Outside Reading, Week 5, Post A

Vocab
tortuous (208) - full of twists, turns, or bends; twisting, winding, or crooked

guilelessly (226) - free from guile; sincere; honest; straightforward; frank

Figurative Language
"On and on he went. Mariam sat watching the girl out of the corner of her eye as Rasheed's demands and judgments rained down on them like the rockets on Kabul." (206-207)

In this passage, the author uses the simile in the line "Rasheed's demands and judgments rained down on them like the rockets on Kabul" to demonstrate both the conditions that the women had to endure when living with Rasheed and the overall anxiety in Kabul at the time due to the civil war. It could also represent that the war and death were always on the minds of the women.

"The baby's screeching rose and fell like a cleaver on meat." (213)

The author uses a simile in this excerpt to describe the general attitude of Rasheed towards the baby. Rasheed was praying for a boy, but when Laila delivered a girl, he lost all respect for both her and the baby and now treat them as nuisances. So, instead of describing the baby's cries as innocent or cute, he uses an ugly and blunt comparison to a cleaver on meat.

"...suddenly Mariam started telling her about Jalil, and Nana, and the jinn. Laila stood with her hands idle on Mariam's shoulders, eyes locked on Mariam's face in the mirror. Out the words came, like blood gushing from an artery." (228)

In this excerpt, the author uses the simile "out the words came, like blood gushing from an artery" to describe how Mariam tells her story to Laila. Mariam is very conservative and shy and has never been able to express her emotions and feelings to anyone until Laila shows up. So, all of her pent up emotions spill out at once in a massive rush, much like blood coming from an artery.

Quote
"She ran to the living room, found Laila already at the window, Aziza mounted on her shoulders. Laila turned and smiled. "The Taliban are here," she said." (244)

I believe that this quote will foreshadow a major shift in the plot line. Up until recently, the plot has been pretty static, with the exception of Laila and Mariam's breakout attempt. But with this quote, and especially with the way the author isolates it from the rest of the paragraph, I believe that some real change will come to the lives of Laila and Mariam.

Theme
The novel is staying pretty true to its pessimistic theme. Laila and Mariam devise a plan to escape to Pakistan by slowly taking Rasheed's money and saving up enough money to buy a bus ticket. However, when they attempt to execute the plan, they are ratted out for not have a male escort and are later returned to Rasheed via the police. Rasheed beats them both and starves them for several days until he finally lets them out with a severe lecture. So, it appears that Laila and Mariam are stuck in this dismal state until something major happens.