Laila Quotes

Tariq comes back to meet Laila. At the orphanage, “Laila stood perfectly still and looked at Tariq until her chest screamed for air and her eyes burned to blink. And, somehow, miraculously, after she took a breath, closed and opened her eyes, he was still standing there. Tariq was still standing there” (327). [FRIENDSHIP]

Laila decides to name the baby Mariam. Laila and her family were playing a "game [that] involves only male names. Because, if it's a girl, Laila has already named her" (415). [FEMALE FRIENDSHIP]

Laila praises her father more than her mother. Laila appreciates “how glad she was to have a father like [Babi], or how proud she was of his regard for her, or how determined she was to pursue her education just as he had his”

A promise was made between Laila and Aziza, "’I'll come and see you,’ Laila said. ‘All the time. Look at me, Aziza. I'll come and see you. I'm your mother. If it kills me, I'll come and see you.’" (315). [FORESHADOW] [SUFFERING and PERSEVERANCE]

Foreshadowing was used to convey the miserable events that will occur to them. Mariam described "the tea set [as] the sole relic that Mariam's mother, Nana, had of her own mother, who had died when Nana was two. Nana cherished each blue-and-white porcelain piece, the graceful curve of the pot's spout, the hand-painted finches and chrysanthemums, the dragon on the sugar bowl, meant to ward off evil. It was this last piece that slipped from Mariam's fingers, that fell to the wooden floorboards of the kolba and shattered" (3). [FORESHADOW] [SUFFERING and PERSEVERANCE]

Laila reminisces the time her and Tariq spent together without knowing the fact that “there [will] come a day, in fact, years later, when Laila would no longer bewail his loss. Or not relentlessly; not nearly” (187). [FLASH FORWARD] [LOVE, LOYALTY, BONDING]

Laila perceives that “boys… treated friendship the way they treated the sun: its existence undisputed; its radiance best enjoyed, not beheld directly (133). [METAPHOR] [GENDER

Mariam shared her past life to Laila “about Jalil, and Nana, and the jinn… Out the words came, like blood gushing from an artery. Mariam told her about Bibi jo, Mullah Faizullah, the humiliating trek to Jalil's house, Nana's suicide. She told about Jalil's wives, and the hurried nikka with Rasheed, the trip to Kabul, her pregnancies, the endless cycles of hope and disappointment, Rasheed's turning on her” (255). [FEMALE FRIENDSHIP]

Mariam and Laila developed a strong bond and trust. After escaping the dreadful house, “Laila had known, would be the first risky part, finding a man suitable to pose with them as a family member…The second risky part of this trip would come when they actually arrived in Pakistan. Already burdened with nearly two million Afghan refugees, Pakistan had closed its borders to Afghans in January of that year” (259-260). [FEMALE FRIENDSHIP]

Mariam wanted to attend school but Nana thought “what’s the sense in schooling a girl like you? It’s like shining a spittoon. And you’ll learn nothing of value in those schools. There is only one, only one skill a woman like you and me needs in life, and they don’t teach it in school” (18).