A thousand Splendid Suns

Name: 12CP

A Thousand Splendid Suns Study Guide

Part 1 Chapters 1-15
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. 
   Why are Mariam and Nana living in the kolba? What is a harami?
   

2. 
   Describe Mariam’s childhood.
   

3. 
   Who is Mullah Faizullah? What does he teach Mariam? What impact does his presence have on her life?
   

4. 
   Why does Mariam ask her father to take her to the cinema for her fifteenth birthday present? What does she want?
   

5. 
   Based on what you know about Nana, why might she have committed suicide?
   

6. 
   What is the motive of Jalil’s wives in finding a suitor for Mariam? Why does Jalil go along with them in this plan?
   

7. 
   The beginning of Mariam’s marriage to Rasheed seems to promise happiness. What are signs that this may be short lived?
   

8. 
   What are Rasheed’s reasons for making Mariam wear a burqa and what do they tell us about his ideas about his role as a husband and man and his expectations for Mariam?
   

9. 
   Describe Kabul and its people.
   

10. 
    Why does Rasheed want a boy? What happened to Mariam in the bathhouse? How does Rasheed react?
    

11. 
    How has Mariam changed since the beginning of her marriage?
    

Directions: Explain the significance of the following quotes. Focus on how this quote reveals characterization, shows symbol/theme/irony, highlights a major plot point, etc. Why is it important to the novel?

“’There is only one, only one skill a woman like you and me need in life, and they don’t teach it in school. . . . Only one skill. And that’s this: tahamul. Endure’” (18).
“’I thought about you all the time. I used to pray that you’d live to be a hundred years old. …I didn’t know that you were ashamed of me’” (55).
“’Where I come from, a woman’s face is her husband’s business only’” (70).
“When Mariam thought of this baby, her heart swelled inside of her. It swelled and swelled until all the loss, all the grief, all the loneliness and self-abasement of her life washed away” (89).
“But after four years of marriage, Mariam saw clearly how much a woman could tolerate when she was afraid” (98).