"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khalil Hosseini

The text-based narrative genre that I have chosen to analyze is the book “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by the author Khaled Hosseini. The purpose of the book is to tell a story about love and loss and war and oppression and connections between people. The purpose of the book is also to highlight the harsh realities that people of Afghanistan, and more specifically the women of Afghanistan, face. The book covers some extremely heavy topics and is quite graphic with many graphic details of situations, so the audience for the book would probably be teenagers and above, but besides the heavy themes discussed the book is an extremely moving and an emotional piece that could impact all different kinds of people. The rhetorical appeals that are used throughout the novel are ethos and pathos. Ethos is used because the author, Khaled Hosseini, was born and, for the majority of his life, raised in Afghanistan. He saw, first-hand, the struggles and hardships that Afghani people have to face. Pathos is also used due to the books heavy themes and stories. The book is so beautifully written that readers can really feel the pain that Mariam and Laila endure, as well as the other characters in the story. The hardships they face and the trials that they endure are truly gut-wrenching. The mode utilized for this novel is written and the media utilized is print. This book is intended to tell a story, but it is also intended to shed light on people who are often looked down upon. The powerful storytelling ability of Hosseini bring these characters to life and make the story extremely powerful. This piece could easily be adapted into many different genres. The novel “The Kite Runner” which was also written by Hosseini was adapted to film.