A Thousand Splendid Suns Post A # 2

Vocab
Perfunctory (82) - lacking enthusiasm, performed as just a daily routine
Volatile (89) - tending to fluctuate sharply and regularly

Figurative Language
" Their nails were long, polished pink or orange, their lips red as tulips (69)." Mariam uses a SIMILE when describing the high-class city women. Before she saw them, she only knew woman as the villagers who wore burqas, or the depraved women pictured in Rasheed's magazines.

"She devoured the entire bowl [of ice cream], the crushed-pistachio topping, the tiny rice noodles at the bottom (66)." Hosseni uses HYPERBOLE when he says "devoured the entire bowl." She didn't really eat the whole bowl.

"Now and then, his ear rubbed against her cheek, and she knew from the scratchy feel that he had shaved it (69)." This quote contains IMAGERY that appeals to the touch senses. Imagining someone's ear being scratchy because they shaved it is dirty and disgusting.

Quote
"CHEW! he bellowed. [...] Mariam chewed. Something in the back of her mouth cracked. [...] Then he was gone, leaving Mariam to spit out pebbles, blood, and the fragments of two broken molars" (94). If the reader didn't know before, they know now that Mariams husband Rashid is a hateful man who does not care at all about Maria. I was genuinely disturbed by this passage. Rashid forces her to eat pebbles until she shatters her molars only because the rice she made was supposedly a bit hard. Her husband is just a lazy bastard who cannot do anything himself, and quite frankly does not need another person involved in his life.

Theme
There is a sad difference between the treatment of wealthy women that live in the big cities and the treatment of impoverished village women.