About the author

Khaled Hosseini was born in

Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His
father was a diplomat in the Afghan
Foreign Ministry and his mother
taught Farsi and history at a high
school in Kabul. In 1976, the Foreign
Ministry relocated the Hosseini
family to Paris. They were ready to
return to Kabul in 1980, but by then
their homeland had witnessed a
bloody communist coup and the
invasion of the Soviet Army. The
Hosseinis sought and were granted
political asylum in the United States,
and in September 1980 moved to
San Jose, California.
 Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled
at Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelors degree
in biology in 1988. The following year he entered the
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where
he earned a medical degree in 1993. He completed his
residency at Cedars-Sinai medical center in Los Angeles and
was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.
 In March 2001, while practicing medicine,
Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite
Runner. Published by Riverhead Books in 2003,
that debut went on to become an international
bestseller and beloved classic, sold in at least
seventy countries and spending more than a
hundred weeks on the New York Times bestseller
list. In May 2007, his second novel, A Thousand
Splendid Suns, debuted at #1 on the New York
Times bestseller list, remaining in that spot for
fifteen weeks and nearly an entire year on the
bestseller list. Together, the two books have sold
more than 10 million copies in the United States
and more than 38 million copies worldwide. The
Kite Runner was adapted into a graphic novel of
the same name in 2011. Hosseinis much-awaited
third novel, And the Mountains Echoed, will be
published on May 21, 2013.
 In 2006, Hosseini was named a
Goodwill Envoy to UNHCR, the
United Nations Refugee Agency.
Inspired by a trip he made to
Afghanistan with the UNHCR, he
later established The Khaled
Hosseini Foundation, a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit, which provides
humanitarian assistance to the
people of Afghanistan. He lives in
Northern California with his wife,
Roya, and their two children, Haris
and Farah.
 Employment
Practicing physician specializing in internal
medicine, 1996
The Permanente Medical Group, Mountain
View, CA, physician, beginning 1999.
 Awards and recognition
Original Voices Award, Borders Group, and
Alex Award, YALSA, both 2004, both for The
Kite Runner.
2014 John Steinbeck Award
Works themes and subject
Notable works
The kite Runner
And the Mountains Echoed
A Thousand Splendid Suns
 Background
Knowledge
Afghanistan used to
be a progressive Muslim
country before the Taliban
gained power. When the
Taliban ruled Afghanistan,
they became a religious state,
or a theocracy, and forced
laws that were
fundamentalist in nature.
One of the laws was
the requirement for all
their women to wear
burqa un public. The
Taliban also protected
the well-known
terrorist Osama Bin Laden.
 He was the
mastermind behind the
9/11 terrorist attack,
which involved the
crashing of two airplanes
in the Twin Towers of the
World Trade Center in
New York. Recently,
the USA invaded
Afghanistan and
removed the Taliban
from power. Today,
Afghanistan
has its own government,
but the Taliban still has a
strong influence on the
Afghan society.
 TITLE
The title of the book comes from
a line in the Josephine Davis
translation of the poem
"Kabul", by the 17th-century
Iranian poet Saib Tabrizi:
"Every street of Kabul is
enthralling to the eye Through
the bazaars, caravans of Egypt
pass One could not count the
moons that shimmer on her
roofs And the thousand splendid
suns that hide behind her walls
 In an interview, Khaled Hosseini
explains, "I was searching for
English translations of poems about
Kabul, for use in a scene where a
character bemoans leaving his
beloved city, when I found this
particular verse. I realized that I had
found not only the right line for the
scene, but also an evocative title in
the phrase 'a thousand splendid
suns,' which appears in the next-to-
last stanza."
Characterization and Characters
Rasheed Mariam
Mariam - shame at being
illegitimate makes her
unable to stand up for
herself.

Rasheed - Conservative
and willful. Hes the one
who helped Mariam to
wear the burqa.
 Mariam has never before worn a burqa and has
a terrible time adjusting to its weight and length.
Rasheed helps her put it on, but she has the most
trouble adjusting to the loss of her peripheral
vision.Then, he takes her on a tour of Kabul. First
they visit the Shar-e-Nau Park and watch the
children play. Then, he takes her for lunch at Haji
Yaghoub for lunch and Mariam is amazed, because
she has never before visited a restaurant. Her she
learns, to her surprise, that the burqa is a comfort.
She is only an observer inside of it, and since no one
can see her, she no longer worries that people know,
at a single glance, all the shameful secrets of her
past.
 She is also amazed at how crowded Kabul is
compared to Herat. However, she does have
trouble with the dialect of the city and has to listen
carefully to understand all thats being said.
Rasheed also buys her an ice cream cone,
something she has never eaten and she is
awestruck by its bewitching texture and sweetness
of it. They walk to place called Kochech-Morgha or
Chicken Street. In spite of its unusual name, it is
one of Kabuls wealthiest districts, There the couple
visits a bazaar and many shops and little stalls
selling all kinds of goods. Along the way, Rasheed
greets shopkeepers he knows. They soon come to
an embroidery shop where Rasheed makes Mariam
wait outside.
 While she waits for him, Mariam watches
the people passing by. She is most intrigued by
the women who, for the most part, are
modern. They dont cover, wear dresses that
show their legs, wear make-up and style their
hair, and even smoke in public. They mystify
Mariam and make her aware of her own
lowliness, plain looks, lack of aspirations, and
her ignorance of so many things.
 Story Analysis

_____________________
Elements of Fiction
 Elements of Fiction
__________________________
Setting
Place: The novel takes
place in Kabul, the
capital of Afghanistan as
well as it is largest city,
located in the eastern
section of the country.
Time: Early 1960s to early
2000s
Type: Atmospheric
Mood
Despair
Shame

Type of Plot
The plot is episodic
since this is only a
part of the novel.
 Conflict
Man vs Himself
Mariam is in conflict with who she was in
the past and being confident in wearing
the burqa
Man vs Man
Mariam had never worn a burqa and
Rasheed help her to put it on though she
seems not comfortable when she wear it
Man vs Society
because theres a discrimination in Afghan
women in Afghan society

Point of view
The writer used the third
person point of view.
 Themes Styles
Major theme: The writer used
Differences of the narrative style
Afghan women because he
narrates the story.
Minor theme: Other than that, he
Inner strength also used the
o the women descriptive style
(Mariam had never
because he used
descriptive words
worn a burqa and in modern Afghan
she tried to be which makes the
comfortable in story more
wearing it in interesting
public)
 Techniques Symbol
Narrative hook Burqa
The opening of the
Loss of identity
story hooks readers
Restricting women's
attention so they will
freedom
keep reading
Trapped under the rule
Incluing
because the reader
gradually exposing to
background
information about the
storys world to subtly
clue the readers into
the world to author is
building