Literary Analysis Remix: A Thousand Splendid Suns

The phrase “a thousand splendid suns,” from the poem by Saib-e-Tabrizi, is quoted twice in the novel – once as Laila’s family prepares to leave Kabul, and again when she decides to return there from Pakistan. It is also echoed in one of the final lines: “Miriam is in Laila’s own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.” Discuss the thematic significance of this phrase.
~ Much of this novel talks about the nature of humans and the strong emotions we can feel for others (good and bad individuals). But the emotions that were common for the two main characters, Miriam and Laila, was love and devotion to their family. In the beginning, Miriam was totally intranced by her father and would have done anything and everything for him if he only asked, and looking back she still feels the burden of her mother's death as her own fault searching for a father who didn't want her. Then she moves and is sent away to Rasheed who she at 14 becomes his wife and diligently serves this man, later falling in love with him. Both of these men betrayed her and only for that reason did she turn her back on both Jalil and Rasheed. We can see a similar point of view from Lalil who is devoted to her father, supports her mother, and finds security in Tariq. Although the love of her life Tariq asks her to leave to the safety of Pakistan, she would not leave her parents behind because of her love for them both. Her father quotes the phrase when talking about the books he loves and the strong emotion these materials hold in his heart with the pain it is to leave them behind after years of collecting, and for Laila this is the same strong feeling she has for Miriam. This woman although once cold and harsh, died to protect her and the children and the bond they have is like the blaze of 'a thousand splendid suns'. From this she decides to go back and rebuild with using that love and devotion as motivation for Afghanistan.



Mariam’s mother tells her: “Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have.” Discuss how this sentiment informs Mariam’s life and how it relates to the larger themes of the novel. 
~ Nana was saying to her child that life in Afghanistan is hard for women especially if they are harami or they have jinn. The shame of being associated with these undesirables  is to much and so they were the outcasts for most of their community. In a larger theme however was that women were discriminated against throughout the entire novel whether it was gossip or domestic abuse, society is more critical of women because of their cultural traditions. Jalil was a great example for the understanding of the town, while Nana was dismissed as a seductress and adulterer.



While the first three parts of the novel are written in the past tense, the final part is written in present tense. What do you think was the author’s intent in making this shift? How does it change the effect of this final section? 
~ The first three parts were describing where these characters had been and what was influencing their actions in the present. Knowing where these women had been before and how they grew together forming an indestructible bond, we had a better idea of where the story was going to go. We feel the pain that these women had to go though and endure, so we follow their course in the present trying to predict where they were going to go based on what we knew as an audience. It is like knowing someone from birth, being inside their head listening to each and every though, and then seeing how they acted. Having such a deep understanding of how they came to decide, 'This is what I am going to do'. Can help us as the audience seeing through their eyes. 



These discussion questions are from Khaled Hosseini's website :http://www.khaledhosseini.com/hosseini-books-splendidsuns.html... Really it is full of many resources that can be helpful to understanding the text or the suggestions on the website can give you a different understanding of a certain event in the book.