A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS: LESSON PLAN / CLASSROOM GUIDE

CHAPTER 43: Mariam

Summary

Upstairs, Zalmai bounces his new basketball after first eyeing Tariq suspiciously. Mariam watches him while Laila talks to Tariq and Zalmai is particularly difficult in his behavior. When he momentarily loses the ball, he throws a temper tantrum that it’s not the same ball Baba jan had bought him. He screams until Laila comes upstairs to rock him until he falls asleep. While Laila is rocking Zalmai, Mariam stands at..........

Notes

This chapter is a further reinforcement of the cruelty that is the basic trait making up Rasheed’s..........

CHAPTER 44: Laila

Summary

Tariq tells Laila about one of the men who shared his cell. He had a cousin who was publicly flogged for painting flamingos. The Taliban had taken offense at the birds’ bare legs, so the painter painted a pair of pants on every single bird. He laughed, though, because he had painted the pants in water colors and so after the Taliban was gone, he would be able to remove all the pants. Laila just can’t stop looking at him, because he has turned into an adult. He has one tooth missing, too, and he is starting to lose his hair. Laila tells him what she thought had happened to him and his parents and Tariq can only shake his head. He talks about Alyona and Laila is afraid he’s talking about his wife. However, it turns out that it’s the name of his goat. He reminds her of the Soviet film they had seen together and that Alyona had been the Captain’s daughter. He tells her all about Murree in Pakistan where he lives now. It’s a small, pleasant town which had once been used by the Victorians as a place to escape the heat. He says his life there is..........

Notes

This chapter serves as a kind of flashback so that the reader can learn all that had happened to Tariq in the ten..........

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A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini: Free BookNotes Summary

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