Week 6 Post A

Vocab:



abasement: to humiliate or dishonor.



degradation: the act of degrading.



Figurative Language:

1. "Meet our real masters, Pakistan and Arab Islamists. The Taliban are puppets. These are the big players and Afghanistan is their playground"(274). This is a metaphor that portrays the Taliban as not a threat, but the Pakistan and Arab Islamists as the "real deal."


2. "How could she care about the statues when her own life was crumbling dust"(279). This is another metaphor that just simply implies that Laila doesn't have to feel bad for artifacts being destroyed, when her own life is being "destroyed."


3. "He sat up straight, and, for a few brief moments, he appeared merely thoughtful, like a ship captain informed of imminent mutiny taking his time to ponder his next move"(307). This similie is used to compare Rasheed's suspicion and misgiving too a ship captain who is informed of a mutiny and needs time to plan. Rasheed is plotting yet another beating.

Quote:

"I know you're a married woman and a mother now. And here I am, after all these years, after all that's happened, showing up at your doorstep. Probably, it isn't proper, or fair, but I've come such a long way to see you, and . . . Oh, Laila, I wish I'd never left you"(305).

I like this quote, because finally Laila has a reason to live now that she found out Tariq is still alive. Without Tariq, she really doesn't have any thing to live for and through all this tragedy she has a reason to live.

Theme:

A theme for this section of reading is how unfair life can be. Mariam did the right thing by killing Rasheed, who was for sure going to kill Laila and probably herself and Zalmai. However, due to how corrupt Afghanistan was at the time of this book, she is sentenced to death.