Themes - Shame and Reputation

Question 1

chapter 1

“a harami was an unwanted thing: that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person”

Mariam

Answer 1

• Mariam has carried the burden of shame with her for her entire life
• “illegitimate person” -dehumanizing

Question 2

chapter 6

“For the first time, Mariam could here [Jalil] with Nana’s ears”

Mariam

Answer 2

• A turning point for Mariam - she finally relises her father is a bad person
• “Nana’s ears” - the generational trauma that Mariam also has to carry as well as her shame

Question 3

chapter 15

“to bear his scorn, his ridicule, his insults, his walking past her like she was nothing but a house cat.”

Mariam

Answer 3

• asyndetic list - endless cycle of abuse Mariam can’t end
• “like a house cat” - the simile that compares Mariam to a cat, which are assosiated with superstition and back luck

Question 4

chapter 41

“but how ordinary his faults seemed now, how forgivable, when compared to Rasheed’s malice”

Mariam, Rasheed, Jalil

Answer 4

• As a woman in Afghanistan, Mariam will be treated poorly by most men she meets but she feels as if she is at fault for not trying to understand her father or “let him in”
• “malice” - Rasheed is irredeemable in his actions to the point where he makes Mariam’s father look “forgivable”

Question 5

AHWAUW: TS, M, WAIP.

Answer 5

“a harami was an unwanted thing: that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person” - narrator

Question 6

FTFT, MCHJWNE

Answer 6

“For the first time, Mariam could here [Jalil] with Nana’s ears”

Question 7

TBHS, HR, HI, HWPHLSWNBAHC.

Answer 7

“to bear his scorn, his ridicule, his insults, his walking past her like she was nothing but a house cat.”

Question 8

BHOHFSN, HF, WCTRM.

Answer 8

“but how ordinary his faults seemed now, how forgivable, when compared to Rasheed’s malice”