Examples Of Foreshadowing In A Thousand Splendid Suns

Stop, yield, railroad crossing, school zone, and divided highway — all these signs alert drivers what is ahead. Like these signs, foreshadowing signifies future events in novels. Khalid Hosseni expertly engages foreshadowing in A Thousand Splendid Suns. In this novel, foreshadowing prepares readers for what Mariam's future holds.

Foreshadowing during their wedding indicates the future abuse. Foreshadowing reveals that Mariam’s life will ultimately be miserable. Specifically, in Chapter 8, the author describes Rasheed’s fingernails as “...yellow-brown, like the inside of a rotting apple, and some of the tips were curling, lifting” (Hosseini 49). The looks of Rasheed’s fingernails foreshadows how his attitude and relationship with Mariam may “rot” and decay in the future. Additionally, in Chapter 8, the author talks about how Rasheed was forceful with Mariam’s wedding band. Hosseini says, “Her own band was a little tight, but Rasheed had no trouble forcing it over her knuckles” (Hosseini 49). Since Rasheed is forceful with Mariam’s band, this foreshadows how Rasheed will become aggressive and abusive towards Mariam later on in the novel.

In chapter 9, the readers see that Rasheed’s house “had once been blue” (Hosseini 53). Mariam could tell that the paint on the house was chipping, the faded paint foreshadowing the once-happy home would eventually become sorrowful. In addition, “Mariam saw that Rasheed’s yard was unkempt and had thin patches of yellow grass” (Hosseini 53). The vegetation in Rasheed's dying yard foreshadows the death of Rasheed and Mariam’s relationship. Both the yellow grass and the fact that the house used to be blue may foreshadow that Rasheed’s house, once a source of security, now is