The novel "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini was inspired by the poem titled "Kabul" by Saib-e-Tabrizi. From reading the poem, you can see the love the author has for the beautiful Kabul. Tabrizi speaks of the city being surrounded by mountains twice. the first time was by using metaphor of a skirt, giving the appearance of almost delicate beauty and the second metaphor he used was a “fort’s dragon-sprawling walls” which guard the city, giving the city a feeling that they are being well-protected and cherished by those in the city due to the protective nature of the mountains. One if the stanzas that caught my eye in the poem was “Her nights of darkness, of lustrous hair" This metaphor represents the many women in Kabul who have long beautiful dark hair. The poets purpose of this poem was to show us with direct imagery how enchanting Kabul is. For example, in another stanza he says "My song exhalts her dazzling tulips.”Tabrizi praises Kabul because it is so wonderfully beautiful.

Unfortunately, today, there are not so many tulips. There is more destruction than beautiful buildings. The most important stanza to me is "one could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls." Tabrizi used this stanza in a way of saying that the plentifulness of beauty, in the world outside of Kabul extended. The "thousand splendid suns" represented the mothers who loved and nurtured their children at home even though many of them knew they would not thrive because of the Taliban. Laila’s father, Hakim, quotes these lines when they are about to leave the city in war. Hosseini signifies motherhood . In the novel, motherhood emerges as the highest standard, especially in Mariam and Laila. I know that Laila was scared she might hate Rasheed's child, but she ended up loving Zalmai. She is the mother and she created him, and a true mother always loves her child, regardless. Also, in my opinion, one of the main themes of the book was the beauty of the people being overshadowed by war and misfortune, and their ability to bounce right back and find beauty and joy even in the midst of terrible circumstances. For example, Laila and her family. Laila dealt with the abusive Rasheed for years! Finally, one day Tariq came back and slowly but surely, her life became joyful. Rasheed was now dead, and unfortunately so was Mariam. However, she knows Mariam did good in killing Rasheed even though she was killed herself for doing so. Now, she lives with Tariq and her children and is also a teacher. She is safely raising a family in peace.