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.
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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.
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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.