A Thousand Splendid Suns Lesson Plan

Did you expect Rasheed to turn out to be so villainous? Do you feel that he is a realistic character?

Rasheed is extremely duplicitous, and can at first seem deceptively kind. Especially in the earlier stages of his marriage to Mariam, it’s easy to want to see the good in Rasheed, simply because the reader wants so desperately for Mariam’s life to improve. Unfortunately, Rasheed’s façade of geniality shatters whenever Mariam is any less than servile, or when he perceives her as somehow disobeying or disrespecting him. He’s deeply misogynistic and sees nothing more to Mariam and Laila than the services that they provide him. As to his realism, if any students doubt it you...