A Thousand Splendid Suns: Chapters 11-20

12/1/2020

These images could depict some of the main plot points of the beginning of Part II (Laila's Story) of A Thousand Splendid Suns. While these moments are important, they are by no means the only significant points in these chapters.
After having read these chapters:
-Select a single passage (this may be a single paragraph or several) that you feel best typifies the thematic importance of "shelter" in this section of ATSS.
-Explain the action and context of the quoted passage (you must cite the passage) and then,
-Explain how your understanding of this passage (1) supports your contextual understanding of the thematic subject ("shelter"), (2) deepens the character development, and/or (3) builds a central message that aligns with one of the unit's essential questions (see the main ATSS page).

Primary Blog Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 100-150 words, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the name that you were assigned in class as your PEN NAME and be sure to add word count. Due by 11:59 pm on Friday night!

Secondary Blog Response Expectations (read everyone's primary responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 75-100 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the name that you were assigned in class as your PEN NAME and be sure to add word count. Due by 11:59 pm on Sunday night!

Ghamzeh

12/3/2020 09:45:31 pm

“Mammy was soon asleep, leaving laila with dueling emotions: reassured that Mammy meant to live on, stung that she was not the reason. She would never leave her mark on mammy heart, the way her brothers had, because mammy heart was like a paddled beach where laila footprints would forever wash away beneath the waves of sorrow that swelled and crashed , swelled and crashed. “( page 144) In this quote we can see that laila was lacking emotional shelter, this is because farbia reason for living was based on her two sons. Laila lack the attention she deserves from her mother. Frabia admitted to laila that she hasn't been much of a mother to her in page 145. This might explain why laila prefers going to tariq house for shelter more than her own house. A future event might occur when laila would no longer seek her mother attention again.

Benesh

12/6/2020 11:55:49 pm

I agree that Laila is lacking emotional shelter in this part of the book. Her own parents aren’t in a good state of mind themselves. If even her parents aren’t ok it would be hard for her not to struggle. She can’t help her mother because, she is depressed now that her sons have died. Her mother admitted to not being much of a help to her showing that as a kid she has no one to help with her emotions and thoughts.

Word count: 83

Darsameen

12/7/2020 06:29:55 pm

I agree that Laila is lacking emotional shelter which is the opposite of Mariam which is why they are different. Laila and Mariam or so similar and different at the same time

illiyeen

12/7/2020 07:07:21 pm

i agree because laila's mother even said in a way that she does not even favor laila

Afsoon

12/8/2020 08:58:40 am

I agree laila just wants her mom to acknowledge that she has another child not just two sons. Laila wants her mom to be there for her like she was for her two sons. her mom forgets to do the little things like pick her up from school and that can turn into something big for Laila it shows that her mom doesnt really care but she tries to act like it

12/4/2020 11:57:35 pm

“Downstairs, her parents were fighting. Again. Laila knew the routine: Mammy, ferocious, indomitable, pacing and ranting; Babi sitting, looking sheepish and dazed, nodding obediently, waiting for the storm to pass” (Hosseini 108). In this section of the book it's about Laila and the shelter she has. We see a lot of the things she has are much better then what Mariam had, but we see that with both the parents around all the time they argue a lot. It makes her not feel comfortable in the place that is supposed to be her physical shelter. She would rather go over Tariq’s house where the people there care for one another. She could want to get away from that house and never go back again if problems continue to occur between family members.

Word Count: 132

12/6/2020 06:13:35 pm

I agree with Benesh because Laila life is more comfortable than Miriam, I would also agree that Laila lacks the shelter she needs from her mother, and yes, its no surprise that Laila prefers Tariq house for shelter more than her own house. Both Miriam and Laila are suffering from parental care. Laila is lacking the attention of her mother, while Mariam is lacking the attention and care from her father(jalil).And lets not forget that nana and farbia is also suffering because both women care about their children( In fabria case, its her two sons)

12/8/2020 08:55:32 am

I agree with Benesh. I feel Like Mariam and Laila both have a shelter but they don't feel comfortable because the way they are treated and what their parents do in front of them. Laila's mom only shows her love on her "good days" and Laila wants to feel love from her mom all the time she feels as if her mother should have never even had her in the first place

Esin

12/11/2020 09:25:23 am

I agree, because the arguments have become so consistent that the book says that Laila “knew the routine”, which is truly sad because she doesn't deserve to go through all of that,even with the fact that she has both parents present in her life and is technically supposed to have a “better life” than Mariam it doesn’t seem to be that way, and that is a prime example of why she always goes to Tariq’s house.

Word count: 77

Kaamnoosh

12/11/2020 12:21:32 pm

I agree with you because we had very similar answers. I think you precisely meet the criteria and explain Laila's home situation and how that affects her, saying that her and Mammy home situation isn't appropriate and why that leads people to believe that the home isn't a proper "shelter". And the comparison to Mariam was spot on and explained a similarity and how both of their mothers have very awkward situations with them and leaf them to have certain beliefs about their moms.

Word Count - 84

12/6/2020 09:49:31 pm

“Sometimes Laila wondered why Mammy even bothered having her. People, she believed now, shouldn’t be allowed to have new children if they’d already given away all their love to their old ones,”(Hosseni 119). Laila’s mom forgot to pick her up from school again and there was an incident with Laila and these boys on the way home. Laila and Mariam’s relationships with their moms are kinda similar. Both of their mothers are negative in a way to them and they both have their days. Far as shelter Laila has a better shelter. She lives with both of her parents in a stable household. Laila also has friends who are kind of like apart of her shelter because they are people who care about her Mariam only had her mom and Mullah FAzullah.

12/7/2020 12:00:09 am

I agree that Laila has a better physical shelter, but I don’t know about a better emotional shelter. She doesn’t have a mother that she can rely on to do anything anymore. The mother just sits around all day and it seems like she forgets Laila is even there sometimes. Laila at a young age has to deal with all the problems just as bad as Mariam did in her house. They are very similar in some ways but have completely different lives.

Word count: 83

12/7/2020 09:00:57 am

I agree because Laila life is more comfortable than miriam, I would also agree that laila lacks the shelter she needs from her mother, and yes, its no surprise that laila prefers tariq house for shelter more than her own house. Both miriam and laila are suffering from parental care. Laila is lacking the attention of her mother, while mariam is lacking the attention and care from her father(jalil).And lets not forget that nana and farbia is also suffering because both women care about their children( In fabria case, its her two sons)

12/7/2020 06:28:12 pm

I agree that Laila has a better life because she has more support over all than Mariam because she has her friends and her parents. But in the shoes of Mariam she has one person and only person

12/7/2020 07:21:51 pm

i agree that laila has a better shelter because she is closer with her family than mariam is with hers which allows her to be more confortable and run back to her family if she needs anything

12/11/2020 09:35:31 am

I don't think that Laila has a better shelter overall. Yes, she lives with both parents, has a stable roof on her head, and doesn’t have to worry about some of the problems that Mariam has to deal with, but emotionally she’s not all that different from Mariam. Laila constantly goes to Tariq’s house just to feel like she’s in a safe environment because she doesn't feel comfortable on her own. But other than that I agree with you.

Word count: 79

Darasameen

12/7/2020 06:24:45 pm

Laila has a better life but not by much. " sometimes Laila wondered why Mammy even bothered having her." Laila has a good physical shelter but not so much emotional. She doesnt have anyone to go to when she has to express her feelings. Which is opposite of Mariam because she has a good emotional support shelter but not so much a physical one because she is no longer with Nana or her father she is with a creepy old guy. But over all Laila has a more comfortable life style because she doesn't have to worry about the next meal that she eats or where she is going to stay. Mariam also had not many people care for her she only had Mullah Fuzullah but Laila had her friends.

Araboo

12/8/2020 11:17:05 pm

I slightly agree yes she doesn't get the support she needs or wants from her mother but her dad is still there for her and she has Tariq to talk to and protect her although her mothers sorrows are making her have more responsibilities stress and emotional downfall.

12/7/2020 06:57:09 pm

"She understood then what Nana meant, that a harami was an unwanted thing; that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance." shelter is important because in the book we understand that mariam is not someone that should be wanted in that country, but this is why she starts to apprictate and be thankful for the people around her who really want her to be safe and this is also a way of showing emotional shelter because nana and her other family members care for her and try to allow her to open up.

12/8/2020 11:14:28 pm

mammy is in a state of depression due to her sons beong off at war and her husband being the reason their relationships is not too great when mammy finds out that her sons have now died from war she become very depressed she states to Laila she thought about killing herself when Laila brought up the concern but she does not want to die because she wants to live to see her boys dreams and allow them to see everything they wanted to happen through her eyes this makes laila happy her mother wants to live but makes her sad she will never mean as much to her mother as her brothers do ,laila is missing out on emotional support and physical attention from her mother because of her mothers sorrows.

Colby Richardson

12/9/2020 09:14:24 am

in the beginning of a thousand splendid suns Nana says something referring to women like us when she says that she means women that are not wealthy and that do not have the freedom other women have she was right when she said this because she was growing up she had a hard life. her mother died when she was two years old and her father was not around. she tries to tell Mariam that they must fight through it. Mariam does not believe her but once she returned from being rejected by her father she comes to realize that maybe that she was right but when she goes back to tell her she finds Nana after she had hung herself.

12/11/2020 09:18:05 am

In the book it says, “Downstairs, her parents were fighting. Again, Laila knew the routine: Mammy, ferocious, indomitable, pacing and ranting; Babi sitting, looking sheepish and dazed, nodding obediently, waiting for the storm to pass. Laila closed her door and changed. But she could still hear them. She could still hear her “(Housseini 108). In this section of the book we see Laila’s shelter, even with her door closed she could still hear the loud arguments going on downstairs. Unlike Mariam, even though she has both parents around it doesn’t necessarily feel like it to her. She instead goes to Tariq’s house for the shelter that she desires because she feels comfortable. She can forget about all the problems that she has to deal with at her own house.

Word count: 129

12/11/2020 12:06:41 pm

"Laila wondered why Mammy had even bothered having her. People, she believed now, shouldn't be allowed to have new children if they'd already given away all their love to their old ones"(Hossein 119) . I feel like if you don't feel loved in your home your its not gonna seem like a home or "shelter". It makes Laila grow up a little quicker so it also develops her as a character, and also she didn't even enjoy being in her own house hold she rather be at a friends. So I would say her house was never really her "Shelter" in the first place, she would probably rather refer to maybe Tariq or another friends house as her "shelter"

Word Count - 118

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A Thousand Splendid Suns: Chapters 11-20

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