A Thousand Splendid Suns: Week 3, Post B

QUOTE ANALYSIS

“Seasons had come and gone; presidents in Kabul had been inaugurated and murdered; an empire had been defeated; old wars had ended and new ones had broken out. But Mariam had hardly noticed, hardly cared. She had passed these years in a distant corner of her mind. A dry, barren field, out beyond the 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” (229).

I like this quote because it really shows how although things had changed outside, such as the presidents being killed, and the city being damaged, the same thing was true to Mariam. Things were bleak, boring, hopeless. She had tried to change; she tried to make the best of things when she got married. But it didn’t last. After a while, she went right back to the same old ways. I think this quote is quite the summary of the middle third or so of the book. In the beginning, you think she might have a great life, things could be good. But things take a change, and she’s back to the same ways she is for 16 years. Now, things begin to get better, she makes more friends and starts to think about her life more. This is the end of the beginning, as it were.