Part Four: Chapters 48-51
Reader Response Journal
While reading the novel, you will write a four-part journal about the key ideas, themes, characters, and plot from the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. I encourage you to use the following questions to engage in thinking about the characters, the plot, and what it means to us as readers--you are not expected to answer them, but they are useful for directing your thinking about the key ideas from the story, and for use in your reader response. Reader response prompts are open-ended, asking you to articulate your reactions to a scene or development in the plot. Discussion questions generally build on your literal recall of the plot to build up inferences about what these events mean and what they tell the reader about the overall meaning of the narrative. You may go back to the text to identify and analyze key passages as you build meaning and understanding of the story. Use the quotes or choose your own quotes as you read, explaining the meaning of the quote and its significance in your reading journals.
Reader Response Questions:
1. How does Laila’s life in Murree contrast with her life in Kabul?
2. Is Laila’s expectation that Zalmai will learn to accept his father’s absence realistic?
3. Will Laila’s nightmares about her life in Kabul ever cease? What is the worst thing that happened to her there?
4. Why is Laila afraid to hope for peace in Afghanistan, after the US war on the Taliban is over?
5. What forces tug on Laila's return to Afghanistan?
6. Why does Laila want to visit the home that Mariam had lived as a girl?
7. How does the letter of Mariam's father show his character? Does it redeem him in some way? In what ways is it ironic?
8. What is fitting about Laila's return to Kabul and her work at the orphanage?
9. How do the drawings at the orphanage express the children's experiences? How do they show contrast between the time that when Aziza was there and now?
10. How has Mariam become a symbol of Kabul for Laila?
2. Is Laila’s expectation that Zalmai will learn to accept his father’s absence realistic?
3. Will Laila’s nightmares about her life in Kabul ever cease? What is the worst thing that happened to her there?
4. Why is Laila afraid to hope for peace in Afghanistan, after the US war on the Taliban is over?
5. What forces tug on Laila's return to Afghanistan?
6. Why does Laila want to visit the home that Mariam had lived as a girl?
7. How does the letter of Mariam's father show his character? Does it redeem him in some way? In what ways is it ironic?
8. What is fitting about Laila's return to Kabul and her work at the orphanage?
9. How do the drawings at the orphanage express the children's experiences? How do they show contrast between the time that when Aziza was there and now?
10. How has Mariam become a symbol of Kabul for Laila?
Reader Response Quotes
“Laila knows that this shameful lie will have to be told again and again.” (p. 379)
“Kabul is waiting. Needing. This journey home is the right thing to do.” (p. 392)
“Laila thinks of her own life and all that has happened to her, and she is astonished that she too has survived….” (p. 395)
“…Mariam is in Laila’s own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.” (p. 414)
“Kabul is waiting. Needing. This journey home is the right thing to do.” (p. 392)
“Laila thinks of her own life and all that has happened to her, and she is astonished that she too has survived….” (p. 395)
“…Mariam is in Laila’s own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.” (p. 414)
Image source #1: http://bookwormsbachillerato.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/a_thousand_splendid_suns_by_toxic0shock.jpg
Image source #2: https://marcys.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/blueburqas.jpg
Image source #3: http://25.media.tumblr.com/16ced7982e84acef48ed058692ab0e72/tumblr_mkojb4FPIg1rv75xjo1_1280.jpg
Image source #2: https://marcys.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/blueburqas.jpg
Image source #3: http://25.media.tumblr.com/16ced7982e84acef48ed058692ab0e72/tumblr_mkojb4FPIg1rv75xjo1_1280.jpg