What kind of irony is displayed in a thousand splendid suns?

Answer 1

It's ironic that even though Mariam cannot have kids, she "adopts" Laila and Aziza as her own. It's also ironic when Jalil blesses Mariam with many children when she cannot have any of her own. When Mariam is first married to Rasheed, he tells her she must wear a burqa, for purity. Yet he owns dirty magazines of other women and sisters.

Answer 2

Dramatic irony is displayed in "A Thousand Splendid Suns" when the readers know more about the characters’ situations than the characters themselves. This creates tension in the story and helps to engage the readers.

Answer 3

Spoiler Alert

The book is split into 4 parts and is set in Afghanistan. The first part focuses on Mariam, a girl who lives near Herat with her mother. Mariam is an illegitimate child and her wealthy father doesn't really care about her, but Mariam believes he does. On her 15th birthday, Mariam goes to visit her dad, but he refuses to see her. When Mariam gets home, her mum has killed herself. Mariam's father forces her to move to Kabul and marry an a much older man named Rasheed who is very abusive to her.

Part 2 is about the life of Laila, a girl living in Kabul in the same street as Mariam. Laila has an unhappy home life as her mother is depressed, but she is best friends with a boy named Tariq. As Laila is growing up, there is constant fighting between different war lords, putting them all in danger. When Laila is 14, she and Tariq fall in love and sleep together. Tariq and his family leave Kabul because of the fighting. Laila and her family plan to leave too, but a rocket hits their home and her parents are killed. Laila is rescued by Rasheed, who takes her home and has Mariam care for her.

In part 3, Laila discovers that Tariq is dead. Rasheed asks Laila to marry him, although Mariam objects to this. Laila has just discovered she is pregnant, so she agrees to marry Rasheed so that she can pass the baby off as his own. This drives a wedge between Mariam and Laila. Rasheed is very disappointed when Laila has a girl named Aziza. When Laila stops Rasheed from beating Mariam, the two women become friends. They try to escape from Rasheed, but they get caught and are savagely beaten. The the Taliban take over and introduce new laws, including forcing women to wear burqas and only go outside with their husbands. Laila has a son called Zalmai, and rasheed loses his job when his shoe shop burns down. He sends Aziza to an orphanage and Laila has to brave the Taliban's wrath to visit her. Laila discovers that Tariq is alive and that Rasheed paid a man to tell her he was dead, so that she would marry him. Rasheed reveals that he knew about Aziza's true parentage all along and attacks Laila, intending to kill her. To save Laila, Mariam kills Rasheed. She then turns herself in to the police, because she thinks it's only fair she be punished for what she did. Laila and her children leave with Tariq and Mariam is executed.

In part 4, Laila and Tariq are married and living in Pakistan. They decide to go back to Kabul after the Taliban fall from power and go to Herat to meet Mariam's father, although he has since died. They meet an old family friend who shows Laila Mariam's old home, and Laila is finally able to accept Mariam's death and move on. At the end, Laila is pregnant again and it is implied that if the baby is a girl, she will be called Mariam.

Answer 4

on page 365 when the taliban talks about scientists