A Thousand Splendid Suns

...

pull Mariam to the car. The driver brings Mariam home to Gul Daman. A horrible sight awaits them, however: Nana has hanged herself.

Chapter 6: Mariam is sent to live with Jalil after Nana’s funeral. Mariam is given the guest room. She’s visited by Niloufar, one of Jalil’s daughters; Bibi Jo; and Mullah Faizullah. After being there for a week, Mariam is called downstairs because the family has something important to talk to her about.

Chapter 7: Mariam sits at a table with Jalil and his three wives. After some uncomfortable small talk, Khadija (one of the wives) tells Mariam that they want her to marry a man named Rasheed. Mariam resists, but the wives tell her that Rasheed is a good man and a wealthy shoemaker. Mariam protests, but Jalil sides with his wives. They send Mariam to her room and lock the door.

Chapter 9: The next morning, Mariam is given a dress and is brought downstairs, where she finds two men and a local Mullah (not her beloved Mullah Faizullah) preparing for her wedding ceremony. Mariam meets Rasheed, her future husband, and then two are married. Mariam has an emotional goodbye with Jalil after the ceremony. She finally tells him how disappointed she is with him, and this visibly upsets him.

Chapter 10: Mariam doesn’t do much for the first few days and is always sure to be in bed by the time Rasheed gets home from work. Rasheed grows tired of this, telling her that he expects her "to start acting like a wife" . Again, all Mariam can do is cry. The next day, Mariam begins her duties as a wife, soaking lentils and vegetables for Rasheed’s dinner and preparing dough to cook at the village’s communal tandoor baking oven. Mariam follows a group of women and children to the tandoor. One woman named Fariba strikes up a conversation, but they’re rudely interrupted by the other women. Frightened, Mariam runs home without baking the bread.Rasheed is actually pleased with the meal that Mariam prepares for him. He suggests showing her around Kabul the following day and hands her a brown paper bag.

Chapter 11

Rasheed has given Mariam a burqa, and he’s told her that she must wear it whenever she leaves the home. Mariam has never worn one before.Rasheed takes Mariam around town, showing her a local park and the American embassy. He even buys Mariam her first ice cream cone—which totally blows her mind.Rasheed goes inside a shop while Mariam stands outside and watches the "modern Afghan women… [who] walked among strangers with makeup on their faces and nothing on their heads". Eventually, Rasheed emerges and gives Mariam an embroidered shawl as a gift. She’s surprised and genuinely moved by the gesture. Later that night, Rasheed and Mariam consummate their marriage.

Chapter 12

The Eid-ul-Fitr festival follows Ramadan each year, and Mariam and Rasheed leave the house to join in the festivities. Mariam sees Fariba again, but Rasheed mocks her and her teacher husband. On the third and final day of Eid, Rasheed leaves town to visit friends, and Mariam stays home alone. Mariam cleans the house, eventually making her way to Rasheed’s room. Although she’s never been inside, her curiosity gets the better of her, and she enters the room. Mariam starts going through Rasheed’s drawers. In the top drawer there is gun sitting on top of a few magazines. Mariam examines the gun before realizing that the magazines are pornographic. In the bottom drawer, Mariam finds an old picture of Yunus, Rasheed’s now-dead son. There’s also a photograph of Rasheed with his first wife. Mariam puts everything back where she found it and continues cleaning the house.

Chapter 13

Mariam and Rasheed are on a bus back home after visiting the doctor. Mariam is pregnant, and Rasheed is making it very clear that he wants a boy. Rasheed celebrates the pregnancy by hosting a party the following night. Mariam cooks and cleans but spends the night upstairs in her room. Later, Mariam visits a bathhouse at Rasheed’s request. While there, she begins to bleed, and she miscarries the child. The miscarriage deeply upsets Rasheed, and his attitude towards Mariam markedly shifts.

Chapter 14: Mariam is deeply depressed after the miscarriage. Rasheed rarely talks to her and is downright hostile when he does. In an attempt to ease their pain, Mariam suggests holding a burial ceremony for the baby. Rasheed brushes her idea aside, but Mariam goes through with the funeral the next day.

Chapter 15: It’s now 1978. Mariam watches large political demonstrations on the streets from her window. She sees Fariba, who is now pregnant. Mariam and Rasheed stay inside and listen to the radio. Rasheed talks goofily about politics (in his eyes, a communist is someone who believes in "Karl Marxist") and insults Mariam (1.15.4). It turns out that Mariam has gone through six pregnancies since her first, each one ending in a miscarriage. Rasheed becomes crueler with each one. A few weeks later, Mariam and Rasheed wake up to see military planes zooming over Kabul. Mariam cooks dinner that night while Rasheed listens to the radio. An Air Force Colonel is claiming that the communists have taken control of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, there’s a jump cut to Fariba, who has just given birth to a daughter named Laila. Back home, Rasheed is furious about dinner. He tells Mariam that the rice is overcooked. Mariam tries to apologize, but Rasheed storms outside and returns with a handful of pebbles. He forces them into Mariam’s mouth and makes her chew, breaking two of her molars.