‘I can’t,’ she croaked…His hand was on her right breast now, squeezing it hard through the blouse, and she could hear him breathing deeply through the nose.” This quote doubles for discrimination because Mariam isn’t listened to. Even though she protests against Rasheed’s advances, he ignores her and doesn’t care. He just keeps going, showing that he has no value for a woman’s opinion.
	“They had Eid visitors at the house. They were all men, friends of Rasheed’s. When a knock came, Mariam knew to go upstairs to her room and close the door. She stayed there, as the men sipped tea downstairs with Rasheed, smoked, chatted. Rasheed had told Mariam that she was not to come down until the visitors had left.” Mariam isn’t even allowed to be in the presence of house guests when they come over. It’s simply because she’s a female and Rasheed wants to limit her.

	“One day soon, Mariam decided, she would tell Jalil these things. And when he heard, when he saw how much she missed him when he was gone, he would surely take her with him. He would bring her to Herat, to live in his house, just like his other children.” Mariam is dreaming the way a child does. Children are always beacons of hope and dreams – that things can get better. When Mariam makes plans to go and see Jalil and be accepted by him, she’s filling the reader with hope for a better future for her too.
	“And she felt for the first time a kinship with her husband. She told herself that they would make good companions after all.” Mariam is seeing things in a positive light, even though she just found porn and a gun in Rasheed’s dresser. She feels like they’ll be able to get along well and this shows a great amount of hope.
	“‘I’m going to be a mother,’ she said. Then she was laughing to herself, and saying it over and over, relishing the words. When Mariam thought of this baby, her heart swelled inside of her. It swelled and swelled until all the loss, all the grief, all the loneliness and self-abasement of her life washed away. This was why God had brought her here, all the way across the country. She knew this now.”Mariam is giddy with the knowledge of her baby. She’s getting incredibly excited about being a mother. She thinks about her life and decides that child-bearing is her purpose. This shows hope because she’s found a very special meaning to her life. 
	“‘He’s going to ask for my hand, Laila! Maybe as early as this summer. Can you believe it? I swear I can’t stop thinking about him.’” Giti finds a boy that she has a huge crush on and he decides that he wants to marry her. 