The Sand Child

Characters:

1. Malika: female servant, discreet, gentle, "never asked questions" (2)
2. Ahmed's mother: obedient, really wants to please her husband, takes on role of wife in house, has 7 daughters
3. Ahmed's father: traditional, wants a son really badly, somewhat abusive to his wife (because she won't produce a male), cares about what others think
4. Ahmed: mother's 8th child, born a female but raised as a male (presented to society as one as well), it is "his" journal that is being read
5. Story teller/narrator: somehow received Ahmed's journal, guides his audience through it, religious
6. Fatima: Ahmed's cousin, has a limp, she is epileptic, the woman that Ahmed decides he wants to marry, very weak
7. Um Abbas: female, leader of a circus, takes Ahmed in
8. Lalla Zahra (97): Ahmed's female version, he takes on the name and person while in the circus, docile submissive (98)
9. Salem: 1st of the three to take over the story after the storyteller dies, black son of slave
10. Amar: 2nd of the three to take over the story, says he salvaged the manuscript, retired school teacher
11. Fatuma: last of the three to take over the story, an old woman, can read and write (notable for a woman), comes from family that was happy to have daughters, has no children or a husband, wears a headscarf, she has gone to Mecca

Notes:

* book told in 3rd person narrative

* starts out discussing the situation of a man who has a severely scarred face, extreme allergies, and who has essentially locked himself away in an upstairs room away from the noise and stares of society. He is readying himself for death, and in doing so, completing a journal with a story/secret in it

* "He had decided that his world was his own and that it was superior to that of his mother and sisters---very different, in any case. Actually he thought they had no world. They were content to live on the surface of things, without making demands, in accordance with his authority, his laws, and his wishes." (3)

• women seen as lower citizens, their lives are based around serving the men of the house, their ideas are not valued nor asked for

* Story teller is now telling the man's story (the one written in his journal) to an audience (including the reader) after the man's death. (pg 5)

• Story teller is there to guide his audience through the story of the man, and to help them understand (7 gates they must go through)

* Man is convinced that he has been cursed because all seven of his children have been female.

• treats them with indifference, doesn't call them by their names, tries to forget they exist
• "regarded himself as a sterile man or a bachelor" (9)
• "...our religion is pitiless for a man who has no heirs. It dispossesses him in favor of his brothers, while the daughters receive only one-third inheritance." (10)

* Father makes his wife do everything she can to get pregnant with a male child (teas, herbs, rituals, etc.)

• "Her life was hell, and her husband, always discontent, his pride wounded, his honor lost, treated her roughly and held her responsible for the misfortune that had befallen them." (10)
• he hits her when she refuses to let a dead man's hand pass over her naked stomach and then to eat couscous from it (to make her pregnant with a boy)
• she even begins to hate herself and take part in self destructive behavior, blaming herself

* the father decides that his next child WILL be a male, even if it is technically not. He strikes a deal with a midwife so that when the child is born, even if it was a girl everyone would be told t was boy. His name is to be "Ahmed" (chosen by father)

* Ahmed: "For all those women, life was limited. It did not amount to much more than cooking, housework, waiting around, and, once a week, a restful afternoon in the hammam. I was secretly pleased that I did not belong to that limited world." (23)

• even as a child, Ahmed realized that it was "better" to be a male, although did not understand yet that "he" was in all actuality a member of the female sex

* Father teaches Ahmed to be "a man" --> don't cry, must be able to defend one's self

* the audience debates over what they believe befalls Ahmed and how he deals with adolescence and growing up (crisis, no crisis, goes crazy, treats sisters badly, etc.)

* Ahmed does struggle with his gender identity and the role that he is supposed to play vs. the role that nature has assigned him

• "I haven't always been brave enough to betray myself--that is to say, to descend the steps that my destiny has traced out for me, which are leading to the depths of myself in the unbearable intimacy of a truth that cannot be spoken." (29)
• "I felt the need to cure myself of myself" (31) --> after getting his period
• "He realized that his life was now a matter of keeping up appearances. It was not longer his father's will; it was his will." (32)

* Ahmed decides he wants a wife when he is 20 years old. He has accepted his fate, even relishes it to a degree at this point, and wants to continue according to tradition. He also wants to wear a suit and grow a mustache (?)

• "Father, you've made me a man. I must remain one. And, as our beloved Prophet says, 'A complete Muslim is a married man.' " (35)
• woman he chooses he wants to marry is his cousin Fatima

* Ahmed makes his sisters wait on him, begins to take a larger part in the business, is feared by his peers and has no friends, he has put on a cruel facade

* "In this family the women wrap themselves in a shroud of silence. They obey. My sisters obey. You keep quiet and I give orders. How ironic! [...] What a miserable existence!" (36)

* Ahmed: "I have built my house with shifting images. I am not playing; I am trying not to die. I have at least the whole of my life to answer a question: Who am I? And who is the other? (38)

• he is conflicted, and the dichotomy between how he is supposed to act according to each gender is confusing and troublesome.
• secludes himself (both physically and mentally) in order to deal with the issue of facing society and defining himself as one way or another for society
• "It is strange--my sternness, my harshness opens up doors for me. I don't ask so much! I jostle everybody. I ask not for love, but for abandonment. They don't understand. Hence the need to live my condition is all its horror." (40)

* there is a series of letters, it is confusing who has written them or sent them (maybe he has written all of them? I don't know), it almost seems as if they are written from different figmentations of his own imagination

* Ahmed's father dies, and he takes over guardianship of his sisters and the role of head of the household.

• "You owe me obedience and respect. Anyway, I don't have to remind you that I am a man of order and that if in our house women are inferior to men it's not because God wishes it or because the prophet decided it thus, but because the women accept this fate. So submit, and live in silence!" (46)
• interesting way of putting it, since most people would consider the two reasons that Ahmed rejects as the legitimate ones --> it implies that women actually have a choice, and have chosen repression and to remain silent.
• ironic as well because Ahmed is technically a female and is now taking on a very authoritative role --> shows that according to nature, women can do what men can, and it is nurture that causes them to believe that they cannot

* new narrator/story teller takes over for the old one, he claims to be the brother of Fatima and to have the real copy of the journal

* Fatima's family basically ignores her existence, she is a burden to them, she is left alone during her epileptic episodes, she is determined to live even so, very quiet, chaste, sleeps a lot

* Ahmed on Fatima: "Yet I came to hate her. [...] Because she was handicapped, that woman turned out to be stronger, harder, more unbending than I could have foreseen." (57)

* Ahmed on Fatima: "That woman had a special kind of intelligence. All the words she never spoke, all the words she saved up, were poured into her unshakable condition, reinforcing her plans and projects." (57)

* Fatima to Ahmed: "I have always known who you are, and that is why, my sister, my cousin, I have come to die here, near you. [...] We are women before being sick, or perhaps we are sick because we are women...I know your wound; we share it." (58)

• Fatima dies shortly after saying this, and he shuts himself away never again to be seen by the public eye

* "To be a woman is a natural infirmity and every woman gets used to it. To be a man is an illusion, an act of violence that requires no justification. Simply to be is a challenge." (70)

* Ahmed: "For some time I have felt liberated, yes, ready to be a woman. But I am told, I tell myself, that before that I must go back to childhood, become a little girl, an adolescent girl, a girl in love, a woman...What a long path. I shall never get there." (73)

* the only relationship that Ahmed seems to maintain (aside from the short encounters he has with Malika), is the one with whomever he exchanges letters. It is still unclear who he is writing to, and it seems Ahmed himself doesn't know. He uses the letters as a means of expressing his thoughts and of maintaining contact with the outside world

* Ahmed is dealing with sexual frustration, and seems to want a male partner rather than female (therefore identifying with the female sex)

* Ahmed leaves his home for the first time as a female, and is stopped by an elderly woman proceedes to throw him/her on the ground and make sexual advances (86). Although he/she is embarrassed to admit it, he found pleasure in the momentary sensation of her lips against his/her nipple

* a woman named Um Abbas finds Ahmed at a cafe and tells him/her to come with her, before taking her anywhere of consequence she checks to make sure that Ahmed is truly a female

• She takes him to a circus, shows him a man playing the role of a woman (dancing and such), and tells Ahmed that he/she has the opportunity to take over this role. Ahmed accepts, and joins the circus
• rather than feeling ashamed be the new role he/she has taken on, Ahmed feels liberated and happy

* as a woman, Ahmed takes on the name of Lalla Zahara (96) and begins to take on the role of a woman (docile and submissive)

* "There are women in this country who step over all barriers, dominate, command, guide, trample others underfoot--such a woman was Um Abbas." (101)

*the story teller dies, the manuscript is burned, and three others (Salem, Amar, and Fatuma) each tell their own version of the ending of the story

* Salem's story concentrates on what happens after the death of the main character, however he speaks of her remaining time in the circus as well. According to him, Lalla is treated like an animal, is raped by Abbas, she becomes mute, and she is eventually strangled by Abbas

* Amar's story involves Ahmed (doesn't use the name Lalla) running away from the circus. He basically loses his mind and becomes extremely depressed

• Ahmed: "I have been taught to act and to think as one who is naturally superior to women. Everything allows me to do this: religion, the Koran, society, tradition, the family, the country...and myself..." (119)
• "I know that in this country a single woman is doomed to every kind of rejection. In a moral, well-structured society, not only is everyone in his place, but there is absolutely no place for him or her, especially her, who consciously or erroneously, betrays the established order"(120)
• He claims that Ahmed never left the tower in his house, that the circus and what not were all part of his imagination, and that he died peacefully after wasting away in the room of his home

* Fatuma's story is her own, not of Ahmed. She tells of how she travels to Mecca, and then upon return decides not to go back home. Instead, she disguises herself as a man (kind of like Ahmed) and sleeps in a mosque. Invents a new life for herself (day dreaming women?). In the end, she says that she has lost a notebook and that the story being told the entire time was her own story. (she is Ahmed/Lalla)

• Fatuma: "My words don't carry much weight--I am only a woman. I have no tears left. I learned early on that a woman who weeps is lost. I acquired a determination never to be that weeping woman." (132)
• She is aware of the inequalities between men and women, and seems to accept them to a degree (perhaps out of resignation), although at the same time she believes that women have more value than society and tradition gives them.

* a blind travelling storyteller (male) sits down with the three and feels inclined to add to the story. He is from Argentina, and speaks spanish. Says that Lalla came to him in Argentina to tell her story, and to find forgiveness.

• Lalla (the woman who comes to him) tells him she is guilty of three things: 1. living some else's live, 2. leaving someone to die, and 3. lying
• He has a reoccurring dream about a woman he once knew and desired, and in it he finds her again, but upon coming closer, he realizes she is just a male soldier dressed as a female
• he has come to Morocco to lay this woman's soul to rest
• she gave him a ring with seven keys on it, each to a gate of the city (each of which will set a portion of her soul free when opened), also gives him old clock, a prayer rug, a coin, and account of a dream she had
• "In that closed body, he is a girl/whose face is more brilliant than the sun. / From top to toe she is like ivory,/ her cheeks like the sky, her waist like a willow./ On her silver shoulders are two dark braids of hair,/ whose ends are like the rings of a chain./ In that closed body, he is an old, worn face,/ a wound, a shadow, and a tumult,/ a body concealed in another body..." poem attributed to Firdusi that women tells him

Summary/Overview:

This novel is by no means an easy read, and it is difficult to understand what exactly is going on in many parts. The story of the main character, Ahmed/Lalla Zahra, is told by a number of different people, all of whom claim to know the true story. It is a story of a child born a female, but raised as a male, and the difficulties that the child has as it grows up.
.
Despite its confusing nature, it is evident that Jelloun has used this piece of work as a means through which to bring up a number of issues that females in Morocco face. Although many such issues are brought up through the main character, a number of other more minor characters represent different issues that women face as well. Jelloun takes on an almost feminist tone in this piece of literature. He presents a critical view of how women are treated in a Muslim society. However, he does not put all the blame on males, as so many feminists do, but indicates that women play a significant role in continuation of their own oppression. The dichotomy between men and women in a Muslim society is represented through the character of Ahmed/Zahra Lalla. He/she is forced to look at both sides of society, and decide accordingly which sex he/she really wants to identify with. Nature has made her a female, yet nurture has created a male version of the same person. Ahmed/Zahra struggles to understand why there is such a significant difference between the ways in which both sexes are treated. The character represents the belief that the differences are based not on nature, but are constructed by society. He/she exemplifies the idea that a women has just as much potential as a man an can in fact function in society outside of the domestic sphere. Ahmed/Zahra is disgusted by his mother and sister, not because they are females, but because they allow themselves to be treated the way that they are and because they willingly take on the role of the silent and obedient female. At one point, he/she says thinks that even if he/she had been raised a woman, he/she would not have been as complacent as his them, and would have asserted his/her will. The inclusion of the female story teller is interesting as well. For one, women are not traditionally supposed to voice their opinions, especially to men, and that is exactly what she does. She tells a story, as well as her own story, and the men listen. She tells of the oppression she has faced. Although it seems she has overcome it to a small degree, she is still not accepted by society as a man would be. Also, she is not married and does not have children...which is not considered acceptable by traditional society.
.
Jelloun presents the female and their situation in a very interesting way. He does not outright condemn society, but quietly criticizes it in his novel.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

Tahar Ben Jelloun was born in Fez, Morocco in December of 1944 to a shop keeper and his wife. He received his primary education there in a bi-lingual school, but moved to Tangier with his family at the age of 18 where he attended a French high school. In 1963 he moved to Rabat to pursue his studies in philosophy at the Mohammed V University. While there he wrote a number of small pieces for a local magazine. After participating in a student demonstration in 1965, Jelloun was taken to a military camp where he was detained eighteen months for "being an enemy of King Hassan II." It was during this time that he became inspired, in part by James Joyce's Ulysses, to begin to write poetry as a form of escape from reality and as a soft form of revolt. Jelloun was released in 1968, after which he went on to teach at a high school in Tetouan and then Casablanca. Laws were put into place in Morocco in 1971 that required that classes be taught in Arabic. Due to his French upbringing, and lack of Arabic training, Jelloun was forced to resign from teaching. He then relocated to Paris to pursue his doctorate degree in philosophy. While there, he made a name for himself as a journalist for Le Monde. Jelloun published his first novel, Harrouda, in 1972. He has since written a number of acclaimed novels, including The Sand Child in 1985, plays and essays. Although Jelloun has spent the last 39 years in France, and has become a French citizen, he frequently returns to Morocco and the majority of his works take place in his home country. His writings have won a number of awards, including the Prix Goncourt and the 2004 IMPAC award. Jelloun has become well known for his fight against racism and oppression as well, and is often invited to universities around the world as a guest speaker. He has become known as one of the most influential Moroccan writers of his time.

Sources:

Poklekowski, Doris. "Tahar Ben Jelloun." Berliner Festspiele. International Litterature Festival Berlin, 2002. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. http://literaturfestival.com/participants/authors/2002/tahar-ben-jelloun.

Sackville, Amy. "Tahar Ben Jelloun: Bound to Morocco." The Independent Books. Independent.co.uk, 03 Mar. 2006. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/tahar-ben-jelloun-bound-to-morocco-468220.html.

A Thousand Splendid Suns (pg. 375-418)

Notes:

* Laila and Tariq got married the day she moved to Pakistan with him.


* "So much had happened since those childhood days, so much needed to be said. But that first night the enormity of it all stole the words from her. That night, it was blessing enough to be beside him. It was blessing enough to know that he was here, to feel the warmth of him next to her, to lie with him, their heads touching, his right hand laced in her left." (377)

• Love is what matters, and for once she is happy to go to bed and fall asleep next to a man. She has finally found the contentment and happiness that she has always dreamed about, with the man that she has always loved.

* Laila is much happier in Murree. Her life is easier, and she likes the city better. Laila is extremely grateful for her change in fortune.

• "Sometimes, as Laila watches Tariq sleep, as her children mutter and stir in their own sleep, a great big lump of gratitude catches in her throat, makes her eyes water." (377)
• "Laila is happier here in Murree. But it is not an easy happiness. It is not a happiness without cost." (380)

* Zalmai is extremely upset and misses his father. He treats Tariq poorly, but Tariq is understanding and kind. Laila continues to tell Zalmai that his father has gone on a trip, and that she doesn't know when he will return. Although the lie is technically for the benefit of Zalmai because he is not yet ready for the truth, she hates lying to him.

* Tariq treats Laila and her children much better than Rashid ever did. He plays an active role in the lives of all of them, not discriminating based on gender. They go on outings together as a family. For once, they all truly have a family.

* Laila is still devestated by the absence/death of Mariam, and she has dreams about her.

* 9/11 comes, and Laila and Tariq watch the television screen as the twin towers fall after the planes have crashed into them. The Taliban refuse to relinquish Bin Laden because he is a "guest" in their country, and their code of ethics does not allow them to turn guests over in case of persecution.

• George Bush declares war on Afghanistan. Yet another war in the country, causing more instability, more suffering and more deaths of innocents.
• Despite the negative things that war brings on a country, again, some hope emerges again.

* "For Laila, being with Tariq is worth weathering these apprehensions. When they make love, Laila feels anchored, she feels sheltered. Her anxieties, that their life together is a temporary blessing, that soon it will come loose again in strips and tatters, are allayed. Her fears of separation vanish." (385)

• This is a much different feeling than she had with Rasheed. If she felt anything at all with him, it was disgust and tension. Her life with Tariq is so much different. However, her past had made her fear that her happiness will not last.

* Laila wants to move back to Kabul and help in the rebuilding the country. She keeps thinking about how her father told her she could do anything that she wants, and that how after the war is over, her country is going to need her.

• "But it isn't mere homesickness or nostalgia that has Laila thinking of Kabul so much these days. She has become plagued by restlessness. She hears of schools built in Kabul, roads repaved, women returning to work, and her life here, pleasant as it is, grateful as she is for it, seems...insufficient to her. Inconsequential. Worse yet, wasteful." (389)
• She feels obligated to go back for her parents and for Mariam.

* Parting with Pakistan is difficult, especially for the children who are scared, but Laila is happy to return home.

* On their way back to Kabul, the family stops in Herat to visit Mariam's old home (the kolba that she grew up in).

• Sitting in the kolba, memories of Mariam flood Laila's mind. She thinks about what it was like to live there, and how it must of been for Mariam.
• "In a few years, this little girl will be a woman who will make small demands on life, who will never burden others, who will never let on that she too has had sorrows, disappointments, dreams that have been ridiculed. A woman who will be like a rock in a riverbed, enduring without complaint, her grace not sullied but shaped by the turbulence that washes over her." (401) --> description of Mariam <--
• This gesture is a last farewell to Mariam from Laila

* "Every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. And yet, she sees, people find a way to survive, to go on. Laila thinks of her own life and all that has happened to her, and she is astonished that she too has survived, that she is alive and sitting in this taxi listening to this man's story." (395)

• It's amazing what one can go through and survive.

* Laila is given a little box that had been given to a friend by Jalil to save for Mariam if she were to ever return. In it is an envelope, a burlap sack, and a videocassette. The movie is a copy of Pinocchio, the film he had promised to take Mariam to the day she came to his house. The letter is basically an apology for the way he behaved. Jalil expresses remorse, and begs for her forgiveness. He has also put her inheritance in the burlap sack.

* Note: it is now April 2003

* The drought has ended and the family has moved back to Kabul. The city is alive again, and the children attend school while Tariq works. Laila now works at the orphanage with Zaman as a teacher. It is being restored and school is back in session there.

* Laila is pregnant again with Tariq's child. It has been decided that if it is a girl, they will name her Mariam.

Overview/Observations:

This last section, and last of the three parts of the novel, has much happier undertones. It is the first section of hope and happiness. The lives of Laila and her children are completely transformed. They go from living a life of fear and hardship, to a relatively easy life complete with leisure and safety. Aziza loves Tariq from the beginning, and and thought it takes him time to warm up to him, Zalmai becomes close to Tariq as well. Laila has never been so happy, especially after their return to Kabul after things have settled down again. She finally is able to contribute to society outside of the home, she is married to the man that she has always loved, and she lives in a nice home. Despite such fortune, Laila cannot help but think about her parents and Mariam. Going to the kolba in which Mariam grew up is a cathartic experience for her, and it gives her a feeling of closure. However, she still feels sadness at the loss of all those close to her. Laila has grown up and matured significantly since she was first introduced in the novel. All of the tragedy that she has witnessed and experienced has not broken her apart, and she remains a strong and caring woman. She is extremely grateful for her fortune and acknowledges that all of her past experiences have molded the person she has become.

World View

In his book, The Middle East and Central Asia: An Anthropological Approach, David Eickelman discusses a number of aspects of Middle Eastern and Islamic societies. He delves into concepts such as village life, pastoral nomadism, the idea of kinship, marriage, ect. However, the chapters that contain information pertinent to my studies/interests for this capstone are chapter 8 and chapter 9. The first of which deals with sexuality and the perceived differences between men and women in Muslim culture, and the second of which discusses the concept of a "worldview." Although he gives specific examples of how such things are applied or appear in certain areas, he also discusses both issues with respect to Muslim culture in general. It is within this context that such notions are applicable to my paper since all of the authors I have chosen come from a Muslim background.


Chapter 8: Change in Political Ideologies: Self, Gender, and Ethnicity

* "Status can mean the formal rights and obligations of a person, as a citizen or subject as enacted by law. It can also mean religious or normative prescriptions that, although they may not have the force of law, are difficult to transgress in public or conventional and accepted ways of comportment. The status of women is closely tied to gender roles, but is also linked [...] to issues of national identity, family law, Islamic and 'international' views on human rights, employment opportunities, and education" (186).

* "Of course, legal reforms do not necessarily change social practice, although they reflect the changing values of legislators or rulers" (188).

• Although laws may say/require certain actions, those actions may not be put into practice by society. Although women may technically have certain legal rights, often they are incapable of exercising those rights due to societal pressure. For example, legally women can now drive in Saudi Arabia, however it is still considered to be extremely socially unacceptable, so almost no women do.

* "The ideological conventions concerning women and gender vary considerably throughout Middle Eastern and Central Asian societies. There is no single Islamic view..." (193).

* "Your women are your field, so act upon your field as you wish (Sura 2, "The Cow," verse 223)" (193)

• Quranic verse used by some Muslims to justify the beating and mistreatment of women

* "Men watch over women because God has preferred some of you over others and because (men) support them from their means... And if they challenge you, (first) caution them, (then) confine them to their (sleeping) couches, and (finally) beat them (if necessary). But do not treat them unjustly. (Sura 4, "Women," verse 34)" (194)

• Another Quranic verse used to justify the mistreatment of women
  

Chapter 9: The Cultural Order of Complex Societies

* World view: "shared symbolic representations concerning the nature of the social world " (222)
* "Notions of worldview overlap and build upon more specific conceptions such as family, community, ethnicity, and sexuality but differ in that they are more integrative and comprehensive" (222).

* "The more ambitious aspect of contemporary analysis of worldview is that they seek to articulate those taken-for-granted attitudes and values that make everyday social action possible, shared understandings that are so deeply rooted that they flow almost automatically. Yet these shared understandings do not exist independently of the situations in which they are used. Individuals control how symbolic representations are interpreted, and in doing so, they shape the symbolic representations"(224).

* "These assumptions, which are considered 'natural' and not 'conventional,' are constructed and transformed through social practice and made up of everyday, incompletely systemized, common-sense understandings of how the world 'really' is. Under ordinary conditions these basic assumptions for the implicit background against which social action is planned and carried out, even though they are not fully articulated by members of society. Special frames of reference, such as formal religious ideologies, specialized knowledge of commerce and crafts, medicine, political strategies, and the interpretation of dreams, are elaborated against the background of such understandings" (224).

* "If the ideal qualities of men in this system are to be honorable, assertive, proud, generous, and fearless; women are modest, shy, deferential, and self-restrained. They are socialized into a modesty code that emphasizes 'self-restraint and effacement'. Women can also be assertive , honorable, proud, and generous, but not in interactions with men. They are expected to defer to those in authority, and this deference, or modesty, is the honor of the weak. Honor for women necessarily entails being the wards and dependants of men" (243).

Sources:

Eickelman, Dale E. The Middle East and Central Asia: An Anthropological Approach. 3rd ed. New Jersey: .......Prentice-Hall, 1998. Print

A Thousand Splendid Suns (pg. 302-371)

Characters:

1. Zaman: orphanage director, friendly, caring, hopeful, gentle, reassuring, kind

Notes:

* Rasheed's store burns down, and as a result they have to sell everything that they own.

• After the fire, Rasheed was home almost every day. He slapped Aziza. He kicked Mariam. He found fault with Laila, the way she smelled, the way she dressed, and the way she combed her hair, her yellowing teeth." (304)
• The women's lives become even harder at this point, and Rasheed treats them even worse.

* "And then he was on Laila, pummeling her chest, her head, her belly with fists, tearing at her hair, throwing her to the wall. Aziza was shrieking, pulling at his shirt; Zalmai was screaming too, trying to get him off his mother. [...] 'I swear you're going to make me kill you, Laila'" (305)

* Jalil came to see Mariam in the spring of 1987, but she had refused to see him. She made him sit outside and beg to see her, just as she had the day that she had come to his house to see him.

• "Mariam regretted her foolish, youthful pride now. She wished now that she had let him in. [...] He'd not been a good father, it was true, but how ordinary his faults seemed now, how forgivable, when compared to Rasheed's malice, or the brutality and violence that she had seen men inflict on one another." (309)
• Time has changed her perspective on the past. Unlike her mother, who remained bitter until the day she died, Mariam has forgiven the faults of those who have mistreated her in the past. She has matured and learned to be grateful for the little things in life.

* Mariam calls Jalil for money as a last resort because her family is starving. She finds out that he died in 1987, shortly after he had come to see her.

• She feels remorse and a deep sadness at the news of his death. Despite all of the negative things that she had associated with him and her past, at hearing the news, Mariam only thought of the good and happy times she had shared with him. She is not bitter or happy at all, but feels regret for not having handled the past differently.

* Laila is forced to take Aziza to an orphanage because Rasheed can no longer afford to feed and support the family.

• "Laila had not found the strength to tell Aziza the truth. She had told her that she was going to a school, a special school where children ate and slept and didn't come home after class." (314)
• "Laila marveled at Aziza's grace, Aziza's vast capacity for forgiveness, and her eyes filled. Her heart squeezed, and she was faint with sorrow..." (314)
• Both Mariam and Laila promise to visit her. Leaving Aziza at the orphanage is obviously the hardest thing that Laila has had to do in her life, but she does it knowing that she will be provided with a life there that Rasheed can no longer provide. Laila does it out of her love for Aziza.
• Laila: "I'm ashamed. What kind of mother abandons her own child?" (318)

* Laila and Mariam go to see Aziza on a regular basis, but Rasheed refuses to go in, and only allows the women 15 minutes. Mariam, Laila and Zalmai all miss her terribly.

• Mariam is "disconsolate over Aziza's absence, though as always, Mariam chose to cradle her own suffering privately and quietly" (320)

* After a while Rasheed refuses to go anymore. Since it is illegal for a women to go out without a male, Laila is forced to try to avoid Taliban (and the possibility of a sever beating) every time she goes to see Aziza now.

• "If she was lucky, she was given a tongue-lashing or a single kick to the rear, a shove to the back. Other times, she met with assortments of wooden clubs, fresh tree branches, short whips, slaps, often fists." (321)
• Every time Laila leaves the house she risks her own health and well-being to see Aziza. She is very determined and loves her child very much.
• "But, usually, Laila refused to cave in. She made as if she were going home, then took a different route down side streets. Sometimes she was caught, questioned, scolded--two, three, even four times in a single day. Then the whips came down and antennas sliced through the air, and she trudged home, bloodied, without so much as a glimpse of Aziza." (321)

* Zaman teaches the children in the orphanage (illegally), and Aziza always talks excitedly about the new things she learns when Laila visits. She talks constantly, and does her best to reassure Laila that she is doing fine and is relatively happy there.

* Tariq randomly shows up at Rasheed's house one day to see Laila

• "A choking noise came up her throat. Her knees weakened. Laila suddenly wanted, needed, to grope for Mariam's arm, her shoulder, her wrist, something, anything, to lean on. But she didn't. She didn't dare. [...] Laila stood perfectly still and looked at Tariq until her chest screamed for air and her eyes burned to blink. And, somehow, miraculously, after she took a breath, closed and opened her eyes, he was still standing there." (327)
• She was under the impression that Tariq had died, so she cannot believe that he is standing in front of her.
• He had not died, and had not lost both of his legs, the entire story told to her by Abdul Sharif had been a lie (fabricated by him and Rasheed). Rasheed had paid the man to lie to her so that Laila would marry him and forget about Tariq.

* Laila is ashamed by her appearance when she sees Tariq.

* Tariq now lives in Pir Panjal, Pakistan. He and his family had spent a year in a refugee camp outside Peshwar after their escape from Afghanistan. His father died the first winter there. He got caught trying to smuggle drugs across the border for money, and got sent to prison for seven years. His mother died while he was in prison.

* Seeing Tariq again brings back a hope that Laila hasn't felt in a long time. All of the suffering that she has gone through in the 10 years that they have been separated melts away.

* When Rasheed finds out that Tariq had been to the house (Zalmai tells him), he beats her with a belt. Laila fights back, and Mariam jumps on him as well (joint effort to defend Laila).

• "Had she been a deceitful wife? she asked herself. A complacent wife? A dishonorable wife? Discreditable? Vulgar? What harmful thing had she willingly done to this man to warrant his malice, his continual assaults, the relish with which he tormented her?" (346) --> Mariam's thoughts as she fights back against him
• Rasheed grabs Laila's neck to strangle her, Mariam tries to pry his fingers away and can't, and then goes to the shed in the yard to grab a shovel.
• "Mariam saw that she was no longer struggling. He's going to kill her, she thought. He really means to. And Mariam could not, would not, allow that to happen. He'd taken so much from her in twenty-seven years of marriage. She would not watch him take Laila too." (348)
• Mariam hits Rasheed across the head with the shovel, and then does it again (killing him).
• "And so Mariam raised the shovel high, raised it as high as she could, arching it so it touched the small of her back. She turned it so the sharp edge was vertical, and, as she did, it occurred to her that this was the first time that she was deciding the course of her own life." (349) --> IMPORTANT POINT < --

* "Mariam's face looked thin and drawn in this light, but she did not appear agitated or frightened, merely preoccupied, thoughtful, so self-possessed that when a fly landed on her chin she paid it no attention. She just sat there with her bottom lip stuck out, the way she did when she was absorbed in thought." (352)

• Rather than panicking after she kills Rasheed, Mariam simply sits there thinking. She is calm, collected, and for the first time in a very very long time...not fearful. She is the one that makes the decision to move Rasheed, she becomes Laila's support system and tries to comfort and reassure her. All the while, Mariam is collected, assertive and very motherly. Laila, on the other hand, is rather frantic and scattered.
• "They would make new lives for themselves--peaceful, solitary lives--and there the weight of all that they had endured would lift from them, and they would be deserving of all the happiness and simple prosperity they would find." (354)
• Rasheed's death allows for hope of a better future for the women. They have been freed, and the hope of happiness has been able to re-enter their lives/minds.

* Laila feels shame and grief over the murder/death of Rasheed, but not because she will miss him or because she feels he deserved any less. The reason for her shame and grief is her son. Laila knows how much Zalmai loved his father, and she feels terrible for depriving him of that relationship and happiness.

* Both women understand, although Laila tries to deny it, that they cannot all leave. Someone will have to stay behind, and Mariam immediately knows it will be her. She offers herself up as a martyr so that Laila, her children and Tariq will be able to move on and live a happy life.

• "Laila went on a stammering rant. She bargained. She promised. She would do all the cleaning, she said, and all the cooking. [...] 'Don't do this, Mariam. Don't leave me. Don't break Aziza's heart.'" (357)
• Mariam: "Think like a mother, Laila jo. Think like a mother. I am." (358) --> Laila is a mother, and as such she needs to think not only about herself, but the future of her children. Mariam has no children, although Laila and her children are basically like family. Nobody is completely dependent on her, therefore she will be the one to take the blame. Mariam also feels terrible for the grief that Zalmai will feel, the grief that she imposed on him by killing his father.
• Mariam: "For me, it ends here. There's nothing more I want. Everything I'd ever wished for as a little girl you've already given me. You and your children have made me so very happy. It's all right, Laila jo. This is all right. Don't be sad." (358)
• Mariam is selfless, confident and authoritative in this moment. Despite the extreme hardships she has endured, she only sees the happiness that she was blessed to have in the form of Laila and her children.
• "And in the end, when the words dried up, the tears did not, and all Laila could do was surrender and sob like a child overwhelmed by an adult's unassailable logic. All she could do was roll herself up and bury her face one last time in the welcoming warmth of Mariam's lap." (359)

* After some more begging on the part of Laila, the two women part forever.

* Mariam is taken to the Walayat women's prison. Women in prison still mostly wear bruqas, but by their own choice and in order to avoid the stares and attention from the male guards. Prisoners are not provided with food by the jail, and must get it from outside sources. The conditions are very poor. Most of the women are there for running away from home (an offense punishable by imprisonment).

• Because Mariam is one of the few women in jail for a violent crime, the women treat her differently. However, instead of being scared of here, many of the women revere her. They fight for the chance to share their food or blankets with her. She is almost seen as a hero by many of them.
• Another woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for trying to escape with the man she loved, who in turn claimed that she had put a spell on him and seduced him with her charm when they were caught.
• Mariam is reminded of something her mother had said to her: "Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam." (364)

* Mariam openly admits to being guilty

• Talib man at court: "I wonder. God has made us differently, you women and us men. Our brains are different. You are not able to think like we can. Western doctors and their science have proven this. This is why we require only one male witness but two female ones." (365)
• Nobody believes, or cares, when Mariam claims it was out of self defense and in order to save Laila. Since there were no witnesses, nothing can be proved.
• After her sentencing, which is death, she is lead out and made to sign a paper accepting the judge's decision. He shows her compassion, but tells her he is not the one to judge her, God is, and according to his words (the Shari'a), she must die as well.

* Mariam is taken to the Ghazi Stadium in order to carry out her sentencing.

• When asked by a friendly guard if she is afraid, she responds, "Yes. I'm very afraid." (368) Afterwards, he tells her that fear is nothing to be ashamed of. Even the bravest of men feel fear when it comes to death.
• "Earlier that morning, she had been afraid that she would make a fool of herself, that she would turn into a pleading, weeping spectacle. [...] But when she was made to descend from the truck, Mariam's legs didn't buckle. Her arms did not flail. She did not have to be dragged. And when she felt herself faltering, she thought of Zalmai, from whom she had taken the love of his life, whose days now would be shaped by the sorrow of his father's disappearance. And then Mariam's stride steadied and she could walk without protest." (369)
• Mariam stays strong until the moment of her death. She does not pity herself or feel bitter about the sentencing. In fact, in many ways she feels as if she deserves her fate simply for the unhappiness that she has brought on Zalmai. She takes responsibility and admits what she did was wrong, although she would not change her actions if she had a chance to go back and do it again. She does not feel regret, but does feel guilt.
• "Though there had been moments of beauty in it, Mariam knew that life for the most part had been unkind to her. But as she walked the final twenty paces, she could not help but wish for more of it. [...] Mariam wished for so much in those final moments. Yet as she closed her eyes, it was not regret any longer but a sensation of abundant peace that washed over her. [...] No. It was not so bad, Mariam thought, that she would die this way. Not so bad. This was a legitimate end to a life of illegitimate beginnings." (371)
• She is shot and killed in front of thousands of people watching in the stadium.

Observations/Overview:

Times become even harder for the family in this section. The occupation continues, and in many ways gets worse. The new hope associated with the rise of the Taliban is quickly dashed. Women virtually no longer have any rights, much less the right to work and bring in extra money for the family. As a result, Laila is forced to take Aziza to an orphanage in order to save her and the rest of the family from dying of starvation. Rasheed becomes less and less caring, and he refuses to do anything for the women of the family. His only treasure, and the one thing that Rasheed continues to give his attention to is his son Zalmai. He basically forgets Aziza, and forces Laila to risk beatings by the Taliban if she wants to leave the house to see her daughter. The re-appearance of Tariq comes as a surprise. It becomes known that Rasheed had hired the man to come and tell Laila that Tariq was dead, yet further proof of his manipulation and evilness. Although in many ways things become worse, hope is regained in this section. It starts with the emergence of Tariq, continues (for Laila and her children at least) with Rasheed's death, and is felt by Mariam shortly before she is executed.

Mariam takes on a somewhat new role in this section. Rather than being more or less a companion or best friend, she takes on a much more motherly role. She is the one that takes the initiative to kill Rasheed and end their fears. She is also calm and collected afterwards, thinking logically and coming up with a plan afterwards. Mariam explains what must be done with resolution, and puts Laila and her children before herself. When Laila begs her to reconsider, Mariam does not waiver despite her fears. She holds the family together, and becomes Laila's support system. Rather than sharing responsibilities with regards to the decision making, Mariam steps up and asserts her place as the eldest and as the head of the household. That said, she is fearful of death. She does not welcome it, although she accepts responsibility and accepts her punishment. She does not feel sorry for herself, although feels regret that she will not be able to see Aziza and Zalmai grow up and help them along their journey. Mariam feels the worst about depriving Zalmai of his father, whom he obviously loved dearly and looked up to a great deal. She knows how difficult it is to grow up without a father or one of your parents, and can relate to the pain that he will feel. After her decision to take the fall for the murder of Rasheed, she reflects heavily on her past. She regrets the way she acted towards her father when he had come by shortly before his death. She has learned to forgive, and regrets that she could not earlier. She changes immensely throughout her life, and is a completely different person at her death than she was at the beginning of the novel. Throughout her entire life she has been essentially held prisoner in one way or another, and it is in death that she is finally able to find freedom. As she points out, killing Rasheed is the first decision about her life that she has actually ever been able to make. She continues to exercise this freedom until the moment she is shot in the stadium.

Laila, who has been the strong one who never seems to let anything get to her, becomes the childlike figure in need of guidance. Although she continues to be stubborn and to not relent to staying in the house and abandoning Aziza despite all the beatings she goes through to reach her, after Rasheed's death, she seems lost. Not because she does not know how to live or go on without him, but because she knows that everything cannot be fixed. Laila is devastated at the thought of not having Mariam in her life anymore, and does not want to accept Mariam's decision to play the martyr. She feels terrible about the loss of Mariam, and also about the loss of the father figure in Zalmai's life. Like Mariam, she feels guilty for depriving him of his father and the happiness associated with their father-son relationship. She finds herself in a situation so foreign and confusing to her, that she does not know what to do. Tariq's emergence brings a new light to her life, although it is painful at the same time. She does not know how to react, although it is clear that she still loves him. Laila is torn between her responsibilities as a wife and good Muslim woman, and her feelings for Tariq. In the end, she is forced to say goodbye to Mariam and start a new life.

A Thousand Splendid Suns (pg. 257-301)

Notes:

* The day of their escape arrives, and they leave in a taxi. In order to get train tickets, the women must find a man to pose as a family member because women legally cannot travel alone. Once in Pakistan they have to find a way across the border, which has been closed to Afghanis due to the vast numbers of refugees fleeing the country. A visa is required, and the women don't have one.

• In April of 1992 the Mujahideen took over, and with the change in power came a tightening over the rights of women. Much of the freedom they had under Soviet rule was revoked (laws based on the Shari'a). ex. women required to cover, cannot travel without a male relative, adultery punishable by stoning
• The man that they chose to help them betrays them, and they are taken to the police station where they are questioned. Laila begs for him to let them go, but the officer refuses and says it is his duty to maintain order and abide by the law. (It is illegal for a woman to run away from her husband, and is punishable by imprisonment)
• The women are taken home by the police.

* Rasheed is furious when the women are returned. He punches Laila in the abdomen, drags her to the room by her hair, kicks her, and locks her in the room. He proceeds to severely beat Mariam as well. After her beating, he takes Mariam to the tool shed and locks her in. After which, he proceeds to board up the window of the room Laila is in.

• Splits the two women up and isolates them in a dark room. Deprives them (including the baby) of food and water. --> examples of Rasheed's extreme cruelty.
• "The dark was total, impenetrable and constant, without layer or texture. Rasheed had filled the cracks between boards with something, put a large and immovable object at the foot of the door so no light came from under it." (269)
• "They would die here, of that Laila was sure now, but what she really dreaded was that she would outlast Aziza, who was young and brittle. [...] Aziza would die in this heat, and Laila would have to lie beside her stiffening little body and wait for her own death." (271)
• Even when close to death, and in one of the worst situations possible, Laila thinks of her child before herself.
• Rasheed: "You try this again and I will find you. I swear on the Prophet's name that I will find you. And, when I do, there isn't a court in this godforsaken country that will hold me accountable for what I do. To Mariam first, then to her, and you last. I'll make you watch." (272)

* Note: it is now September 1996

* Celebration of the victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

• "At least the Taliban are pure and incorruptible. At least they're decent Muslim boys. Walla, when they come, they will clean up this place. They'll bring peace and order. People won't get shot anymore going out for milk. No more rockets! Think of it!" (274)
• With the emergence of every new rebel group and opposition, comes new hope for the country. With the changing of every source of power, comes a new feeling of disillusionment.

New laws enforced by Taliban (277): women will stay inside their homes at all times, a female must be accompanied by a male if she goes outside, women cannot show their faces, women will always wear a burqa outside, makeup is forbidden, jewelry is forbidden, women will not speak unless spoken to first, women cannot laugh in public, girls cannot attend school, women cannot work, adulterers (women) will be stoned to death

• Even more oppressive than the previous regime. Women basically have no rights under the Taliban. Those you have jobs, and seats in the government, are confined to the house and stripped of their lives.
• "Mariam heard the answer in his laugh: that in the eyes of the Taliban, being a communist and the leader of the dreaded KHAD made Najibullah only slightly more contemptible than a woman." (279)

* The punishments for breaking the new laws took place on Fridays at the Ghazi stadium for people to watch. (executions, removal of hands and feet, etc.)

* Laila becomes pregnant again, although she feels much different about it this time.

• "What a terrible thing it was, Laila thought now, for a mother to fear that she could not summon love for her own child. What an unnatural thing. And yet she had to wonder, as she lay on the floor, her sweaty hands poised to guide the spoke, if indeed she could ever love Rasheed's child as she had Tariq's." (283)
• Her hatred is so strong for Rasheed, that she almost aborts the baby. However, in the end she does not do it because she cannot bring herself to end the life of an innocent.

* Note: it is now September 1997

* Women and men can no longer go the same hospitals, and the one set aside for women is very poorly accommodated and not sanitary at all. It is literally a fight to be seen as well. Women claw their way to the front in order to be seen. (287)

* "Mariam saw now the sacrifices a mother made. Decency was but one. She thought ruefully of Nana, of the sacrifices that she too had made. Nana, who could have given her away, or tossed her in a ditch somewhere and run. But she hadn't. Instead, Nana had endured the shame of bearing a harami..." (287)

• Having Laila and Aziza in her life has changed Mariam's outlook on the past. She understands what it feels like to be a mother, after all she is in many ways a mother figure for both Aziza and Laila. She also is more understanding and appreciative of her own mother and the sacrifices she had made for Mariam.

* Laila is told that she needs to have a caesarian, and that due to restrictions put in place by the Taliban, it would have to be done with anesthetic.

• Taliban have given all the money and drugs to male hospitals, and women are left with nothing.

* Note: It is now Fall 1999

* Laila had given birth to a little boy, who Rasheed named Zalmai. Her fears about not being able to love a child of Rasheed were unfounded, and she loves the child very much. Nobody dotes on the child as much as Rasheed does though.

• Rasheed treats Zalmai extremely differently than Aziza, and buys him too much stuff despite the lack of sufficient funds. Dichotomy between how men and women are treated, even at the age of infancy.

* Aziza is now six, and has become a "calm, pensive little girl" (297). Her hair is the same blond as her mother's. She has also taken on a matronly role and does many of the things required to take care of Zalmai.

* Rasheed informs Laila that Aziza will have to start begging on the streets in order to bring in more income (even though he has just bought a TV for the two year old Zalmai). Laila refuses, but Rasheed does not give any heed to her objections.

• Laila proceeds to punch Rasheed (for the first time) --> she is still strong willed and relatively "untamed" despite all of the oppression she has endured. She will also do anything for the sake of her child, and will not allow either to be hurt or put in the way of danger. Sometimes, this being an example of such an occasion, Laila acts without thinking.
• Rasheed proceeds to go get his gun, slam her against the wall, and place the barrel of the gun in her mouth.

Overview/Observations:

Much time passes during this section. The Taliban have come into power, restricting women's rights to the point that they really no longer have any. Although this change is troublesome to Laila and Mariam, it does not have a large effect on them since Rasheed had already basically implemented the same rules in his house long ago. Mariam and Laila's failed escape attempt did not help their position or freedom in the home either.

The only female character that goes through much development in this section is Aziza, and little is said about it. She seems to have taken on a matronly role quite naturally. Nothing is said about how she thinks of Rasheed, but she seems to avoid him as much as he avoids her. There is very little interaction between the two. However, the bond between her and Maraim has grown, and Mariam has very much become a mother figure for her as well. In a way, Mariam is also a mother figure, as well as a companion, to Laila too. The experience that they go through after their escape attempt only serves to strengthen their bond.

Laila continues to be the strong and courageous woman she has always been. She does not hesitate to have the caesarian without anesthetic. As always, she continues to put the well-being of her children above her own. The only time that she seems to lose control is when they are threatened in some way or another. This would explain why she punches Rasheed in the first place. Although she will not stand up for herself, she will do what she feels is necessary to protect Aziza and Zalmai.

Again, the women, despite their unorthodox ways, continue to be portrayed in a positive way, while Rasheed and the oppressive male figures are portrayed negatively. The way in which they are treated makes the reader feel pity and remorse for the women, and in turn hate Rasheed and the Taliban. Times are hard, especially for women, but Mariam and Laila endure.

A Thousand Splendid Suns (pg.199-256)

Characters:

1. Abdul Sharif: thin, small headed man, bulbous nose (204), brown hair, pock marks, owns men's clothing stores, had blood poisoning, speaks well of his wife, Tariq's bed-neighbor in the hospital

Vocab:

1. Dehati (222): a village girl (negative connotation implying that Mariam is stupid and savage because she grew up in the country rather than in the city)

Notes:

* Mariam and Rasheed take care of Laila. Rasheed pays for pink pills from the hospital that are supposed to help her get better and Mariam nurses her back to health. Laila mostly sleeps (although agitated sleep) for the first few weeks. Rasheed had found her in the rubble and dug her out. He had also "saved" some of her father's books.

* Laila suffers from periods of withdrawal and collapsing. Although she is physically recovering, she obviously still suffers from severe psychological damage and from hearing damage in her left ear.

• "But then some memory would rise, unbidden, and there would be stony silences or spells of churliness. Withdrawals and collapses. Wan looks. Nightmares and sudden attacks of grief. Retching." (202)
• Laila: "I shouldn't even be here. My father wanted to take out the boxes. The books. He said they were too heavy for me. But I wouldn't let him. I was so eager. I should have been the one inside the house when it happened." (202)
• feelings of guilt and regret, like she was to blame for her father's death and could have prevented it.
• Mariam and Laila have the feeling of guilt over the loss of their parents in common. Both feel responsibility for what happened and their deaths. Mariam can relate to her feeling of pain and guilt in a way.

* A man, Abdul Sharif, comes to visit Laila and tells her that he had been admitted to a hospital and had met Tariq there. He tells her that Tariq had been in an ambush three weeks before he had met him, and was one of the only 3 survivors.

• Tariq had been burned badly, had his other leg amputated and had many other internal injuries. Very serious.
• Abdul tells Laila that they spoke a lot, and Tariq spoke mostly of her. Made Abdul promise to find Laila when he went to Kabul and to tell her that he loves her and misses her.
• Abdul informs her that Tariq ended up dying in the hospital.
• "Laila wasn't listening anymore. She was remembering the day the man from Panjshir had come to deliver the news of Ahmad's and Noor's deaths. She remembered Babi, white-faced, slumping on the couch, and Mammy, her hand flying to her mouth when she heard. Laila had watched Mammy come undone that day and it had scared her, but she hadn't felt any true sorrow. [...] Was this her penalty, then, her punishment for being aloof to her own mother's suffering?" (210)
• Laila again blames this suffering on herself and feels as if she is being punished for her past actions. Unlike her mother, she does not wail or cry, but recedes deep into her mind and finds a place of safety and happiness. She suppresses her emotions and thoughts about has happened.

* Mariam feels a kind of jealousy towards Laila because Rasheed treats her much better and goes out of his way to come off as a gentleman for her.

• He acts interested in her opinion and thoughts, while he tells Mariam to shut up.
• "It wasn't so much what he said, the blatant lies, the contrived empathy, or even the fact that he had not raised a hand to her, Mariam, since he had dug the girl out from under those bricks. It was the staged delivery. Like a performance. An attempt on his part, both sly and pathetic, to impress. To charm. And suddenly Mariam knew her suspicions were right [...] what she was witnessing was nothing less than a courtship." (213)
• The reason for the special treatment is that he is interested in Laila, and trying to take advantage of her situation in order to incorporate her into his household. He was nice to Mariam at first as well. Mariam is smart enough to realize this (perceptive).

* Mariam is very upset about Rasheed wanting to take Laila as a second wife

• Mariam: "Eighteen years, and I never asked you for a thing. Not one thing. I'm asking now. [...] I am too old. Too old for you to do this to me. For you, after all these years, to make me an ambagh." (215)
• He makes her feel guilty by talking about all of the horrible things that would happen to Laila if she were to just leave, implying that it would be Mariam's fault if such things did happen. He completely disregards her wishes, and basically tells her that he will take her as second wife whether Mariam likes it or not.
• Rasheed: "I knew you wouldn't take this well. I don't really blame you. But this is for the best. You'll see. Think of it this way, Mariam. I am giving you help around the house and her a sanctuary. A home and a husband. [...] In fact, this is...Well, I'd say this is downright charitable of me. The way I see it, I deserve a medal." (216)
• Rasheed is narcissitic and manipulative.

* Laila accepts Rasheed's "proposal," and the following day her brings her a ring that he bought with money that he received from trading in Mariam's wedding ring. (disrespectful)

• One of the main reasons for her acceptance is that she realizes she is pregnant with Tariq's child. --> If she accepts the proposal, Rasheed will be seen as the father and there will be less shame and less difficulties for her and her future child.
• She has no feelings for him, and is actually disgusted by Rasheed.
• Laila is resourceful and does what she feels is the best option for her and her child. Willing to put her child's happiness and well being before her own. There is now no reason for her to leave either now everyone she was ever close to has died.
• "She knew what she was doing was dishonorable. Dishonorable, disingenuous, and shameful. And spectacularly unfair to Mariam. But even though the baby inside her was no bigger than a mulberry, Laila already saw the sacrifices a mother had to make. Virtue was only the first." (219)
• She is only 14 --> very difficult decision for any woman to make, much less someone that age. She is courageous and strong willed.
• She goes so far as to cut herself after consummating the marriage in order to maintain the authenticity of her virginity. (intelligent an thorough)

* Mariam and Laila kind of avoid one another. There is an awkward tension between the two.

* Rasheed disrespects and belittles Mariam while putting Laila on a platform. He calls her a harami as well and pushes where he know it hurts her the most. Does not help the tension between the two women, and makes Mariam even angrier.

• Also tells Laila to ask Mariam if she needs anything, and insures her that Mariam will do it. --> Essentially makes Mariam into more of a slave/maid. Most definitely does not treat them equally as wives.
• Tells Laila that because he values her so much, and she is so beautiful, he does not want her to leave the house without him. If absolutely needs anything, Laila is to send Mariam to get it. --> Treats her better in a way, but is also more controlling of her. Doesn't just restrict her to a burqa when she leaves the home with him, but restricts her to the house unless he is with her (like a prison).
• Rasheed puts Mariam in control of watching over Laila when he is not around, and makes it clear that she is to tell him if she does anything that he deems "bad."

* Confrontation occurs between the women over what Rasheed said about Mariam doing the bidding of Laila.

• Mariam: "I won't be your servant. I won't. You may be the palace malika and me a dehati, but I won't take orders from you. You can complain to him and he can slit my throat, but I won't do it. Do you hear me? I won't be your servant." (225)
• Mariam: "I have no use for your company. I don't want it. What I want is to be alone. You will leave me be, and I will return the favor. That's how we will get on. Those are the rules." (226)
• Despite the way Rasheed has treated her, Mariam still has self respect and is strong willed and somewhat hard headed. Although she cannot really stand up to Rasheed and enforce her will, she can stand up to another woman (an equal according to society). There is a jealous there, and she feels spiteful towards Laila. Her hate is apparent.
• Laila makes it obvious that she does not expect Mariam to be her servant, and that she feels bad about everything. She also thanks Mariam for taking care of her when she was hurt. She is noticeably hurt by what Mariam says to her, but obeys her orders.

* Laila feels very lonely and reminisces a lot about her past and happy times. The hostility that Mariam shows bothers her as well. She is unhappy, but pushes through.

• Like Mariam used to, Laila finds he burqa and the privacy it provides comforting in a way. However, it is not because she feels threatened by men and their stares. It is because she feels like she can hide the shame she feels for being in the situation she is in (her life) behind the burqa. If she sees anyone she used to know, she doesn't have to worry about them seeing her and the way in which a girl with such potential has become such a failure. (232)
• Mariam felt the burqa was a way to hide her shame from the world as well. They have more in common than Mariam would like to admit.

* Laila and Mariam have their 1st actual fight --> "Laila was still shocked at how easily she's come unhinged, but, the truth was, part of her had liked it, had liked how it felt to scream at Mariam, to curse her, to have a target at which to focus all her simmering anger, her grief. Laila wondered, with something like insight, if it wasn't the same for Mariam." (234)

• They are both miserable, and neither have outlets for their misery. Neither have a comrade to talk to about their troubles or ways in which to escape them (either momentarily or totally).

* Laila's baby (the father of which is really Tariq, although Rasheed is the supposed father) is born and it is a girl. Rasheed is, again, very angry that it is not a boy.

• He refuses to call the child by her name (Aziza), and calls it either "the baby" or "that thing". Rasheed complains about the child all of the time, and he and Laila argue a lot. He appeals to Mariam and ask for her help, which she does not give.

* Mariam's feelings for Laila begin to change

• "The strange thing was, that the girl's fall from grace ought to have pleased Mariam, brought her a sense of vindication. But it didn't. It didn't. To her surprise, Mariam found herself pitying the girl." (239)
• She can relate to the girl, and understands how it feels. Again, they have quite a bit in common.

* When Laila refuses to have sex with Rasheed, he goes after Mariam with his belt.

• "Over the years, Mariam had learned to harden herself against his scorn and reproach, his ridiculing and reprimanding. But this fear she had no control over. All these years and still she shivered with fright when he was like this, sneering, tightening the belt around his fist, the creaking of leather, the glint in his bloodshot eyes. It was the fear of the goat, released in the tiger's cage, when the tiger first looks up from its paws, begins to growl." (240)
• Laila grabs Rasheed to try to stop him when he goes to hit Mariam. She defends Mariam...for the first time. It marks a change in their relationship (Mariam and Laila)

* Laila's love for Aziza is what allows her to go on in life. She loves her daughter more than anything, and the fact that she is in part the product of Tariq (her true love) makes her love even stronger. She is very matronly, and takes very good care of the infant.

* Laila had been stealing a single bill from Rasheed's wallet once every week since Aziza was born. She is planning on running away in the spring, and is trying to save a thousand or more afghanis before she leaves. (247)

• She is strong willed, determined and courageous. She will not sit there idly and allow herself to be treated the way that Rasheed treats her, so she does something about it. Something that Mariam never did, probably due to the fear that she had for him and the outside world.

* Mariam gives Laila the baby cloths originally intended for her baby before she died (1st real act of kindness on Mariam's part)

• Shows the beginning of a developing bond between the two women.
• The gift spurs a conversation between the two --> Mariam basically thanks Laila for standing up for her when Rasheed came to beat her, and Laila compliments Mariam and subtly offers her friendship and a kind of truce (249) --> IMPORTANT EVENT < --
• "And for the first time, it was not and adversary's face Laila saw but a face of grievance unspoken, burdens gone unprotested, a destiny submitted to and endured." (249)
• "A look passed between them. And unguarded, knowing look. And in this fleeting, wordless exchange with Mariam, Laila knew that they were not enemies any longer." (250)
• From then on they do their chores together and are friends

* Mariam kind of becomes a joint mother/aunt to Aziza.

• "Mariam had never before been wanted like this. Love had never been declared to her so guilelessly, so unreservedly. Aziza made Mariam want to weep." (252)
• Her and Laila have opened a part in Mariam's heart that has been closed for so long, she didn't realize it was there. She becomes much happier with the companionship and the presence of the child in the house.
• "Her heart took flight. And she marveled at how, after all these years of rattling loose, she had found in this little creature the first true connection in her life of false, failed connections." (252)

* Dostum switched allegiance in Jan of 1994, and the fighting and danger increased substantially. Fear ruled the streets, and rape became common. Women were said to kill themlves out of fear of getting raped, and men killed wives who had been raped in the name of honor. (253)

• Rasheed barircades the house, and it becomes even more of a prison then before.

* Mariam tells Laila her life story, and in turn Laila tells her the truth about Aziza's father (Tariq) and her plan to escape from the grasp of Rasheed.

• "She had passed these years in a distant corner of her mind. A dry, barren field, out beyond wish and lament, beyond dream and disillusionment. There, the future did not matter. And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion. And whenever those twin poisonous flowers began to sprout in the parched land of that field, Mariam uprooted them. She uprooted them and ditched them before they took hold. But somehow, over these last months, Laila and Aziza--a harami like herself, as it turned out--had become extensions of her, and now, without them, the life that Mariam had tolerated for so long suddenly seemed intolerable." (256)
• Before, she basically shut her mind of to the world around her and resigned herself to simply going through the motions until death eventually came. Mariam has been awakened to life and happiness, and is no longer content living such a dismal life. For the first time in a long time, she feels hope.

Observations/Overview:

A lot happens in the house of Rasheed in this section, and the atmosphere of the house transforms significantly. It becomes more obvious how little consideration Rasheed has for Mariam and their relationship when he basically tells her that he is taking Laila on as a second wife. He completely disregards her feelings regarding the matter, which is not surprising considering that is what he does in pretty much every other situation as well. The incorporation of Laila into the family is problematic in a number of ways for Mariam. For one, it is shameful. Not necessarily according to society, but it implies that she is not good enough for her husband, and therefore he needs someone else who is better. Any woman, or person for that matter, would feel unappreciated and insignificant in such a situation. This becomes exaggerated by the dichotomy between how Rasheed treats Laila and how he treats Mariam. He continuously puts Mariam down and insults her while treating Laila like a queen. Mariam is basically ordered to act as Laila's servant. Fortunately Laila is not the type of person who would take advantage of Rasheed's offer. Mariam is obviously very angry about the incorporation of the young girl into the family, but she feels she cannot do anything about it. As such, she essentially tries to avoid Laila and exert what little power she has in the house. Mariam does this by setting rules regarding what she will do and what Laila will do around the house. In the beginning of the section, Mariam becomes more and more bitter and angrier. She is very mean to Laila, even though she really had no control over her fate either. For the first time, she has an outlet for her anger and she takes advantage of it by berating Laila and being hurtful. Laila takes it quite well, although she most definitely feels lonely, hurt and depressed in the environment of the house. She feels bad for Mariam and for imposing on her life by accepting Rasheed's hand in marriage. However, she was looking out for the life of her child when she made the decision, and it is the most important thing in her life. Laila has literally lost every person that she has ever loved, so she really has no other reason to leave either. Rasheed has provided her with an opportunity to live in a home and to escape the streets. So, her decision is in many ways the best for herself as well, or it can at least be seen that way. Before her child is born, Laila is very unhappy and feels shame in the situation that she has landed in. Her father told her that she could be anything and that she has all the potential in the world, and she has become the second wife of an old and abusive man. Although Mariam is imprisoned in the house, Laila is held under an even stronger form of oppression due to her beauty and youth. The is made worse by the fact that before the death of her parents she was essentially free to do what she wanted, and Rasheed restricts her to the house and a burqa when she is with him. Laila is still young, and she has a strong soul that has not yet been beat down by Rasheed. She tries to look at the positive rather than the negative. She is an intelligent, resourceful, strong and hard headed young woman. After the birth of Aziza, Laila is transformed. She becomes much happier and focuses the majority of her attention on her child. She worries a lot and takes extra caution to ensure that nothing happens to her baby, her only connection to the past and Tariq. Despite Rasheed's distaste for the female child, Laila is happy. She stands up to Rasheed, something that Mariam really could never do, and makes sure that she gets everything she feels she needs for her child. The addition of the child does not bring happiness to Mariams life at first. In fact, it only serves t make her more envious of Laila.

The atmosphere in the house goes through huge change once again after Laila attempts to defend Mariam from Rasheed's violent advances. Never before has Mariam had another person attempt to stand up for her, and it touches her. This is the begining of a new relationship between Mariam and Laila. As a token of appreciation, Mariam presents Laila with the female baby clothes that she had sewed for her own child before its death. The two women quickly become close and join forces in the house. They laugh and work together. Aziza quickly becomes incorporated into Mariam's life, and the addition of the two opens Mariam to new emotions. For the first time in a long time, she remembers how it feels to love and be loved in return. Her heart opens, and the bitterness that she once felt towards Laila is replaced by a feeling of companionship. They use each other to get through the hardships that they must face in Rasheed's home and under his rule. Mariam gains strength and resolve with the help of Laila. It also becomes very clear just how little confidence she Mariam has. At one point, she says to Aziza, "Why have you pinned your little heart to an old, ugly hag like me? Huh? I am nobody, don't you see? A dehati. What have I got to give you (252)." Never before has Mariam been in an environment that has allowed her to develop self confidence. Her mother tore her down as a child, she was unwanted and sent away by her father, and Rasheed continued to devalue her throughout their marriage. This could in part explain her lack of resolve when it comes to sticking up for herself in the past. Laila, however, grew up in an environment that encouraged her to develop her mind and her father consistently reminded her of her value as a person and member of the female sex.

Despite the difference in their upbringings, Laila and Mariam have a lot in common. Both are brought to Rasheed in terrible circumstances after the death of their family. Both women feel guilt and blame themselves for the death of the members of their family. Both feel shame about the situation that they have landed in, and both find comfort in the burqa's ability to hide them from the outside world and others. Neither Mariam nor Laila have any sort of feelings for Rasheed, and both are extremely unhappy under his rule. Both tend to search within themselves to find a form of happiness or a safe place removed from the reality in which they live. Although Mariam has essentially given up hope of finding happiness, she used to be much more positive. Mariam was much more like Laila at her age (14), but circumstances have hardened her and stolen her hope. Because of these similarities, they are able to relate to one another and understand one another better than many women would be able to. The culminating point in the development of their newly founded relationship occurs when Mariam tells Laila her life story (something she has never done with anyone before), and in return Laila tells Mariam about her intentions to leave Rasheed and Kabul and the secret regarding the origins of Aziza.

A Thousand Splendid Suns (pg.153-199)

Notes:

* Note: It is now January 1989 (3 months before Laila's 11th birthday)

• The last of the Soviet soldiers are exiting Afghanistan (however, Najibullah is known for his allegiance to the Soviets, so they will continue to exert some power at least through him)

* Laila is beginning to have feelings beyond those of friendship for Tariq. During a kissing scene in a movie, both seem to feel a somewhat uncomfortable attraction to one another. They are approaching their teens, and are just beginning to see members of the opposite sex in another light. (157)

* Note: 3 more years pass (April 1992)

* Tariq's father has suffered a series of strokes, which have resulted in reduced mobility of his left hand and a slight slur.

* Laila's friend Hasina was married away to her cousin in a different town. He proceeded to arrange plans to move to Germany right away.

* Collapse of the Soviet Union and formation of the Republic of Russia. Najibullah attempts to cut ties with Soviets as well and appear a devout Muslim, but he had already lost the respect and trust of his country.

• April 1992 Najibullah surrenders power and flees to the UN. The Mujahideen regain control over Afghanistan.

* With the collapse of the Soviets and Najibullah's surrender, Fariba became alive again. She shed her black clothing for the first time since the death of her sons and did the household chores. She plans to throw a party immediately.

• For the first time it seems, she notices and takes interest in her daughter as well. Fariba comments on the fact that Laila is now plucking her eyebrows and even asks about Tariq. Before such a thing never would have happened.
• Warns Laila that she is getting older, and as such people may start talking about her and Tariq in a negative way. Fariba: "He's a boy, you see, and, as such, what does he care about reputation? But you? The reputation of a girl, especially one as pretty as you, is a delicate thing, Laila." (162)
• Double standard: A male can do whatever and his reputation essentially remains intact. However, a woman must be very careful or she will be stuck with a bad reputation, and will therefore be undesirable.
• It bothers Laila that Mammy says something after not paying any attention to her for years. She feels as if her mother has no right to interfere in her life.

* Laila has noticed the difference in how people in public react when they see her and Tariq in public now.

• "For some time now, Laila had begun to sense a new strangeness when the two of them were out in public. An awareness of being looked at, scrutinized, whispered about, that Laila had never felt before. [...] Mommy had a point. More than she knew, in fact. Laila suspected that some, if not most, of the neighbors were already gossiping about her and Tariq." (163)

* Laila's feelings have continued to grow for Tariq, and hormones have begun to kick in. Their friendship now has another element, although they have not done anything sexual and have not admitted it to one another.

• "She had fallen for Tariq. Hopelessly and desperately. When he was near, she couldn't help but be consumed with the most scandalous thoughts, of his lean, bare body entangled with hers. [...] When she thought of him this way, she was overtaken with guilt, but also with a peculiar, warm sensation that spread upward from her belly until it felt as if her face were glowing pink." (163)
• However, she is not open about it and makes an effort to hide her feelings for him in front of friends and family. Women should not chase men or be openly enamored with them. It is part of the modesty expected of Muslim women.

* Laila's friend Giti has fallen for a boy as well. They have met twice (secretly of course because it would be considered inappropriate if people knew), and he is supposed to ask for her hand. She is 16, and ready to get married. When Laila asks her about school, she is obviously unconcerned about it.

* At the party, the women are all in the kitchen preparing the food and the men are outside in the yard discussing politics and playing games. Men are not allowed in the house during preparations, and it becomes apparent that Tariq is now considered a man because the women shoe him out when he comes to pick at the food. Children are inside with the women.

• "He stood almost a foot taller than Laila now. He shaved. His face was leaner, more angular. His shoulders had broadened." (167) --> They are growing up
• Men take their share of food first, and then women and children are allowed to take what they want. They eat separately.

* Political unrest again takes a firm grasp on the country as the Mujahideen's find enemies amongst themselves and let bullets fly. Kabul essentially becomes a war zone. (Fariba shuts herself in her room once more).

• Bombing of the city begins. The only reprise is during the 5 daily prayers, when the men would lower their weapons and tend to their duty as Muslims. Massoud's soldiers line the streets in their tanks and with their loaded guns. Innocent civilians are used for target practice and to take revenge against other peoples (Pashtuns vs Hazaras).
• Fear overcomes the city, including Laila. Fear of their own death, of that of their loved ones. Fear of the unknowing future. People stay in their house unless it is essential to leave.
• Women are raped, tortured and slaughtered in their homes.
• Laila forced to drop out of school due to the danger in the streets. However, Babi begins to home school her and attend to her studies.

* Tariq and Laila kiss (their 1st outward display of their real feelings for one another).

* Fariba refuses to leave her home country despite the extreme violence and Babi's pleas.

* Laila's friend Giti and two other girls are hit by a rocket while walking down the street and are killed.

* Tariq tells Laila that his family has decided to leave Afghanistan (the day before they go), and that he is leaving as well. She is devestated.

• Everyone is leaving, and the neighborhood homes are now filled with militia and other families that have taken over the abandoned houses.
• They have sex for the first, and only, time after he tells her. In the heat of the moment after she is screaming at him for going.
• She is no longer a virgin, and therefore not considered suitable for marriage (especially to anyone of high status).
• He asks her to come with him, and tells her that he wants to marry her, but she cannot leave her father. Her obligation and love for Babi is too strong, and she cannot leave him alone despite her love for Tariq (not selfish, cares more about her father's happiness and well being than her own).

* Laila feels conflicted about having had sex with Tariq

• "Inside Laila too a battle was being waged: guilt on one side, partnered with shame, and, on the other, the conviction that what she and Tariq had done was not sinful; that it had been natural, good, beautiful, even inevitable, spurred by knowledge that they might never see each other again." (187)
• She should not have done it, according to her religion and society, yet she loves him and it felt right.

* Laila's mother finally conceded to leave Afghanistan, and they decided to go to Pakistan first. Laila hopes to find Tariq, since that is where his family went.

• It took Laila almost getting struck in the head by a bullet in her own yard to convince Fariba.

* The day that they are moving everything out of the house, it is hit by a rocket/missile and both of Laila's parents are killed. She is the only survivor. Laila falls in and out of consciousness in the hospital, and doesn't really know what has happened yet.

Observations/Overview:

Afghanistan goes from war with the Soviets to a civil war. Times are unstable, and Kabul has become a central war zone. What looked so promising turns into a nightmare. Everyone is a victim of the situation, including Laila and her family. If she was not fully forced into adulthood by having to take over the domestic responsibilities of the house, she has been now. Not only does she have to deal with the loss of her close friend, the man she loves leaves and both of her parents are killed. Although the way she handles her parent's deaths hasn't been revealed yet, it cannot be well. She is left essentially alone in the world.

Laila's character is becoming more developed as the story goes on. She is growing up, and is going through many of the things that all young adults and teenagers go through. She feels interest along with confusion about love and sex. Laila ends up having sex outside of marriage, which would be considered a huge sin by the Islamic religion. This shows that she is somewhat unorthodox, although she does feel guilt afterwards. She is a strong and caring woman. This can be seen in her refusal to leave her father behind when Tariq asks her to go with him. Even though he offers her everything she has ever dreamed of, she puts her father's well being and happiness above her own. This could be seen as characteristic of traditional values as well, however, because women hold a responsibility to their fathers and the men in their lives. They are expected to put the male before themselves. However, it is obvious that the bond between Laila and Babi goes way beyond obligation. Along with growing up, Laila becomes exposed to social values and how she is expected to act and behave. She does continue to see Tariq, but it becomes more and more private. They can no longer walk around freely in public because it is seen as immoral. She has to face gossip and rumors regarding their relationship. Laila has also become one of the neighborhood women, and as such is expected to help out with the cooking and to separate herself from the men. She is expected to act with modesty and to subdue her sexual desires and thoughts. Laila takes this role on well is some respects, and poorly in others. She should not be kissing Tariq, and if they want to continue to have a relationship they should get married according to tradition. She has absolutely learned the skills that she will need to make a suitable wife. The loss of her virginity poses a big problem when it comes to marriage. Most men will not take a woman that is not a virgin. She is seen as dirtied, shamed, and unsuitable for marriage.

Fariba is an interesting character. For a short time she sheds her shell of depression and takes on her role as the woman of the house. Her demeanor changes completely, and it is as if she is a completely different person. Fariba is obviously very prone to depression, and her mood can change quickly and drastically. At times, it seems as if she could have bi-polar disorder due to her extreme bouts of depression and then occasional periods of euphoria. While she is happy she is the loving wife and mother, and while she is sad she is more or less dead to the world. Either way, she does not play the role of a traditional Muslim woman. Although women are often considered to be prone to emotion, they also are expected to continue to take care of the home no matter what the circumstances. They are supposed to take care of their husbands, which she obviously does not do. She is however, aware of the social expectations of women, and shows concern for her daughter's reputation (for the first time in the novel).

A Thousand Splendid Suns (pg.107-153)

Characters:

1. Laila: 9 years old (now 1987), blond hair, turquoise green eyes, dimpled cheeks, high cheek bones (108), very beautiful/pretty, lives in Kabul
2. Tariq: Laila's best friend, has a prosthetic leg (stepped on a land mine when he was 5), lives in Kabul
3. Hakim ("Babi"): Laila's father, small man, slim, delicate, submissive, always reading/studying, well informed/educated and intelligent, very close with Laila, caring, university educated, works in a bread factory
4. Fariba: Hakim's wife and Laila's mother, somewhat "masculine" in that she runs the house, angry a lot, not motherly in the traditional sense, proposed to Hakim (not the other way around), depressed (often lays in bed w/the lights off all day and neglects her duties)
5. Khadim: 11 years old, tall/thick/has under bite, father is a butcher, bully

Vocab:

1. harami (110): bastard
2. Inqilabi Girl (112): Revolutionary Girl (Shanzai's nickname for Laila because she was born on the night of the coup in 1978)
3. Inquilab (112): revolution
4. Jihad (112): war
5. Aroos (128): daughter-in-law (what Tariq's family calls Laila, even though techninally they are still just friends)
6. Namaz (142): 5 daily prayers that Muslims are supposed to do according to Islamic tradition
/beliefs
7. Shaheed (142): martyrs


Notes:

*Laila's parents fight a lot, and he mother is the aggressive and dominating one, while her father is the sheepish submissive type (opposite of traditional Muslim roles)

• "But if Laila needed the lid of a candy jar forced open, she had to go to Mammy, which felt like betrayal." (109)
• Reversed gender roles that even a 9 year old girl notices (women should be the dainty ones that need help, not the head of the household) He cannot fix things like men should be able to do.

* Hakim and his family live across the street from Rasheed and Mariam

* Hakim and Fariba have two sons, Ahmad and Noor, who have gone to war (Fariba blames Hakim for allowing them to go and for allowing them to put themselves in such danger)

* Laila has a female teacher in school that is very non-traditional named Shanzai

• "On the first day of school, she had proudly told the class that she was the daughter of a poor peasant from Khost. [...] She did not cover and forbade the female students from doing it. She said women and men were equal in every way and there was no reason women should cover if men didn't." (111)
• Such talk could almost be considered heretical, and is most definitely very unorthodox. Traditionally, Islamic women were, and in many places still are, expected to cover, and to not do so was seen as disrespectful and immodest. She would have most definitely be seen as very radical and most likely would have angered many parents, especially males. Women are supposed to be submissive and do as they are told, not do whatever they please, especially when it comes to breaking tradition
• She is also very supportive of the Soviets --> She is a revolutionary and tells the children to tell on any person they know to be a rebel, even it is their parents, out of the good for the country

* The children talk, jokingly, about ways to fend of unattractive suitors on the way back from school

• Even though the talk is in good fun, the idea of a suiter is on a woman's mind from a young age, and they know full well that it is very possible that they will be given to a man much older than themselves

* Babi is insistent that Laila gets a good education --> He "had made it clear to Laila from a young age that the most important thing in his life, after her safety, was her schooling." (114)

• Babi: "I want you to understand this and learn this now. Marriage can wait, education cannot. [...] You can be anything you want, Laila. I know this about you. And I also know that when this war is over, Afghanistan is going to need you as much as its men, maybe even more. Because a society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated, Laila. No chance." (114)
• Not typical for a woman. Their formal education often takes second place to domestic education. Their role as a wife is often considered more important than their education. Even less typical for a father to push for the education of his daughter, at the same time he theoretically would have more power over her actual continuation of education than the mother.
• Babi holds a unique and somewhat revolutionary idea about women and what they are able to achieve. In a time where very few women worked outside of the house, he tells Laila she can be anything she wants to be. Not traditional at all.

* Khadim sprays Laila with urine (bully, disrespectful) --> her blonde hair sets her apart and leads to further bullying than she would otherwise have to deal with

* Whenever the women are all together, talk turns to matchmaking and setting up the different children of the neighborhood . (121)

* The war/jihad between the Soviets and the resistance is huge, bloody, and there is a lot of propaganda. The US (Reagan) is against the Soviets and helping the resistance by supplying them with missiles and shooting down the Soviet helicopters. Muslims from all over the world have joined the cause against the Soviets, and it is being said that they are close to losing the war now.

* Laila feels more at ease and at home in Tariq's home than her own. His family is welcoming, they act like a family (unlike her own), and it feels effortless and natural to her. Despite the fact that her family is Tajik and theirs is Pashtun (huge rivalry/conflict between the two groups in Afghanistan).

* Laila begins to see the dichotomy between female friends and friends of the opposite sexes. When Laila tells Tariq that she misses him, his reaction is much different than it is when she tells her girlfriends the same thing (not as acceptable).

• "In Tariq's grimace, Laila learned that boys differed from girls in this regard. They didn't make a show of friendship. They felt no urge, no need, for this sort of talk. [...] Boys, Laila came to see, treated friendship the way they treated the sun: its existence undisputed; its radiance best enjoyed, not beheld directly." (133)
• There are different expectations regarding the way in which men and women express their feelings and handle themselves. Society's expectations for the different genders.

* Tariq beats Khadim with his prosthetic leg when he finds out that Khadim had sprayed Laila with urine. (He is protective of her)

* The Soviets sponsored literacy classes for women and promoted the education of women. (One of the few things that Babi approved of when it came to the Soviets) Also promoted more freedom for Afgani women and gave them more rights. (135)

* Description of women's roles in tribal areas (135-136): women always wear burqas and rarely go out, forced marriage, women can be married off at very young ages, very little education for women, very traditional

* A man comes to Laila's house and informs the family that their sons had been killed in action. Mammy (Fariba), blames her husband for their deaths.

* Women of the neighborhood take on the role of consoling the family when a member dies (it is their duty, and they take it seriously). They do the cooking and essentially take care of the family for a short period of time.

* Fariba becomes extremely depressed and eternally sick, although doctors can find nothing physically wrong with her. The only thing she didn't "neglect" in her life were her 5 daily prayers.

• Laila takes on all of the household responsibilities even though she is so young
• It is as if Fariba does not care about Laila at all, and she becomes only a receptacle for Fariba's stories about her two brothers (she feels neglected and ignored).
• Fariba: "Some days, I listen to that clock ticking in the hallway. Then I think of all the ticks, all the minutes, and the hours and days and weeks and months and years waiting for me. All of it without them. And I can't breathe then, like someone's stepping on my heart, Laila. I get so weak. So weak I just want to collapse somewhere." (143)
• "She would never leave her mark on Mammy's heart the way her brothers had, because Mammy's heart was like a pallid beach where Laila's footprints would forever wash away beneath the waves of sorrow that swelled and crashed, swelled and crashed." (144)

* Babi talks about his dream of going to America and starting over. He feels a huge amount of pain over the loss of the boys a well, and says sometimes he feels as if Laila is all he has left in the world. Unlike her mother, Babi openly expresses how much he loves her and how he wants the best for her and his family.

* Treaty signed in Geneva saying that the Soviets would remove themselves from Afghanistan within 9 months. (April 1988)

Observations/Overview:

A number of new female characters were introduced during this section, which actually told the story of a family living close to Mariam and her husband, but who has few ties with them. Laila is a young child, however, due to the circumstances in which she has grown up she is mature for her age. She has been forced to take on a role in the house that would generally not be given to such a young child. She holds a very close relationship with her father, much more so than with her mother, which is somewhat uncommon in a Muslim household. She is bright and has been told from a young age that she has the potential to do anything that she wants. Her father emphasizes the importance of her education and insists that she continues on to University. Her upbringing has in many ways been different than that of other female children. She is no required to cover despite her blonde hair and light eyes. Laila, for the most part, relies on nobody other than her best friend Tariq. She feels hurt by her mother's absence in her life. Although she is physically there, her mother has chosen to distance herself from the rest of the family and is solely concerned with her two sons. After their death, she neglects all remaining responsibility and basically barricades herself in her room.

We are presented with a couple of different portrayals of women in this section. Laila's mother, Fariba, is actually somewhat similar to Mariam's mother. Although their situations are very different, both women are extremely unhappy and rather bitter. Laila's mother does not abuse her, although Fariba does verbally abuse her husband. Both women are extremely prone to depression and overrun by their emotions. This leads Mariam's mother to take her own life. Although Laila's mother says she would not go to such an extreme, it is not because she feels a duty and love for her living family. She holds on because she wants to justify the death of her sons and to see that what they died for is carried out. Even so, her life is so deteriorated that although she continues to breathe, she really loses all touch with the world and her family.

Laila is much different than her mother. She is unhappy at times, but grateful for what she has. She is in the process of learning how the world works and what is, and is not, socially acceptable. There is little that she desires more than the attention and approval of her mother, yet it does not come. However, her father and she maintain a very close relationship. In many ways, she has the upbringing of a male child. Her best friend, who she essentially does everything with, is a male. Her father has raised her to value things more often associated with males than females as well. However, she is capable of doing domestic work in the house and almost completely replaces her mother in that respect. She is strong, yet she relies on Tariq to a degree to protect her. He has readily taken on the role as her protector despite the fact he only has one leg. Their relationship is technically a friendship, yet she is more like part of their family. She feel comfortable with his family, in fact, she feels more comfortable in his home than her own. When he leaves for a month, she feels almost lost. The connection between them is obviously very strong, and the possibility of them getting married someday seems very likely. She does have a few girlfriends, and does discuss "feminine" topics with them, such as prospective husbands. However, where her friends expect to marry young, she is more concerned with education. Her priorities are different than many of her female friends.

Laila's teacher Shanzai also plays an interesting, although small, role in the book. She most definitely has not taken on the role of the typical/traditional female Muslim. She works as a teacher, rather than in the home. She is proud of her heritage, despite the fact that she comes from a very poor background. She also promotes the education of women, but most radically claims that women and men are equal. Shanzai does not allow the female students to cover their hair in the classroom, which is interesting considering many men will not allow their daughters or wives to leave the home without at least a veil. She is not submissive at all, and is quite opinionated. Despite such strong and controversial ideas, her character is not portrayed negatively at all. In fact, she seems to be portrayed in a positive light.

I believe it is important to note that not only female characters take on unconventional roles, but Babi most definitely does as well. He is progressive and absolutely not your typical Muslim male figure. He and Rasheed differ drastically. In fact, they are essentially the polar opposites. Although Babi is portrayed to have more "feminine" characteristics, such as submissivity and docility, he is portrayed in a much better light. He is caring and understanding and defends the importance of women within a society.