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Satire
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
A Thousand Splendid Suns is principally set in Kabul, Afghanistan, over the course of several decades. Civil unrest inundates much of the novel's plot, creating a setting rife with instability and uncertainty. The reader, like the characters, constantly waits for the next tragic event to happen: for the next shelling, the next stray bullet, the next outburst of violence from Rasheed. Hosseini maintains near-constant levels of suspense and anticipation in A Thousand Splendid Suns through this unstable setting.
Laila's childhood home is a prime example of this environmental instability. While Laila's home environment is not perfect, on account of her mother's violent mood swings, it is more or less a place of safety. There are no violent feelings between Laila's parents, no physical abuse. Laila must contend with complex, difficult emotions, but never the physical danger she encounters with Rasheed. Despite Laila's relative physical safety with Fariba and Babi, her environment feels unstable to the reader—largely in anticipation of escalating violence in Kabul, which the reader knows will come. Laila's safety, secure in one moment, is readily threatened by a stray bomb or bullet the next second. These violent intrusions into Laila's setting occur more and more frequently as her narrative progresses, moving from peripheral to immediate concerns.
Related Themes:
