Fish

Fish are a quiet but persistent presence in A Thousand Splendid Suns, surfacing in moments of connection, loss, and longing. They first appear in Mariam's childhood, when her father Jalil visits her at the kolba every Thursday. He teaches her to fish in the stream near the clearing, showing her how to cast a line, reel in trout, gut them, clean them, and lift the meat off the bone in one motion. These lessons are among the few tender, unhurried rituals Mariam shares with Jalil, and they become a cherished memory of the father she adores. When Jalil leaves after each visit, Mariam holds her breath and counts seconds, pretending that for each second she does not breathe, God will grant her another day with him. The stream and its fish are the backdrop for this anxious, hopeful waiting.

Fish as a Link to the Past and a Promise of Escape

After Mariam marries Rasheed and moves to Kabul, fish reappear as a tentative gesture of goodwill. On their first day at his house, Rasheed tells her, "Your father told me you like to fish. There are valleys north of here. Rivers with lots of fish. Maybe I'll take you someday." This promise, never fulfilled, is one of the few moments when Rasheed seems to offer Mariam a bridge between her old life and her new one. Later, when Laila and Mariam become allies, fish again mark a turning point. Laila finds Mariam in the kitchen cleaning a pair of trout, and Mariam demonstrates the same expert technique Jalil taught her: clipping the fins, slicing from tail to gills, removing the entrails in one stroke. Laila asks where she learned to clean fish like that, and Mariam replies, "When I was a little girl, I lived by a stream. I used to catch my own fish." This exchange opens the door to their first real conversation, and soon after they share tea in the yard, beginning the friendship that will sustain them both.

Fish in Dreams of a New Life

In the darkest days of her marriage to Rasheed, Laila dreams of escape. Mariam, trying to comfort her after they have killed Rasheed, paints a vision of a peaceful future: "Maybe there would be a path to take, a path that led to a grass field where the children could play, or maybe a graveled road that would take them to a clear blue lake where trout swam and reeds poked through the surface." The image of trout in a clear lake becomes a symbol of the tranquil, self-sufficient life they hope to build together—a life that, in the end, only Laila will live. When Laila later begs Mariam not to surrender to the authorities, she again invokes this dream, speaking of "walks to trout-filled lakes." But Mariam insists on taking responsibility, and the vision of fish in a peaceful lake remains an unfulfilled promise, a measure of what was sacrificed.

Fish as a Symbol of Endurance and Loss

Fish also carry a darker resonance. Mariam's first miscarriage occurs at the bathhouse, and the blood she loses there is described as a pool at her feet—a stark contrast to the life-giving waters of the stream where she once fished. The fish she cleaned with such skill become a reminder of the children she could not carry to term. Later, when Laila and Mariam dig a hole to bury the television, the drought has dried up the Kabul River, and the land is as hard as rock. The absence of water and fish mirrors the absence of hope. Yet even in this barren landscape, the memory of fish persists. When Mariam imagines a new life for Laila and the children, she returns to the image of a lake with trout, a place where the weight of their suffering might finally lift. Fish, then, are not merely a food source or a pastime; they are a thread connecting Mariam's childhood love for Jalil, her brief moments of connection with Rasheed, her friendship with Laila, and the dream of a future that never came to be. They represent the possibility of sustenance, skill, and peace in a world that offers little of any.