In the beginning of the novel The Swallows of Kabul, written by Yasmina Khadra, the audience is introduced to the character of Musarrat, Atiq’s wife. On first impression, she seems to be a lost cause clinging to any sense of normal life she has left; however, at the end of the novel, Musarrat becomes the unsung hero offering a glimmer of hope for the wretched city of Kabul. Through the use of her unconditional love for her husband, Khadra reveals how Musarrat became an image of hope for the audience, a daisy growing in the dump that is Kabul. In chapters eleven through fifteen, Musarrat’s image is opposite of the characters seen throughout the rest of the novel. She displays feelings of love, care, and support for her husband and also Zunaira, the stranger. One example of this is when Musarrat is talking with Atiq: “‘If you’d like, I could fix her something to eat.’ ‘You’d do that for her?’ ‘I’d do anything for you’(Khadra 152). After learning of her husband’s …show more content…
Musarrat tells Atiq: “I’ll slip into her cell. It won’t be anything but one burqa taking another’s place. Nobody will ever bother to check the identity of the person underneath” (175). Musarrat devised this plan to take Zunaira’s place in order to ensure that her husband would have someone in his life after she is gone. She has turned her illness into something positive, an opportunity, a chance for Atiq and Zunaira to leave Kabul and be free or happy again. Every character has some outside force, such as the Taliban for Zunaira, that brings them down. By choosing this sacrifice, Musarrat is attempting to overcome the thing that brings her down, and take control of her own fate. Even though the effects of her sacrifice are gut-wrenching, Musarrat’s sacrifice and choice to give her life for another provides hope for the city of Kabul in the mind’s of the