ATSS quotations

“his slow, heavy footed movement across the room”

*zoomorphism to show how large and intimidating to Mariam and makes him seem inhumane, emphasising his innate, impulsive desire for violence

chapter 10: “a women’s face is her husband’s business only, do you understand?”

*possessive pronoun ‘her’ taking control of his wife’s face, fully enforces a lack of identity for women

*a women’s face is unique and individual, and even that is being taken away from them and given to the husband

*”business” has connotations of work and transactions, emphasising the importance of men’s reputation and Rasheed’s unwillingness to compromise with Mariam

chapter 15: “get up. come here. get up”

*pebbles power dynamic

*several imperatives showcase Rasheed’s expectation to be obeyed by Mariam without compromise

*short sentences alludes to Rasheed’s impatience and temperamental temper

chapter 16: “slim,delicate hands, almost like a woman’s”

*link to ‘soft men’ that Rasheed describes

*Babi’s physique is like a woman’s, in comparison to his fiery wife, Fariba, possesses authority in the relationship

*liberalist views and subversion of gender roles

chapter 36: “what a man does in his home is his own business”

*clearly reflects a ‘woman’s face is his husband’s business only’

*’business’ has connotations of transactions, adding to the theme of law and order

*only way a woman can survive is through endurance

*submission = injustice is too powerful

chapter 36: “methodical, familiar beating…systematic business”

*domestic violence (90%) is described as ‘methodical’ suggesting how perfunctory and routinely Rasheed beating Mariam is

*business takes away the emotion and pain, almost presents the abuse as a duty for Rasheed

*microcosm and foreshadows the Taliban ruling and violence of Kabul

chapter 40: “slapping sound like a bag of rice is dropping to the floor”

*simile comparing the sound of dropping a rice bag to the noise that Laila’s knuckles made against Rasheed’s cheek, adds intensity and brutality to the action

*the ‘rice bag’ has connotations of cooking, which is a female duty, and the fact that Laila ‘drops’ this could allude to the image of her dropping the role as a woman, being submissive and inferior

chapter 42: “i see you again,i’ll beat you until your mother’s milk leaks out of your bones”

*threat that a young Talib says to Laila is directly taken from Hosseini’s postscript

*the fact that this shuddering phrase mirrors the postscript suggests how this is a universal experience for women of Afghanistan and how oppressed they are

*’mothers milk’ is a nurturing maternal image and the fact that Talib wants to physically take it away from Laila, no sympathy

chapter 45: “he was still on top of Laila, his eyes wide and crazy”

similar to Heathcliff - men are wild and frenzied and hungry for violence

“don’t leave me Mariam Jo. please stay. i’ll die if you go”

Nana and Mariam’s love is a destructive love

“Laila was hungry for the site of Tariq”

“hungry” - voracious appetite for him, desires a man, unlike a typical Afghan woman

“like an art lover running out of a burning museum”

*simile - comparing Laila’s memories holding onto a thread to a burning museum

*’burning’ - salvages memories, connotations of passion and desire but physical pain

*’art’ - ironic, purity and beautiful when not

“the pen. it’s not working. search for a new pen. the contract”

*complete lack of love and sense of apathy in Laila and Rasheed’s relationship

*monosyllables and bluntness and trivial nature

*complete contrast to her and Tariq

“first true connection in her false, failed connections”

*Mariam’s love for Aziza is raw, unbreakable and genuine

*fricatives - emphasise beauty

“she didn’t dare breathe, or blink even, for fear that he was nothing but a mirage shimmering in the distance, a brittle illusion”

*sense of disbelief and illusion in this phrase

*’brittle’ - too good to be true, about to disintegrate

“Laila crawled to her and again put her head on Mariam’s lap”

Mariam and Laila’s maternal love

“no tears, no wedding-day smiles, no whispered oaths of long-lasting love. in silence”

*gone through fair share of love and loss and trauma, urgency to marry despite passion and love

*unconventional wedding

“Mariam is in Laila’s own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns”

*metaphor of hope and light

*Hosseini suggests that it is people like Mariam, who sacrifice for new life, who are the hope of Afghanistan

*this ‘radiance’ gives Laila the strength to survive and act just how Mariam taught her as a mother for her children

Chapter 1: “Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami”

*the first sentence of the novel summarises Mariam’s identity in one word - ‘harami’ is repeated 7 times in the first chapter

*’harami’ is pashto for word

*’bastard’ ingrained in culture

chapter 2: “a weed. something you rip out and toss the outside”

*motif - Mariam’s status as a woman, and the fact that she is a direct clone of Nana , and so there is no hope for her future - it is predetermined

*’rip out and toss aside’ - what Jalil will do to Mariam in order to protect his social status

chapter 3: “solitary eleventh pebble”

motif of Mariam’s isolation as a harami

chapter 7: “she was the walking, breathing embodiment of their shame”

*metaphor - dehumanises Mariam into a sort of lingering spirit, emphasises how little she matters to everyone around her

chapter 31: 2 we are city people, you and i, but she is a dehati/ Have you told her that you are a harami?”

*Rasheed is casually insulting Mariam at dinner

*he insults her by calling her the thing that stings the most: ‘a harami’. by doing this, it brings out his true cruel self in front of Laila

*collective pronoun “we” binds Laila and Rasheed, and separates them from Mariam, making her seem like a servant as well as a burden

“VOLGA/BENZ”

*disrespectful as objectifies women

*’Volga’ - mocking Mariam who said that’s the car she wants. old, worn down, ugly car that has been traded for a new one

*’Benz’ - shiny, first class and new - valuable and vulnerable than Mariam, in that she must be protected. also suggests her beauty

chapter 50: “mostly with weeds, some stunted, some growing springing impudently half way up the wall”

*motif ‘weeds’ - reminder of Mariam’s status as a burden, and a shameful thing

*’stunted’ adjective highlights the years of oppression that she had to endure

*’springing’ resembles Mariam’s resilience and wealth of mental strength, despite her oppression and abuse - can bounce back

“like a compass needle that points North, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. always.”

*’needle’ is harmful - brutality and irrationality of men - foreshadows domestic abuse from Rasheed

*’north’ - inevitability and natural flow of the compass

*repetition ‘always’ - factual and certain - inevitable justice

“only one skill. and it’s this: harmful, endure”

*Tahumul is Pashto - how ingrained in culture gender inequality is

*’endure’ - links to Mariam’s social status as a harami

“a women’s face is her husband’s business only, do you understand?”

*possessive pronoun ‘her’ taking control of his wife’s face fully enforces a lack of identity for women. a woman’s face is unique and individual, and even that is being taken away from them

*’business’ has connotations of work and transactions, emphasising the importance of men’s reputations and Rasheed’s unwillingness to compromise with Mariam

“mesh screen… cloth kept pressing against her mouth”

*’mesh screen’ - grid like image - imprisonment/entrapment

*’pressing against mouth’ - do not have willingness to speak - foreshadows Taliban’s rules

“their nails were polished pink or orange, their lips as red as tulips”

*bold colours to describe the women in Kabul. ‘pink’ is generally the colour that we associate with females (gender stereotypes) perhaps suggesting a sense of female empowerment

*simile - to Mariam, these women are dolls and aliens

*time where traditional and liberalist behaviours did coexist (1970s)

“like a mynah bird in your hands…slacken your grip and away it flies”

*simile - Mammy compares Laila’s reputation to a flying mynah bird, suggesting how vulnerable and easy it is for a girl’s reputation to be tainted and how strictly they have to conform to their societal expectations

“one could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, or the thousand splendid suns that hide beneath her walls”

*metaphor for the resilience of women and Afghanistan - behind corruption of war is beauty and culture

*’moons…suns’ - endless cycle of life, spirit and energy in Kabul

*link to Mariam in P4 - spirit still lives on through generations and she acts as a microcosm for women

“Laila already saw the sacrifices a mother had to make”

*’mother’ in contrast to Mariam referring to her as a ‘girl’, which supports the idea that Laila is pregnant as she must stay in Rasheed’s house to bring up her baby

*even although Laila is acting immorally, this is a sacrifice she has to make - maternal strength

*subversion of gender roles - vulnerable yet confident

“Laila’s life suddenly revolved around ways to see Aziza”

*hyperbolic metaphor - emphasises just how determined Laila is to see Aziza, the strength of her maternal love, and is reminiscent of a gravitational force like the Sun and Earth - rely on each other

“women returning to work…seemed insufficient to her”

*in part 4 - sign of hope for women as they return to work

*political landscape changes in Kabul, looking hopeful through the metaphorical phrase'

*’roads repaved’ suggesting that prior conflicts are coming to an end, Laila is almost envious of missing out. She feels a duty to fulfil Babi’s dream of becoming a successful, educated woman