A Thousand Splendid Suns Post A # 3

Vocab
Flaccid (112)- soft and limp, weak, not firm
Ruse (113)- a trick
Figurative Language
"[...] his unstrapped leg raised high over his shoulder like a sword (120)." As Tariq is hopping towards Khadim, he is holding his prosthetic leg like a sword, ready to beat down Khadim when he gets to him. (SIMILE)

"A jeep honked and Tariq whistled back, beaming and waving cheerfully. 'Lovely guns!' he yelled. 'Fabulous jeeps! Fabulous army (131)!'" Tariq is saying these comments to a Russian convoy that is passing them. He is actually insulting them, and goes on to say, "Too bad you're losing to a bunch of peasants firing slingshots!" (VERBAL IRONY)

On PAGE 123, a man comes to Laila's house and reveals that her two brothers have been killed in the war with the Soviets. Laila's father and mother are both grief-stricken about this, and Laila is too, but not to the same degree. "Ahmad and Noor [her brothers] were always like lore to her. [...] It was Tariq who was real, flesh and blood. Tariq , who taught her cusswords in Pashto, who liked salted clover leaves, who frowned and made a low, moaning sound when he chewed, who had a light pink birthmark just beneath his left collarbone shaped like an upside-down mandolin" (126). Tariq is becoming a SYMBOL of hope and happiness throughout all of the hard times. He seems to be the only one Laila can turn to in times of despair. A bit later, Laila finds out that Tariq has supposedly been killed by a rocket blast, and she is as devastated as her mother was following Ahmad and Noor's deaths. "Laila remembered how Mammy had dropped to the ground, how she'd screamed, torn at her hair. But Laila couldn't even manage that. [...] She sat on the chair instead, hands limp in her lap, eyes staring at nothing, and let her mind fly on" (188).

Quote

"Ahmad and Noor had always been like lore to her (Laila). Like characters in a fable. Kings in a history book" (126).
First of all, that's just a horrible thing to say (or describe about her). I don't care how bad her situation was. You just can't say that kind of thing about siblings.
Second, I thought that this quote was a bit out of place. It's true, it went on to say that Laila's "real" brother Tariq was alive, flesh and blood, but I thought she would be a bit more sad about her two brothers being killed by jihadists.

Theme
Stay close to the ones you love.
When her brothers die, she holds onto her mother, father, and Tariq much more than before. She learns not to take her family and friends for granted.