"I'll die if you go. I'll just die." (Hosseini, 36)
Foreshadowing: A suggestion of something that may happen later in the plot of a story.
This is an example of foreshadowing. The day after Nana believes that Mariam abandoned her she is found hanging from a tree. Mariam's mother commited suicide because she thought the only family she has left abandoned her for someone else. However, Mariam was only visiting her father would keep up his end of the deal, which he did not do; he shunned her.
"Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman ." (Hosseini, 7)
Simile: A simile is when two things are compared using the words "like" or "as".
Khaled Hosseini is comparing a man's finger to a compass needle. Whereas the compass needle always points in the northern direction, an accusing man will always find a way to point fingers at a woman. This is an example of a simile.
""The Taliban are puppets. These are the big players and Afghanistan is their playground."" (Hosseini, 274)
Metaphor: When two unlike things are compared not using ‘like’ or ‘as’.
This is an example of metaphor. The Taliban are referred to as the puppets and the land that is Afghanistan as their 'playground'.
"Laila put her ear over Aziza's mouth, dreading each time that she would not hear the shallow whooshing of breath"" (Hosseini, 242)
Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sounds.
In this quote Laila is struggling to hear the whooshing of her daughter's breath, after Rasheed had locked them up in the heat with no food or water, when they'd attempted to escape from him.