1. A Thousand Splendid Suns What meaning does war bring to our lives?

2. Context: Afghanistan Cold War: the United States and the Soviet Union began spreading influences in Afghanistan, which led to a bloody war between the US-backed mujahideen forces and the Soviet-backed Afghan government in which over a million Afghans lost their lives 1990s civil war: the rise and fall of the extremist Taliban government and the 2001–present war Three decades of war made Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country, including the largest producer of refugees and asylum seekers terrorist groups which lead to hundreds of assassinations and suicide attacks radical Islamism

4. Context: Women’s Rights Institutionalized and systematic sexism Blur between rule of religion and politics Extreme Islamists, Taliban… women as property void of rights

5. Context: Clothing Burqa Hijab

6. Plot Preview Set in Afghanistan from the early 1960s to the early 2000s Spans two generations of families Preview from Publisher: A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to the post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

7. Characters Protagonist: Mariam Jo – She lives with her spiteful and stubborn mother, Nana; while her father Jalil, a successful businessman, visits Mariam — his only illegitimate child — once a week. Rasheed: becomes Mariam’s husband by force; a fruitless marriage Laila: neighbor of Rasheed and Mariam; Laila, a young, intelligent girl from a loving family Tariq: neighbor of Rasheed and Mariam; Laila’s best friend and adolescent love

8. Themes The effect of war Humanity’s capacity for evil, and humanity’s capacity to cope/redeem evil The response of women to humanity’s evil and oppression The nature of loyalty, friendship, endurance, hope/optimism and redemption The oppression of women The relationship and influence of faith and truth The complexity of family units

9. Literary Devices 3 rd person narrator, omniscient Tone Symbolism: burqa, Titanic, Pinocchio, abortion, Tariq’s prosthetic leg, virginity Motifs: dreams, thousand, good-byes Juxtaposition of external (national) conflict with internal (household, personal) conflict Characterization, foil

10. Reading Requirements for Each Night 3 dialectical journal entries Or 5 post-it notes Characterization, theme, literary devices, connections, questions, clarifications, predictions, conflict development, tensions, effect of war, search for redemption…