Rashid is aging, but nonetheless, still a fat, chain-smoking jerk. He agrees to adopt Laila by marrying her. Mariam describes Rashid on page 191. "His hair had gone white, but it was as thick and coarse as ever. There was a sag now to his eye-lids and the skin of his neck, which was wrinkled and leathery...he still had stout shoulders, the thick torso, the strong hands, the swollen belly that entered the room before any other part of him did." Judging from this description, he may also be a drinker!
Here is another description of Rashid, but this time from Laila. "Laila had a full view of his sagging breasts, his protruding belly button, the small blue vein in the center of it, the tufts of thick white hair on his chest, his shoulders, and upper arms. She felt his eyes crawling all over her" (197). Talk about premature skin aging, jeez. Rashid is a old, saggy, hairy, chain-smoking, alcohol-drinking creep. Hosseni does a great job portraying Rashid. Rashid is a cruel tyrant, which has already been established by his actions (making Mariam chew stones), but right now Hosseni goes a step further to establish what this cruel tyrant looks like.
He also seems like a child molestor also. When he first married Mariam, she was only fifteen years old. Now, both of them have aged quite a bit. "Sex, mercifully, was a closed chapter in her [Mariam's] life" (199). The part that disturbs me is the fact the Laila is fourteen. Seeing as how he and Mariam aren't as intimate anymore (they never really were), he goes and decides to marry a younger woman for his own perverted agenda. For goodness sakes, Rashid must be in his sixties right now.
I'm hoping Rashid will meet an unfortunate turn of events on of these days...
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