A Thousand Splendid Suns: Week 4, Post A

VOCAB:

Factions: (238) Self-seeking groups often within a government, a clique.

Muezzin: (242) A Muslim crier who calls the hour of daily prayer.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

"Her eyes screamed in protest" (243). This is personification because, as much as they would like to, your eyes can't scream. It gives human characteristics to something that is not a human.

"It is my responsibility, you see, to maintain order" (238). This is irony, because the police do the opposite of maintain order, especially when people are getting murdered, raped, looted, and attacked every day.

"The room was a pressure cooker" (241). This is a simile because it compares Laila's room to a pressure cooker, since she is locked inside w/ a chair in front of her door, and her windows covered with wood planks. It just gets hotter and hotter.

QUOTE

"'It's not your fault, Mariam,' Laila said weakly. 'It's mine. It's all my fault. Everything is my fault." (239).

I thought this was a key quote because it was the first time the two actually got along, and didn't want to place the blame on the other person. I thought this was a HUGE point, because to survive, they're going to need to stick together, especially to protect the baby. Also, this showed Laila taking the blame for something, which was rare, even though in this case it was no one's fault.

THEME

It may be cliche, but don't judge a book by it's cover, because Mariam did, and it ended up getting them caught and brought back.