hello and welcome to a video summarizing all you need to know about the Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini my name is Barbara and in this video we'll examine this novel in detail we'll begin by looking at the context regarding the author himself we'll then go into lots of detail about the novel it's key characters the plot important themes to understand as well as key quotations to remember and this video is really useful if you're studying this novel as part of your coursework studies or your exams so let's get started now to begin with the author himself Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul Afghanistan in 1965 his father was a diplomat in the Afghan foreign ministry and his mother taught farsi at history in high school in Kabul in 1976 the foreign ministry were allocated the Hosseini family to Paris they were ready to return to Kabul in 1980 but by then their homeland had witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet Army the Hosseini sought and were granted political asylum in the US and in September 1980 they've moved to San Jose California Husseini graduated from high school in 1984 and he enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1988 the following year he earned he entered the University of California San Diego School of Medicine where he earned a medical degree in 1993 in March 2001 while practicing medicine hissing he began writing his first novel The Kite Runner which was published in 2003 and do make sure you check out our video summary of the Kite Runner on our channel today Husseini is one of the most recognized and best-selling authors globally his books The Kite Runner áthousands Renaissance and the mountains echoed have been published in over 70 countries and they sold over 40 million copies worldwide now to go into detail on the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns it split into several parts and it begins in the early 1970s when Miriam is a teenager living with her mother Nana in a Cole bar which is also known as small Hut outside of the city of Herat we learned that Miriam is the illegitimate child or her ami of Nana her mother and Jahlil who is a wealthy cinema owner in her act Miriam is taught to recite verses from the Quran by mullah Fazlullah whom she looks up to and admires Jalil comes to visit Mariam every week and though Nana trusts convince Mariam that Jalil is embarrassed by her and refuses to consider her a true member of the family in Merriam's eyes he can do no wrong one day against her Lil's wishes Mariam descends the hill into her act for the very first time in order to see him for herself she's told he isn't there at his home and after spending the entire night sleeping in his stoop his shiver brings her back to the Kaaba though not before she has a glimpse of Jalil looking down at her from the window of his room upon their return Mariam sees her mother hanging from a rope she's killed herself and this leads Mariam to feel desperately guilty especially now that she knows that naina was right about Jalil he is indeed ashamed and embarrassed of her she loathes Jalil even more once he marries her off to Rashid who is a shoe shop owner in Kabul and his 30 years older than her Mariam moves to Kabul and in Kabul she's astounded by the cosmopolitan atmosphere though Rashid makes her wear a burka and he also forces her to mainly stay within the home Rashid initially shows Mariam around the city and buys her gifts to appease her especially given that she's so homesick but after she suffers multiple miscarriages he becomes quite sullen ultimately he but grows hostile he yells at her and then begins domestically abusing and beating her now shifting into part two of the novel this shifts to the perspective of a young woman called Leila who's growing up in Kabul not far from rashida Miriam's house but in contrast to Mariam she's getting an education thanks to her very progressive father called Bubbe but mummy her mother is depressed and unable to care for Leila because she misses her two sons of mud and Nour who have gone to fight with the Mujahideen against the Soviets because this is a time when there was a war within Afghanistan against the USSR and the mujahedeen was a rebel faction that grew to dislike them and also to ultimately fight them mummys depression grows worse even more after she learns that her two sons who served in the Mujahideen are killed however Leila has a far more happy childhood because she has a lot of fun loving father and from her walks home with her from school with her friends Kitty and her Sina she has lots of lessons and above all she has a very close relationship with her friend Tariq who's lost who's an interesting character who's lost one leg due to a landmine accident when he was young and he was 5 years old Tariq and Lalo's relationship is very interesting because together they witness the departure of the Soviets from Afghanistan when they are defeated by the Mujahideen their relationship ultimately turns romantic just as The Magicians in fighting so the Civil War begins and they sleep together for the first time just before Tariq's family flees to Pakistan as a result of this civil war not long after that Leila's family is preparing to leave as well when a rocket hits their home and kills both of her parents instantly making Leila an orphan now shifting into part 3 of the novel novel this alternates in perspective between both Merriam's and Leila's point of view in each chapter we find that Rashid rescues Leila as he digs her out of the rubble of their home and Mariam slowly nurses her back to health however it soon becomes clear that Rasheed's apparent kindness has hidden his true goal to make Leila his second wife Miriam first begs him not to but Rashid threatens to turn Leila out onto the streets Lila agrees to Wed Rashid and then at this stage she's become pregnant with Tariq's child and knows this is the only way she can save the baby and herself Mariam despises labor and the two lived together in constant tension and low simmering hostility not long afterward and man named Abdul Shareef comes to the house and says he was in a hospital tarik whose lorry a truck had been caught in a crossfire on the way to Pakistan and Tariq was gravely wounded and Abdul Shareef tells her he died Rashid is initially solicitous and adoring of Laila after Laila gives birth to a baby girl called Aziza however he grows again quite irritable and even violent and angry that it was not her boy that she gave birth to at one point later tries to stop Rashid from beating Maryam this small act leads the tensions between the two women to cool down and after drinking several cups of chai which is tea together they start to become close friends and allies rather than adversaries Laila confides in Maryam that she's been stealing bit by bit from Rashid and she plans to escape to Pakistan in the spring together with Aziza the two of them depart for the Kabul bus station and ask their kind lucky man to pretend that he's their cousin accompanying them out of the city the Mujahideen at this stage prevent women from travelling alone however this man betrays them and they learn Mariam a question before being taken back to Rasheed's home whether both beaten severely and locked in two separate rooms the Taliban then take control of Afghanistan shortly afterwards and begin to implement strict Sharia law which is a strict set of religious laws that prevent women from working and severely restrict the freedom and mobility around the same time laila realizes she's pregnant with Rasheed's child she comes close to aborting the child on her own but ends up deciding that she can't accept what the magician had accepted that sometimes in war innocent life must be taken she then gives birth to a boy is all my in the harrowing cesarean at the only Women's Hospital open in Kabul which no longer has any anaesthetic Salma is cheerful and playful but he also has a really malicious streak that comes out when he's with his father who spoils him whilst largely ignoring Aziza several years later during a massive drought where she loses avail his business in a fire and the family begins to go hungry Miriam tries to call her out to speak with Jalil but learns that he died back in 1987 not long after he came to Kabul to see Miriam but she refused to see him as she was still very angry at him marrying her off Rashid forces Layla to send Aziza into an orphanage he rarely agrees to accompany her and Maryam to see Aziza though when he doesn't Leyla leaves on her own and enjoys frequent beatings by the Taliban for being a woman on the street alone just because she's going to see her daughter one day laila Miriam ends on my are returning from the whorephanage when Zama calls out that there's a strange man outside the house it's Tariq and it turns out that Rashid had hired abdul shareef to concoct a story of his death in order to force laila to accept her marriage to rashid instead Tariq had made it to refugee camp there he had attempted to make money first family by transporting coats across the Pakistani border but the police found drugs inside the coat he then been in prison for seven years before leaving for Murray Pakistan and saving up money by working at a hotel Lena tells him about Aziza and they make plans for him to meet her that night however saw Maya tells Rashid about the strange man that Laila was talking to where she sends him upstairs and begins to beat Leila and Mariam when Naylor hits him back Rasheed flies on top of her begins choking her Mariam seeing he means to kill her takes a shovel from the tool shed and breaks it over Rasheed's head instantly killing him Mariam initially confronts Lea come for comforts Laila by convincing her that they can run away together and lead a quiet peaceful life in a small village somehow somewhere however on the next day Miriam tells her that she cannot allow Layla and her family to suffer for Miriam zone actions she says she could never have hoped for the love and sense of belonging she experienced through her friendship of Layla Maria blue turns herself into the Taliban and after a brief trial she's imprisoned and then sent to Ghazi Stadium to be executed now in part 4 of the novel this opens with Layla and Tariq living in Marais and working at a hotel though Layla enjoys her life in Pakistan she knows that Miriam did not sacrifice herself so that she could be a maid in a foreign country the family returns to Afghanistan first stopping at her art layla meets mullah foods for Zula son Hamza and sees where Mariam grew up Hamza gives her a box that Jalil had left for Mariam which includes a letter in which Jalloh asks for Mary's forgiveness and encloses her part of the inheritance a token arriving too late for Miriam the novel closes with Layla working at the same orphanage where she had sent Aziza teaching and working to renovate the building she's pregnant with her third child and knows that if it's a goal the baby will be named Miriam now when it comes to the character the first is Miriam she's one of the novel's protagonists and as we already know she's the illegitimate daughter of the most successful businessman of the city Jalil she grows up in a small heart several kilometres outside of the city with a momen mother naina before being married off at the age of 15 to Rashid who's 30 years her senior and then moving on to Kabul throughout her life Mariam is plagued by the shame of being a ami in other words a bastard which is an illegitimate child in addition to the greater shame of believing she contributed to her mother's suicide after feeling unwanted by an unimportant to Jalloh she's also shot by her husband when she's unable to bear him a child this lack of love and belonging is a constant theme throughout Miriam's life but she has a remarkable ability to endure and persevere through suffering often with the help of the Quran verses that she spent her childhood memorizing after finally finding a sense of belonging with Layla and her daughter Miriam makes the ultimate sacrifice giving up her own life so that those she loves can be free she's one of the novel's most powerful examples of both the suffering and the strength of women in Afghanistan the next character is Layla and unlike Miriam she's a beautiful young girl from an educated family in Kabul whose father is committed to giving her an education and preparing her for life as an independent woman however Layla suffers in her own way from the coldness of her mother who seems to have abandoned her in favour for two sons who have gone off to battle and are eventually killed Layla is curious and intelligent she retains a strong sense of Afghanistan's culture and is hopeful for its future she's also bold and prone to risk-taking as evidenced by her love affair with Tariq as a teenager and her plot Escape Rashid and by her constant commitment to make it the orphanage to visit her daughter Aziza despite the possibility of beatings by the Taliban ultimately however Layla is not as tough or as world-weary as Mariam though she remains forever cognizant of the tremendous sacrifice Mariam has made of her it is this sense of debt to marry him to her family and to Afghanistan that will determine her return to Afghanistan after her exile in Pakistan with Tariq the next important characters Rashid he is the undeniable villain of the novel he owns a shoe strop in Kabul and is initially a successful businessman though as things unravel on Afghanistan he ends up struggling and eventually losing his business before marrying Mariam he'd already be married once before but his wife and son had died his son drowned while Rashid was drunk and passed out he's initially kind of solicitous to Miriam but soon he becomes a grunting hostile bundle of nerves who treats Miriam with scorn and beats her the same process is repeated when he marries Layla after her parents deaths Rasheed becomes increasingly violent to both his wives up until the book's climax where she doesn't mind the Taliban and indeed his character is meant to reveal the worst of men's treatment of women in Afghanistan during the timespan of the novel tariqas another important character his Layla's childhood friend and eventually her lover and husband too requires a prosthetic leg since he stepped on a landmine at the age of five which blew off his leg he can be mischievous and goofy and he's always eager to prove his strength by joining in in any fight and defending Layla against any other neighborhood boys tarik adores Layla and is unfailingly loyal to her returning to Kabul to find her after years of imprisonment and exile in Pakistan the other important characters naina she's Merriam's mother once the maiden Jaleel's household until she became pregnant with his child she's then banished the kolba which is a hot on a hill after her father disowned her and she's becomes very bitter and unhappy she constantly complains about Jalil to Miriam in admonishes her not to trust any man though she can be at times of stifling presence for Marya naina adores her and won't let her attend school serves to keep her close and their suicide after Miriam has gone in search of Jalil will make Miriam feel guilty and ashamed for the rest of her life and harbour regrets about the way she dismissed in Anna's warnings mullah Fazlullah is another important character he's the village Koran tutor that teaches Miriam to recite the Quran and memorize her daily prayers Mariam trusts and looks up to him though he cannot fully comfort her during Lana's suicide and though Miriam never sees him again after she leaves soccer ball for the rest of the novel his teachings really do serve as a guide for her she often calls upon what he has taught her as she enjoys father surfing Jalil was another important character his Merriam's father and his Zess halt cinema owner in Herat who has three wives and nine legitimate children in addition to Miriam who's the illegitimate child Jahlil comes to see Miriam every week when she's a child but he never allows her to visit him in Herat or join the rest of his family there Jalil does seem conflicted about Miriam but he refuses to see her when she comes on her own accord though he seems regretful he also allows his wives to arrange the marriage between Miriam and Rasheed for the rest of the novel there are hints that Jalil deeply regrets the way he acted towards Miriam though it's only at the very end that we learned the extent of his regret and shame for Reba who's Layla's mother was originally a curious joyful woman but by the time Layla is growing up she's increasingly depressed at the departure of the two sons to fight in the mujahideen their death drives her into further depression and she remains in her room for most of the time unable to take care of Layla and not able to function fully mammy blames Bobby for his inability to stop their sons from leaving and for his bookishness and lack of practical savvy though Layla comes to understand that these accusations really do stem from her grief and desperation Hakim who's Layla's father and high school teacher in Kabul before being fired by the Communists is a really important and influential force in NATO's life never this he supports the communist regimes policy of equality between men and women and strongly support sailors education even tutoring her himself after it becomes too dangerous for her to go to school despite Mami's dismissal of his intellectual leanings Layla admires Barbie furs unwavering commitment to his wife but also his commitment to empowering her through education Zama is another important character his Layla's son with Rashid whom she nearly aborts but who she ends up loving just as much as she loves Aziza once Alma is his father however he becomes cranky and difficult to handle he misses his father desperately after his death which leaves later to understand one of the many costs of her happiness and when you think about more minor characters there's a few that you need to be aware of the first is Hamza who's mullah Fazlullah son who meets Leila when she goes to her art at the very end of the novel and who shows her where Mariam once lived mud is Leila's older brother who goes off to fight for the Buddha Mujahideen against the Soviets and is killed nor is the other brother of Ahmed and Leila who's also killed while fighting the Soviets Abdul Shareef is another important character he's a friend of Rasheed's who perhaps paid off by Rashid tells they led the entirely fabricated story of Tariq's death so that she will no longer await or attempt to find him yet he is a schoolmate and friend of Leila's who's quiet and earnest before falling in love with an older boy and becoming more confident she's killed by Australia rocket as a teenager Haseena is another friend of Leila's who's chatty and mischievous she sent away to marry a cousin in Lahore Habib Khan is a village leader who often comes to visit Miriam and Nana will marry miss a child and Bibi Joe is an old woman and friend of Nana's who also visits the two of them at the kolba we have Karla Bergman latest teacher during the communist regime who's wholeheartedly committed to the Communists course and also the liberation and education of women after soon is one of Jalil official wives nila far is Upson's daughter Nargis is another of Jalil wife side a is one of marienhof sisters who unlock Mariam is sent to school in Herat Naheed is another of marienhof sisters who attend school Eunice is Rasheed's first son who drowned in a lake as a child wall Rasheed had passed out from drinking khadeem is a neighbourhood troublemaker who pulls practical jokes and laila until tariq beats him and puts an end to it we have what kill who's a man whom Laila asked to accompany her and Miriam and Aziza on the bus to Pakistan when they attempted to escape but then he'd be tracer betrays them to the Mujahideen Zaman is a kindly orphanage director who looks after as ISA and eventually becomes ælis partner in the orphanage renovation Salim is a friend of Tariq's from prison who puts him in touch with his brother Saeed Saeed is the owner of a hotel in Murray Pakistan who hires Tariq and eventually Leila and helps the two of them settle as exiles their Nagma is a woman in the jail with Miriam the taxi driver drives Bibi Leila and Tariq to the bana moon valley as ISA is a daughter of Laila and Tariq and Khadija is one of Jalil wives now when it comes to themes there are several important themes and underlying ideas that constantly run throughout this novel the first is love loyalty and belonging now in the Thousand Splendid Suns love may not conquer all but it's a stronger tie than many other social bonds from social class to ethnic status love makes the novel's characters act sometimes in very irrational ways and their erratic behavior can often be explained by the strong loyalty that stems from love Merriam's love for her father Jalil remains constant despite hints that he's ashamed of her her ami status she ultimately turns her back on him only out of love for her own mother the poignant scene at the end of the novel in Laila receives a letter from Jalal meant meant for Mariam makes clear that his love for her was nel never entirely stamped out Laila in turn believes that by marrying Rashid and thus saving her and Tariq's baby she is remaining loyal to Tariq even after his death Leila's love for Tariq also transcends ethnic boundaries often a source of tension and violence of Afghanistan in Afghanistan as she is a Tajik and he is passionate though love can cross social boundaries in the novel it's also a way to create a territory of belonging tarik and Laila band together in love against the destruction and suffering around them while Miriam initially believes to find her marriage to Rashid a place where she could finally belong her final dramatic act of killing Rashid is paradoxically based on her close relationship with Laila the novel portrays such an act though morally complex as a powerful statement of love the love that Miriam has eventually developed for later as a sister and as a mother gender relations are another important theme by telling the story over thousand spended sons through the perspective of two Afghan women Miriam and Laila Hosseini can emphasize certain aspects of Afghan life and history that differ from the established historical narrative that often seems to be driven usually by the male perspective the novel in fact draws on the limitations imposed on women in Afghan life in order to explore how women have lived enjoyed and subverted these constraints gender relations differ throughout the novel depending on the occupying forces and laws that accompany them under communist rule for instance girls are permitted to attend school and work outside the home babi celebrates this status and encourages Leila to take advantage of it at the same time however girls are discouraged from spending too much time with members of the opposite sex before they're married gender relations can also depend on specific traditional or regional norms Miriam for instance is required by a husband to wear a burqa long before this becomes law men but Leila's brother are the ones who go off to fight while the women stay at home and often must deal with the repercussions of war the relatively progressive gender norms under communism changed drastically with the arrival of the Mujahideen and eventually the Taliban for Leila the restrictions have the effect of taking Kabul the city that she always thought of as hers away from her limited her freedom of speech and movement even so the characters find ways to subvert these norms Leila sneaks across the town to an orphanage and with Miriam she plans an escape though ultimately is watered one from Rashid the Taliban may have legally sanctioned or sheeds or violent beatings but Hosseini is clearly on the side of greater freedoms for women and the reader is meant to cheer on Leila and Mariam as they struggle against these inequalities the next important theme is reputation and shame so a particular kind of suffering in the novel has to do with shame which comes up again and again as both a pain to be endured and a tour to inflict on others in the first case shame is linked to responsibility and ensure ensuing guilt for an incident in a character's past Marion's mother's suicide after Miriam runs a waste Jalil is one example of such shame laila fills her own sense of shame for having survived the bombing that killed her parents purely by luck another type of shame is intimately linked to social standing and reputation and that particular type of shame has the power to inflict deep psychological damage as the Haram II more Mary me is made to fill deeply ashamed by her father Jalil family by others in the village and by her husband Rashid she becomes convinced as a result that she does not deserve to be loved and we'll never find a place where she belongs by beating both Maryam and Leila Rashid combines psychological and physical harm making them feel pain but also shaming them and asserting his own power over them we see then how shame is both intimately personal and extremely political many of the Taliban's laws particularly regarding the status of women consider women as shameful though extraordinarily powerful creatures that must be barred from the public sphere these standards are often couched in terms of protecting woman's honor though honor in the novel is quite often used as a counterpart to shame suffering and perseverance is another important theme so none of the characters and novel are strangers to pain and suffering either physical image however this suffering takes different forms the loss of loved ones brings its own acute kind of pain often in the way that seems to lack any kind of redemption on the other hand there are other types of suffering that the characters willingly endure in the service of others this novel seems to grapple with how to create a hierarchy of grief and suffering is the loss of Layla's brothers for instance after by be also mummy accuses him allowed them to fight in the mujahideen is this loss somehow worse than the random rocket that killed ladis friend kitty the characters were caught with such suffering in different ways mammy leader's mother takes refuge in her dark bedroom following her son's death and never quite seems to overcome her grief Layla however is more pragmatic she marries Rashid not to despite but because of her parents death which she seizes her only option the novel seems to promote this kind of perseverance over the immobilization that can stem from suffering though the suffering that the characters have experienced might be impossible to undo there's a value and strength to be drawn from their ability to endure this is especially the case when the characters choose willingly to suffer lena for instance willingly submits to beatings by the taliban for travelling as a woman alone just so that she has the chance of seeing and spending time with her daughter Aziza at the orphanage murim of course chooses to kill rashid so as to give laila a chance of a better life knowing all the same that she'll be convicted and executed by the taliban as a result disabilities suffer willingly for the benefit of others is portrayed as something women in particular excel at from nailers horrific ly painful childbirth to maryam sacrifice women enjoy their own suffering and even added to themselves history and memory in Afghanistan is another important theme as Leila baby and tarik drive out on a day trip from Afghanistan the taxi driver tells him of tumultuous history of the region he concludes and that my friends is the story of our country one invader after the other the novel deals with a thirty-year swath of Afghan history it begins the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and up until their withdrawal in 1989 and it continues through the infighting among the immature Hadean throughout the 1990s the book ends shortly after the events of September 11 2001 which introduced many Americans to Afghanistan for the first time many events in the personal lives of these characters in fact are tightly bound to political events and the narrator uses history as a reference point for the novel's action through it all the main characters retain a hold on what they consider the true Afghanistan distinct from those invaders who may hold power over the country at any one time there are often competing notions of the true Afghanistan depending on the character's political opinions and beliefs Bobby for instance is distraught by an Afghanistan where women cannot participate equally woful Rasheed such inequality epitomizes the type of country that Afghanistan should be the reader however is clearly meant to take Bobby's side the narrator also often stresses the natural beauty and ancient history of Afghanistan which helped define it the Taliban's destruction of the ancient Buddha's visited by Layla for instance is portrayed as a devastating attack against the nation itself despite the multiple invasions bombings and massacres Layla and Mariam are able to keep the notion of Afghanistan intact through their own memories for Layla they're happier times of her childhood and for Mariam the joy she gained from building a bond with labour and her children if they discontinued memory of Afghanistan that compels her to return despite the violence at the end of the novel female friendship is another important theme though gendered norms shifts throughout the course of the novel as a result of changing life accurately occupations and laws one constant theme is friendship between women the relationship between Miriam and Layla rests at the heart of the novel even as a structure reveals part one takes Marian's perspective part two takes Leila's but three alternates between them Layla all shows treasures her friendship with her classmates Kitty and her Xena with whom she shares laughs games and secrets about boys forgetting for a time about the violence and dangers of their adolescence by the time the Mujahideen impose their own restrictions in the place of women in Afghanistan female friendships becomes one way of to subvert these restrictions from within Miriam and Layla for instance band together against Rashid the husband of both in the source of much of their suffering most drastically this takes the form of the plot to escape but in more subtle ways the time they spent together drinking tea joking and laughing allows them to draw strength from each other and endure their oppression even in a society where women cannot participate in the public sphere the book suggests relationships between women serve not only as a source of escape but as a means to assert their own legitimacy and dignity now there are several quotes that you need to remember especially if you're writing a piece of coursework but even if you're sitting an exam on this book in particular now when it comes to pop one in Chapter one one of the quotes to think about is she understood then what Nana meant that her that a her Rami was an unwanted thing that she Miriam was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claims to the things other people had things such as love family herrmann acceptance the related characters here and Miriam and Nana and related themes are suffering and perseverance shame and reputation love loyalty and belonging from Chapter three the quote goes it's our lot in life Miriam women like us we endure it's all we have to understand the related characters in this piece of dialogue or naina who's a speaker Miriam and related themes are suffering and perseverance as well as gender relations in Chapter six the quote goes for the first time Miriam could hear Jalil with none as is she could hear so clearly now the insincerity that avoids lurked beneath the hollow false assurances one could not counter the moon's at Shimer on her roofs all the thousands many sons that hide behind her walls related characters in this case on Miriam the speaker and Jahlil and related themes are suffering and perseverance shame of reputation love loyalty and belonging from chapter 10 the quote goes but I'm a different breed of man Miriam where I come from one wrong look one improper word and blood is spilled where I come from a woman's face as her husband's business only I want you to remember that do you understand the related characters a Rashid who's the speaker and Miriam and themes are suffering perseverance shame or reputation and gender relations from chapter 15 the quote goes it wasn't easy tolerating him talking this way to her to bear his scorn his ridicule his insults his walking past her like she was nothing but her house hat but after four years of marriage Miriam saw clearly how much a woman could tolerate when she was afraid and the related characters here a Maria Miriam and Rashid and related themes are gender relations suffering and perseverance shame reputation and love loyalty in belonging from chapter 16 the quote goes I know you're still young but I want you to understand this now he said marriage can wait education cannot you're a very very bright girl Trudy you are you can bet anything you want Leila I know this about you and also know that when this was over Afghanistan is going to need you as much as its men maybe even more because a society has no chance of success if its women are ready uneducated Leila no chance the related characters are Bobby Hakim who's the father of Layla Layla herself and related themes our history of memory in Afghanistan and gender relations from chapter 18 to me it's nonsense and very dangerous in that all this talk of um Tajik in your Pashtun and here's Hazara and she's as back were all Afghans and that's all that should matter but when one group rules over the others for so long this contempt rivalry there is there's always been the speaker here is Hakim and the related themes are history and memory suffering and perseverance from chapter 19 it was hard to fill really fill Mami's loss hard to summon sorrow grieve the deaths of people laila had never really thought of as alive in the first place earth mud and nor had always been like law to her like characters and affable kings in a history book it was tarik whose real flesh and blood the related characters from this quote are laila tarik arriba Ahmed and Nour and related themes of suffering and perseverance love loyalty and belonging another quote from chapter 21 and that my young friends is a story of our country one invader after another Macedonians secessions Arabs Mongols now the Soviet but we're like those walls up there battered and nothing's pretty to look at but still standing the speaker here is a taxi driver and related themes a history of memory in Afghanistan and suffering and perseverance taken from chapter 23 by the time you're 20 has seen a used to say Kitty and I will have pushed out for five kids each but you Laila you'll make us two dummies proud you're going to be somebody I know one day I'll pick up a newspaper and find your picture on the front page the characters here a Hasina who's a speaker Laila and Kitty and themes are gender relations and female friendship now I've taken from chapter 26 this first quote there would come a day in fact years later when Lila would no longer be well his loss or not as unless relentlessly not nearly there would come a day when the details of his face would begin to slip from memories grief when overhearing a mother in the street caught after her child were Tariq's name were no longer cut her adrift she would not miss him as she did now when the ache of his absence was her unremitting companion the phantom pain of an amputee the related characters in this quote Lela and Tariq and related themes are suffering and perseverance and love loyalty and belonging another quote taken from this chapter all day this poem about cabal has been bouncing around in my head cyber eater busy wrote it back in the 17th century I think I used to know the whole poem but all I can remember now is two lines well could not count the moons that shimmer and her ruse all the thousand stranded suns that hide behind the walls the related character here the speaker is Hakeem Labor's father and related themes or history of memory suffering and perseverance and the symbols here are the poem by Sobeys II Tabrizi the quote from chapter xxvii remember is the goals that came back as if waiting for Miriam to pass on some more so of wisdom to say something encouraging for what wisdom did Miriam have to offer what encouragement Miriam remembered the day that buried naina and how little comfort she'd found when mullah Fazlullah had quoted the Koran for her the related characters for this quote are Miriam Lila Nana and Molly facility related theme is suffering and perseverance another quote taken from chapter 28 she was remembering the day the man from pan she had come to deliver the news of our mud and gnaws death she remembered babby white face slumping on the coach and mummy her hand fly to her mouth when she heard Leila had watched mummy come and done that day and it scared her but she hadn't felt any true sorrow she hadn't understood the awfulness of her mother's loss now another stranger bringing news for another death now she was the one sitting in the chair was this her penalty then her punishment for being aloof to her mother's suffering their latest characters here a Leila tarik for Reba Hakim a modern noir and related themes are suffering and perseverance love loyalty and belonging and shame reputation another quote taken from chapter 30 is but miraculously something of a former life remained her last link to the person that she'd been before she'd come so utterly undone a part of tarik still alive inside her Spartan tiny little arms going to transducin hands how could she jeopardize the only thing she'd left of him her old life the related characters in these quote is Laila and Tariq and related themes are suffering a perseverance love loyalty and belonging taken from Chapter 234 Laila examined Merriam's drooping cheeks the eyelids that sagged in tired folds the deep lines are framed her mouth she saw these things as though she too were looking at someone for the first time and for the first time it was not an adversary's face Laila saw but the face of grievances unspoken burdens gone on protested a destiny submitted to and endured the relation characters here and Mariam and Laila and related themes of suffering perseverance and female friendship now the first group to consider from chapter 35 is why have you pinned your heart to an old ugly hag like me meirin would murmur into Aziz's hair huh I'm not but nobody don't you see a de hearty what have I got to give you but as these are only muttered contentedly and dug her face in deeper and what she did that Mariam swooned her eyes watered her heart took flight and she marveled at how after all these years of rattling loose she'd found in this little creature the first true connection of her life of false failed connections the related character in this quotation is maryam and related themes of suffering perseverance and love loyalty and belonging the other quote from this chapter is maryam had passed these years in a distant corner of her mind a dry barren field out beyond dream and disillusionment there the future didn't matter and the past held only this wisdom that love was a damaging mistake and it's a complex hope a treacherous illusion the related character for this theme is maryam and related themes of suffering and perseverance love loyalty and belonging the quote from chapter 38 to consider later dropped the spoke because she could not accept what the mujahideen readily had that sometimes in war innocent life had to be taken her war was against rashid the baby was blameless and had been enough killing already never had seen enough killing of innocence caught in the crossfire of enemies the relates to characters for this quote or later rashid and related themes of suffering and perseverance a quick check-in from chapter 41 goes miriam regretted her foolish youthful pride now she wish now that she had let him in or would have been the harm to let him in sit with him let him say what he'd come to say he was her father he'd not been a good father it was true but how ordinary his fault seemed now forgivable when compared to Rasheed's malice or to the brutality and violence that she had seen men inflict on one another whenever characters for this quote a Miriam Rasheed and Jahlil and related themes are suffering and perseverance shame reputation love loyalty and belonging taken from Chapter 242 Layla thought of Aziza Stata and of what Aziza had said earlier about fractures and powerful politians deep down and how sometimes all we see on the surface is a slight tremor we later character for this quote is Layla and the related theme is suffering and perseverance a quote taken from chapter 47 though there had been moments of beauty in it Miriam knew that life for the most part had been unkind to her now she walked the final twenty paces she could not help but wish for more of it yet as she closed her eyes it was not regret any longer but a sensation of abundant peace that washed over her she thought of her entry into this world the hirama daughter of a lowly villager an unintended thing a pitiable regrettable instant a weed and yet she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and being loved back the release of character for this quote is Miriam and the themes are suffering perseverance shame reputation female friendship love loyalty and belonging that's all if you found this video useful do give us a thumbs up but also make sure you visit our website which is www.seannal.com in literature thank you so much for listening