A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini

This passage from pp 173-174- from Khalid Hosseini's novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns is significant because Hosseini displays many different literary devices, such as symbolism, imagery, and allusion which describes the social issues in the novel Laila faces, and describes how Laila and the citizens in Afghanistan live during the Soviets violation in Afghanistan, as this was a major part in this novel. Moreover, this passage is also important because it allows the reader to understand how hard it is to live in an area where war is developing and explains how the action one takes, surrounded by war. Secondly, Hosseini conveys the social issues, chaos and anxiety due to the political rivalry. One literary device, which Hosseini uses, is allusion. Hosseini uses allusion by illustrating war when he addresses, "Then the rugs were folded, the mountains fired on Kabul, and Kabul, fired back at the mountains, as Laila and the rest of the city watched helpless as old Santiago watching the sharks take bites out of his prize fish" (A Thousand Splendid Suns p.174). Khaled Hosseini refers to the The Old Man and the Sea , describing the old man's lack of talent to do anything as the sharks eat the fish, to how destitute and vulnerable the citizens of Kabul feel. This shows the cultural values in Afghanistan because the people living are unwilling to move. On the other hand, part of the reason the people want to stay is their desire near the Middle East, where their religion, Islam started. Another example of literary device that Hosseini uses in this passage is imagery. Hosseini uses imagery to let the reader understand and to visualize distinctly what is occurring in the passage. A context consisting of imagery often contains rich words tha...

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...uspended" (A Thousand Splendid Suns p.173). Hosseini uses the symbol of whistling to present image of the fear and disappointment of Laila and Tariq, as the citizens experience numerous bombings that occur day and night. The citizens in the city of Kabul, including Laila, anguish and fear about the whistling because this is the time when the people have to wait and wonder where the rocket is going to land without knowing if it might be their last breath. It could kill them, their relatives, or maybe even their friends. The citizens are also annoyed with such a horrible event. Thus, this passage is symbolic and significant with the use of imagery, symbolism and allusion, which helps the reader understand the social issues and the conditions during war, and creates a picture in the reader’s mind of the horror Laila faces every day.