Literary Terms
This term refers to an author's ability to use descriptive language well, creating a picture in your mind.
What is imagery?
You'll lose this body part as punishment for stealing, under Shari'a Law.
What is a hand?
When fighting for god or a heroic purpose, you might characterize your fight using this Arabic word, meaning 'struggle.'
What is jihad?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author and speaker of the TED Talk "The Danger of a Single Story" is from this African nation.
What is Nigeria?
Laila follows in the footsteps of Babi, who once held this noble profession.
What is a teacher?
These three terms refer to a speaker's ability to use emotion, logic, or authority, respectively, to persuade their audience (order matters, here).
What are pathos, logos, and ethos?
This evil creature possessess Mariam's Nana, causing her to fall into spasms and fits.
What is a jinn?
Rudyard Kipling, author of 'We and They,' grew up in this country occupied by the British colonial government.
What is India?
Growing up, Mariam plays a game with this many pebbles, representing her desire to be part of a family unit.
What is eleven?
"Don't go in there!" you might shout at a doomed horror film character, exemplifying this type of irony.
What is dramatic irony?
Shari'a Law is a legal code based on this holy book of Islam.
What is the Koran?
This 'document'--written in three different ancient languages--allowed Western scholars to finally decode the mythical hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt.
What is the Rosetta Stone?
Preceding the Taliban, these loosely related groups fought initially against foreign occupation of Afghanistan--before turning their guns and rockets on each other.
Who are the mujahideen?
In Afghanistan many women were arrested for this crime, while what a man does in his own home is 'his business.'
What is running away?
This '-ism' refers to stereotypes held about the Middle East and Asia--that is mysterious and beautiful while also being dangerous and barbaric.
What is Orientalism?
Men in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan are required by law to style themselves with these two items.
What are beards and turbans?
Twin statues of this mythical and religious figure are destroyed by the Taliban during their campaign to purge Afghanistan of pre-Muslim influence.
Who is the Buddha?
Communism is the political and economic system of this Cold War superpower, which occupied Afghanistan at the beginning of A Thousand Splendid Suns.
What is the Soviet Union?
This parent neglects her daughter Laila due to her obsession with the memory of her two sons. We also know her as Mammy.
Who is Fariba?
When putting two dissimilar things side-by-side, you show how different they are using this literary 'j'-word.
What is juxtaposition?
This musical bird is outlawed by the Taliban; their owners would be beaten and the birds would be killed.
What is a parakeet?
Mammy mythologizes her sons Ahmad and Noor because they died fighting for a free Afghanistan. She uses this term which, in Arabic, means "martyr."
What is shaheed?
The United States begins a conflict in Afghanistan looking for this person, who is being sheltered by the Taliban.
Who is Osama Bin Laden?
The sleazy Rasheed uses this term, meaning princess or queen, to flirt with and charm Laila--and put down Mariam.
What is malika?