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Similes
Part I: Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Burqa:
In a prime example of situational irony, both Mariam and Laila find comfort in the anonymity the burqa provides, despite being forced to wear it by Rasheed. In the following excerpt from Chapter 11, Mariam notes this comfort:
[T]he burqa, [Mariam] learned to her surprise, was also comforting. It was like a one-way window. Inside it, she was an observer, buffered from the scrutinizing eyes of strangers. She no longer worried that people knew, with a single glance, all the shameful secrets of her past.
Much later on in the novel, in Chapter 32, Laila gives voice to the same comfort as Mariam, in a similar context:
[Laila] found some comfort in the anonymity that the burqa provided. She wouldn't be recognized this way if she ran into an old acquaintance of hers. She wouldn't have to watch the surprise in their eyes, or the pity or the glee, at how far she had fallen, at how her lofty aspirations had been dashed.
Ironically, their longing for anonymity is a direct consequence of the same misogynistic cultural norms that permit Rasheed jurisdiction over his wives' clothing. For Mariam and Laila, the burqa represents a strict religious lifestyle that neither woman chose for herself. The two women find comfort in their burqas, but only as a paradoxical form of escape from religious extremists' strict, violent scrutiny of women and their bodies.
Laila longs for escape because she is ashamed of her marriage to Rasheed—a marriage forced upon her by dire circumstance, given the Taliban's intolerance of independent, unaccompanied women. Mariam also wishes to escape her society's intense, misogynistic judgement, leveled against her for being harami, a bastard born to an unwed woman.
Related Themes:
Part I: Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Pornography:
In the following example of situational irony from Chapter 12, Mariam finds pornographic magazines in Rasheed's dresser drawer while cleaning:
A woman's face, he'd said, is her husband's business only. Surely the women on these pages had husbands, some of them must. At the least, they had brothers. If so, why did Rasheed insist that she cover when he thought nothing of looking at the private areas of other men's wives and sisters?
This discovery is deeply ironic given Rasheed's strict religious opinions on wifely modesty. Clearly Rasheed enjoys being an arbiter of moral behavior, but cares less about practicing such morality himself. In fact, it could be surmised from his actions alone that Rasheed is not a very religious man. Aside from daily prayer, Rasheed rarely engages with religion except as a means to control Mariam and Laila. Rather than an avenue for good deeds and moral behavior, Rasheed seems to view religion as a way to leverage power over others, particularly women. Where many adherents use religious doctrines to critically self-examine, holding themselves to higher moral standards, Rasheed uses doctrine to criticize others. He is unconcerned with his own adherence, it being little more than a technicality to him. Others' adherence, however, is perpetually Rasheed's business—especially his wives'.
Related Themes:
Part III: Chapter 29
Explanation and Analysis—Rasheed's Charity:
In Chapter 29, Mariam confronts Rasheed about his intentions to marry Laila, a very young woman in a vulnerable position. In the following example of situational irony, Rasheed defends his romantic intentions with Laila as "charitable":
"Look," [Rasheed] said, sounding more conciliatory now, as a victor could afford to. "I knew you wouldn't take this well. I don't really blame you. [...] These days, times being what they are, a woman needs a husband. Haven't you noticed all the widows sleeping on the streets? They would kill for this chance. In fact, this is . . . Well, I'd say this is downright charitable of me."
He smiled.
"The way I see it, I deserve a medal."
While Rasheed claims that his plan to marry Laila is altruistic, his actions are fundamentally selfish. Rasheed deliberately deceives Laila, fabricating a witness to Tariq's death in a ploy to dissuade Laila from leaving Kabul. Rasheed's trickery places her in a vulnerable, isolating situation, with no one but himself and Mariam to depend upon for support and protection.
Throughout Part II of the novel, Hosseini implies that Rasheed has lusted after Laila for a long time. Rasheed and Mariam exist only within Laila's periphery until the bombing; yet, when Rasheed does come to prominence in Laila's backstory, it is solely to tease Laila about her close relationship with Tariq. Rasheed's observation of Laila and Tariq has clear ulterior motives: he wants Laila for himself.
Related Themes:
Part III: Chapter 32
Explanation and Analysis—Burqa:
In a prime example of situational irony, both Mariam and Laila find comfort in the anonymity the burqa provides, despite being forced to wear it by Rasheed. In the following excerpt from Chapter 11, Mariam notes this comfort:
[T]he burqa, [Mariam] learned to her surprise, was also comforting. It was like a one-way window. Inside it, she was an observer, buffered from the scrutinizing eyes of strangers. She no longer worried that people knew, with a single glance, all the shameful secrets of her past.
Much later on in the novel, in Chapter 32, Laila gives voice to the same comfort as Mariam, in a similar context:
[Laila] found some comfort in the anonymity that the burqa provided. She wouldn't be recognized this way if she ran into an old acquaintance of hers. She wouldn't have to watch the surprise in their eyes, or the pity or the glee, at how far she had fallen, at how her lofty aspirations had been dashed.
Ironically, their longing for anonymity is a direct consequence of the same misogynistic cultural norms that permit Rasheed jurisdiction over his wives' clothing. For Mariam and Laila, the burqa represents a strict religious lifestyle that neither woman chose for herself. The two women find comfort in their burqas, but only as a paradoxical form of escape from religious extremists' strict, violent scrutiny of women and their bodies.
Laila longs for escape because she is ashamed of her marriage to Rasheed—a marriage forced upon her by dire circumstance, given the Taliban's intolerance of independent, unaccompanied women. Mariam also wishes to escape her society's intense, misogynistic judgement, leveled against her for being harami, a bastard born to an unwed woman.
Related Themes:
Part III: Chapter 47
Explanation and Analysis—Talib Guards:
The Taliban's ethos is consistent throughout A Thousand Splendid Suns: women are lesser beings, subservient to men. What value women do have depends solely on their sexual purity, maintained through rigorous social regulations and wardrobe prescriptions. Under Taliban rule, the only man who can see a woman's face is her husband, in the privacy of their home. The severity of these religious restrictions imbue the following passage, from Chapter 47, with a great deal of situational irony:
There were no curtains either, which meant the Talib guards who roamed the courtyard had an eyeful of the interior of the cells. Some of the women complained that the guards smoked outside the window and leered in, with their inflamed eyes and wolfish smiles, that they muttered indecent jokes to each other about them.
The Talib guards, and the Taliban overall, enforce strict Shari'a law in Kabul. Women's sexual and spiritual purity are of the utmost concern under Shari'a law; therefore, it is deeply ironic that the Talib guards spy on these imprisoned women, invading their privacy in the hopes of glimpsing forbidden parts of their bodies.
For these guards, the choice to spy on Mariam and her fellow prisoners is as much about power as it is about sexuality. Access to female bodies under Taliban rule is a legal matter, one akin to property ownership. Once a woman legally marries a man, said man obtains the exclusive right to view her body. When members of the Taliban imprison a woman, however, her husband is no longer her sole proprietor; as a prisoner, she is now also legal property of the state. Husbandly authority cedes to the Taliban's power, which in turn emboldens the Taliban prison guards to consider female convicts' bodies their property.
Related Themes:
