts of self-sacrifice". SparkNotes PLUS For example, Mariam is an illegitimate child with no access to formal education. Are you sure you want to remove #bookConfirmation# Funeral preparations begin the next day. What are his motives for taking care of Laila? Want 100 or more? from your Reading List will also remove any publication online or last modification online. Rasheed digs Laila out of the rubble of the explosion that kills her mother and father and takes her into his home. SparkNotes PLUS In the beginning, Mariam is extremely hostile to Laila, whomMariam sees as a husband stealer. What is the motive of Jalils wives in finding a suitor for Mariam Why does Jalil go along with them in this plan? Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. "[25], The New York Times writer Michiko Kakutani wrote a more critical review, describing the opening as "heavy-handed" and early events in the novel as "soap-opera-ish". on 50-99 accounts. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. Laila goes to school and lives in Kabul with Babi and Mammy. Always. Before Mariam's birth, her mother, Nana, was a housekeeper for a wealthy businessman in Herat named Jalil. Read the Study Guide for A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Lasting Effects of Abuse in Miriams Life, Oppression of Women: A Comparison of A Thousand Splendid Suns and Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Comparing "Osama" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns", View our essays for A Thousand Splendid Suns, View the lesson plan for A Thousand Splendid Suns, View Wikipedia Entries for A Thousand Splendid Suns. However, his wives are keen to get rid of her and so arrange for her to be married to Rasheed, a man from Kabul, who is thirty years her senior. A few weeks after Tariq's family leaves, Laila is almost hit by a bullet. Hosseini best develops the themes and characterization in his novel through the books organization. [1] He noted the anticipation for his second book when writing it, compared to The Kite Runner wherein "no one was waiting for it. Laila, though, was reared to be ambitious and to think highly of her own potential. A Thousand Splendid Suns is told through two different perspectives. "[1] The characters "took on a life of their own" at this point and "became very real for [him]". Just before Laila reaches adolescence, her parents' receive news that both of their sons have been killed. And Mammy access to all of our exclusive, ad-free Study tools it comes as a punishment for rice... Be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership, 2001 end in,! Is designed to provide educators with a core of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides and... As Laila and Mariam struggle with raising Zalmai, whom she will name Mariam if it is Rasheed pulls! Punishment for undercooking rice north, a young, intelligent girl from a loving family highlights Mariams and... Come to power in Kabul with Tariq and Laila have sex before he leaves Laila! Able to access your notes and highlights, make requests a thousand splendid suns analysis and strict laws are placed on.! Her best friend, Tariq, a young, intelligent girl from a family... 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