Chapters 1-10

"'Then what can I do? God, in His wisdom, has given us each weaknesses, and foremost among my many is that I am powerless to refuse you, Mariam jo,' he said, tapping her cheek with one arthritic finger."
Ch 3 pg. 13

"Despite her rants against him when he wasn't around, Nana was subdued and mannerly when Jalil visited. Her hair was always washed. She brushed her teeth, wore her best hijab for him. She sat quietly on a chair across from him, hands folded on her lap. She did not look at him directly and never used coarse language around him. When she laughed, she covered her mouth with a fist to hide the bad tooth." Ch 4 pg. 15-16

"You were ashamed of me."
"I'll visit you," he muttered. "I'll come to Kabul and see you..."
"No. No," she said. "Don't come. I won't see you. Don't you come. I don't want to hear from you. Ever. Ever."
He gave her a wounded look.
"It ends here for you and me. Say your good byes."
"Don't leave like this," he said in a thin voice.
"You didn't even have the decency to give me the time to say good bye to Mullah Faizullah."
(Hosseini 37-38)

The fact that he can sit there and talk to her like he actually cares for her is simply aggravating. Outside of the little cottage where Mariam and Nana live, Jalil wouldn't even acknowledge them as human beings.

Nana dressing up and improving her appearance just for him is confusing because she talks about him like she hates him all the time to Mariam. She even goes so far as to cover up her "bad tooth." I think that a part of her doesn't want to upset him because she doesn't want to get cast out again.

Mariam finally realizing how much of a bad person her dad is is a really good feeling because, to be honest, I always knew he was a bad person. When she tried to go visit him at his house, he literally made her sleep on the street and wouldn't let her in. That really upset me, and I wish she would have listened to her mom.

"These women mystified Mariam. They made her aware of her own lowliness, her plain looks, her lack of aspirations, her ignorance of so many things."
(Hosseini 75)

"What for? It's idotic."
"It would make me feel better, I think."
"Then you do it," he said sharply. "I've already buried one son. I won't bury another. Now, if you don't mind, I'm trying to listen."
He turned up the volume again, leaned his head back and closed his eyes."
(Hosseini 96)

"And sometimes it gets rubbed. Especially when it's hot. Then I get rashes and blisters, but my mother has creams that help. It's not so bad."
Laila had burst into tears.
"What are you crying for?"
He'd strapped his leg back on.
"You asked to see it, you giryanok, you crybaby! If I'd known you were going to bawl, I wouldn't have shown you."
(Hosseini 131-132)

Mariam felt insecure because she saw all these "modern" women with their short skirts and makeup, and she felt like she could never get those opportunities. She feels like she'll never get the education she wants. She has dreams and hopes but she can't express them due to her lifestyle she's supposed to live.

Rasheed makes Mariam feel stupid for wanting to bury their miscarriage because he's already lost a son. This is Mariam's first experience with this type of stuff so she doesn't really have a grasp on the concept. She also doesn't understand why Rasheed is so upset about it.

Laila upon seeing Tyriq's leg can't control herself and burst out in tears over it. Tyriq gets upset over it because she said she wasn't going to overract about it. Tyriq maybe feels like he is ugly or deformed because it and maybe feels ashamed.

"There were internal injuries too. They'd operated three times already. Took out sections of intestines. I don't remember what else. And he was burned. Quite badly. That's all I'll say about that. I'm sure you have your fair share of nightmares, hamshira. No sense in me adding to them."
(Hosseini 207)

"A wave of affection overcame Laila. From then on, she would always remember Babi this way: reminiscing about Mammy, with his elbows on the rock, hands cupping his chin, his hair ruffled, by the wind, eyes crinkled against the sun."
(Hosseini 149)

"Laila swooned inside. She tried to read his face but was met by a look that was indecipherable: the cheerful, cretinous grin at odds with the narrow, half-desperate look in his eyes. A clever look, calculated to fall precisely at the midpoint between mockery and sincerity."
(Hosseini 170)

Laila's dad takes her up to the mountains to see her culture and what it is really like. She not only realizes that this is how they used to live and that it's beautiful but also how much love Babi has for Mammy. Even though she is in her depression funk, he still manages to find the good in her and remember all of her good qualities.

In this part, Laila and Tariq realize their adult feelings for each other and start to communicate them to each other. Certain things hold them back, though, like the fact that he is a Pashtun and she is a Tajik. Laila's mom thinks that they should not be together because of these cultural differences, but I think they should.

Rasheed has no place to be telling Laila this information because it is a very sensitive topic, and she deserves to be told by someone that cares about her. She is shocked by the information and cannot imagine Tariq with no legs. I think that he is telling her that Tariq is dead in hopes that he can take her as a wife. Mariam starts to take notice to this.

"Then there was shouting. Pots raised though not hurled. They'd called each other names, names that made Laila blush now. They hadn't spoken since. Laila was still shocked at how easily she'd come unhinged, but, the truth was, part of her had liked how it felt to scream at Mariam, to curse at her, to have a target at which to focus all her shimmering anger, her grief."
(Hosseini 234)

"The slap made a loud smacking sound, the palm of his thick-fingered hand connecting squarely with the meat of Laila's cheek. It made her head whip around. It silenced the noises from the kitchen. For a moment, the house was perfectly quiet. Then a flurry of hurried footsteps in the hallway before Mariam and the children were in the living room, their eyes shifting from her to Rasheed and back.
Then Laila punched him."
(Hosseini 299)

"You try this again and I will find you. I swear on the Prophet's name that I will find you. And, when I do, there isn't a court in this godforsaken country that will hold me accountable for what I will do. To Mariam first, then to her, and you last.I'll make you watch. You understand me? I'll make you watch."
(Hosseini 272)

Laila and Mariam have this existing conflict with each other, but it seems to be pointless. They both have a hatred for each other, but I think that this anger is misdirected because I don't think they really hate each other. They both have a common disliking for Rasheed and take it out on each other because they refuse to open up to each other.

Laila finally gets up the courage to fight back in this chapter and it proves to not be good for her. Rasheed can never be satisfied with the women in his household and starts to beat them even more than he already did. I don't understand why he feels the need to lash out at the women when they are the ones that constantly are there to take care of him and do all of his bidding.

Rasheed's violent and harsh side is brought out even more in this chapter because he tells Laila he would kill all of the women of they were to ever run away again. Laila's fear of Rasheed deepens, and with good reason. She realizes, finally, that the man she agreed to marry is not the same one that constantly beat her.

"Laila closes her eyes and sits there awhile.
In Pakistan, it was difficult sometimes to remember the details of Mariam's face. There were times when, like a word on the tip of her tongue, Mariam's face eluded her. But now, here in this place, it's easy to summon Mariam behind the lids of her eyes..."
(Hosseini 400)

"And so Mariam raised the shovel high, raised it as high as she could, arching it so it touched the small of her back. She turned it so the sharp edge was vertical, and, as she did, it occurred to her that this was the first time that she was deciding the course of her own life.
And, with that, Mariam brought down the shovel. This time, she gave it everything she had."
(Hosseini 349)

"Laila follwed his finger. There was a man at the front door of the house, leaning against it. His head turned when he saw them approaching. He uncrossed his arms. Limped a few steps toward them.
Laila stopped."
(Hosseini 327)

After many years, Laila is able to go back to where Mariam grew up and truly experience her soul going through her. She is finally able to put herself at ease and imagine how Mariam grew up and how she lived. Because of this, Laila feels like she can go on and live her life with Tariq, Aziza, and Zalmai peacefully.

In killing Rasheed, she is not only fighting back for herself, but for Laila and Aziza too. She finally felt some sort of control in her life when she was in the moment, and for her, this was enough to go through with killing the man that had made her life a living hell. Mariam felt like she had no choice because if she would have kept Rasheed alive, he would have killed the two women out of spite.

After all this time, Laila are Tariq are finally reunited and are speechless when they see each other. The fact that Laila ignores everything else that is going on in the house when she sees Tariq is not surprising. She has not seen him in such a long time that she is bewildered by the fact that he is even there because she had been given the news that he was dead.