A Thousand Splendid Suns: Part III: Chapter 36 Summary & Analysis

That morning, in spring 1994, Laila is convinced Rasheed knows of their escape plan. But he leaves for work as usual. As she and Mariam leave in a taxi, Laila thinks she sees Rasheed everywhere. A few weeks earlier, she’d pawned her wedding ring. All around her she sees the bombed-out shells of homes and packed cemeteries.

At the Lahore Gate bus station in East Kabul, Mujahideen militiamen patrol the station and curb with their Kalashnikovs. Since their takeover, the courts under Rabbani have become filled with conservative mullahs who undid the communist decrees empowering women. Instead, Shari’a or strict Islamic law reigns. Women are forbidden from traveling without a companion, and adultery is punished with stoning. Laila also knows that the Pakistani border is officially closed to Afghans, but people still manage to be smuggled through.

Eventually, Laila finds a kind-looking man sitting on a park bench. She tells him that she is a widow, and is traveling to Peshawar with her mother and daughter. She asks if she can travel with him and his family. He agrees, introducing himself as Wakil, and goes to buy their tickets, telling them to stay close.

Wakil motions towards Laila when it’s time to board. As he climbs onto the bus, he whispers something to the militiaman, and Laila’s heart sinks. The soldier tells her and Mariam to follow them, and that they won’t get on that bus.

At the police station, they are forced to sit apart for three hours. Laila is interviewed alone, and a soldier says he knows she’s already told one lie. He accuses her of more, and asks for the specific address of her family in Peshawar, in addition to a number of other details. Laila is tired and anxious and stumbles over her words. The soldier leans forward and tells her that it is a crime for a woman to run away.

Laila begs him to let them leave, saying that there’s no telling what Rasheed will do to them if they’re sent back. The soldier seems uncomfortable but says that it’s the man’s business what he does in his own home. He sends her out, where Mariam is waiting. The police drive them home, where Rasheed is waiting.

Rasheed drags Laila upstairs. She starts to insist that it was her idea, not Mariam’s, and at once Rasheed punches her and drags her by the hair into Mariam’s room, flinging Aziza onto the bed and locking them inside. She hears beating downstairs, and rocks Aziza until the sounds stop, and Rasheed drags Mariam into the toolshed.

Rasheed nails boards across Laila’s window, so it’s impossible for her to tell the time of day. Aziza asks for milk, and the room grows increasingly hot and sweaty, until Aziza stops crying and drifts in and out of sleep. Laila dozes too, awakening to the sound of blasts and machine guns. She hears Rasheed’s footsteps and begs for a glass of water for Aziza. Finally, on the second day, the room is suddenly flooded with light. Rasheed looms over her, swearing on the Prophet that if she ever tries to run away again, no court will hold him accountable for what he’ll do to the three of them—Laila last, so she can watch.