A Thousand Splendid Suns

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“A Thousand Splendid Suns”
Question 1
As a harami (bastard), Miriam was made to feel unwanted her entire life, and even her mother, Nana blamed her for things she did not do like the nature of her birth. While Nana recounts Miriam’s birth, she does so in a way that makes Miriam feel guilty for taking such a long time to come out, and as Hosseini observes, “it did not occur to young Miriam to ponder the unfairness of apologizing for the manner of her own birth” (9). Society had shunned Miriam, and her mother for this mistake since adultery was a sin, and people were supposed to be ashamed of it. This becomes evident in the way Miriam reacts to people’s stares and whispers the first time she goes to the communal tandoor after getting married to Rasheed. “She imagined they all knew that she’d been born a harami, a source of shame to her father and his family” behavior that Miriam thought was her due and natural for people to give (Hosseini 41). Therefore, Miriam lived knowing that although she had nothing to do with the circumstances of her birth, she was not deserving of love because she was unwanted in the community.
Question 2
When Miriam and Laila decided to work together, it was the first time that many things were happening to them. It was the first time that Miriam had done something good for Aziza, the first time Laila had defended Miriam from their husband, and the first time that each one actually saw the other as an individual.

From then on, they realized that they faced a common enemy and that they could do more together than individually.
Question 3
As the two women reconsider their positions, Hosseini states that as “drops of water dripping from her fingertips, [Miriam] raised her head and looked at Laila, looked at her as if for the first time” (157). The author uses simile to compare Miriam’s assessment to that of a focused stranger and imagery with the dripping water to emphasize that for those few moments, Miriam was not distracted by her chores. Of Miriam’s and Laila’s new partnership, Miriam thinks, “two new flowers had unexpectedly sprouted in her life,” and Hosseini uses the metaphor of flowers to refer to Laila and Aziza, and personification in the sprouting action to show that the love of these new people was beautiful and offered freely (163). To demonstrate Laila’s devotion, Laila later defends Miriam again by trying to convince her husband, “she didn’t want to do it…I made her do it,” and with this point of view, the statement shows how ready Laila was to bear the blame for both of them (Hosseini 171). The repetition illustrates how desperate Laila was for Rasheed to believe her.

Work Cited
Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009.