Post B # 3

There are four different parts in A Thousand Splendid Suns. As of page 97, the main view switches from Mariam to a 15-year old girl named Laila. Laila is the daughter of a woman named Fariba, who is one of Mariam and Rasheed's neighobrs. Laila is quite a different character from Mariam. To start, she is more fortunate than Mariam in the fact that she lives with both parents, and both her mother and father are kind to her. Because of this, she has a better outlook on life in general. In addition to that, she has friends that she can look to for companionship and condolence. When Ahmad and Noor died, Laila's three best friends were all at the funeral, and helped console her at the time. When Mariam's mother hanged herself, there was no-one for her. Her father did not love her (at the time), and her father's ten other wives didn't care for her or her mother. Laila also has a different perspective on marriage, probably due to the fact that she has a boyfriend whom she loves. Tariq is an important figure in her life. Whenever Laila is with Tariq, she feels safe. She feels that he is protecting her from the harsh war currently taking place in Afghanistan. On the contrary, Mariam's husband Rasheed is an idiot. There is no other way to describe him. He acts like he is ten levels higher than Mariam, and makes her into a slave every day. There was a time when he made Mariam chew rocks until her molars shattered just because the rice she made was supposedly "a bit hard."
As part two goes on, Laila is hit by a rocket blast, and Rasheed finds her in a pile of rubble. He and Mariam begin to care for her.