Jennifer Chang - Social Network Analysis


I chose Chapter 16 (the start of Part 2) of A Thousand Splendid Sun by Khaled Hosseini, one of my favorite books. In Part 2 of the novel, the point of view shifts from that of Mariam, the 15-year-old child bride, to Laila, one of the children in the village.

 

Most of the interaction in this chapter centers around Laila and her daily experiences. She briefly has a conversation with two of her friends, Giti and Hasina, but aside for that, her conversations are mostly with only one other person. This is typical of the style of the book, in which the storyline mostly focuses around one person and their thoughts and actions. Laila is a relatively introspective character, especially with her isolation in the book, but more importantly, the limited interactions are demonstrative of the oppressed nature of women during this time period, when they were allowed to be sold as property. I think it would be interesting to see this entire book mapped out, along with its predecessor, The Kite Runner, which is written from the perspective of a boy in Afghanistan, to see the differences in interactions.