Nana Character Analysis in A Thousand Splendid Suns

Mariam’s mother, once a maid in Jalil’s household until she became pregnant with his child. Banished to the kolba (a hut on a hill) after her father disowned her, Nana is bitter and unhappy. She constantly complains about Jalil to Mariam and admonishes her not to trust any man. Though she can be at times a stifling presence for Mariam, Nana adores her and won’t even let her attend school so as to keep her close. Nana’s suicide, after Mariam has gone in search of Jalil, will make Mariam feel guilty and ashamed for the rest of her life, and harbor regrets about the way she dismissed Nana’s warnings.

Nana Quotes in A Thousand Splendid Suns

The A Thousand Splendid Suns quotes below are all either spoken by Nana or refer to Nana. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

History and Memory in Afghanistan Theme Icon

She understood then what Nana meant, that a harami was an unwanted thing: that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance.

Related Characters: Mariam, Nana

Page Number and Citation: 4

Explanation and Analysis:

“It’s our lot in life, Mariam. Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have. Do you understand?”

Related Characters: Nana (speaker), Mariam

Page Number and Citation: 19

Explanation and Analysis:

The girl was looking back as if waiting for Mariam to pass on some morsel of wisdom, to say something encouraging. But what wisdom did Mariam have to offer? What encouragement? Mariam remembered the day they’d buried Nana and how little comfort she had found when Mullah Faizullah had quoted the Koran for her.

Related Characters: Mariam, Laila, Nana, Mullah Faizullah

Page Number and Citation: 202

Explanation and Analysis:

Nana Character Timeline in A Thousand Splendid Suns

The timeline below shows where the character Nana appears in A Thousand Splendid Suns. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...comes to visit her at the small one-room house where she lives with her mother, Nana. She accidentally breaks a piece of Nana’s treasured tea set, and Nana calls her a... (full context)

...has three wives and nine legitimate children. He owns a cinema and is very wealthy. Nana was one of his housekeepers, but then became pregnant with Mariam. Her own father disowned... (full context)

Nana explains to Mariam that she refused to live in Herat, where the neighbors would whisper... (full context)

Nana had been engaged once before, to a parakeet seller, but a week before the wedding,... (full context)

Nana says that when she gave birth to Mariam, in spring 1959, Jalil hadn’t bothered to... (full context)

...push a wheelbarrow filled with food and cooking supplies up the hill to the kolba. Nana always greets them with her arms crossed and a defiant posture, cursing their mothers and... (full context)

Nana teaches Mariam to cook and sew. She only admits a few visitors: the village leader... (full context)

...to school—Bibi jo had mentioned that Jalil’s other daughters would be attending. Mullah Faizullah asks Nana, but she says there’s no use. The only skill a girl like Mariam needs, she... (full context)

...Each week she awaits him anxiously, though she tries not to seem to excited for Nana’s sake. Nevertheless, Nana always is calmer and more polite in Jalil’s presence, washing her hair,... (full context)

Jalil gives Mariam a leaf-shaped pendant. Mariam loves it, but Nana scoffs that it’s just nomad jewelry made from coins people throw at them. (full context)

...childless toymaker who carves a puppet that comes to life and has lots of adventures. Nana says it’s not a good idea, and Jalil agrees, saying that, in fact, the film’s... (full context)

Nana is furious when she hears, and mocks Mariam for thinking she’s wanted in Jalil’s house.... (full context)

...out of disillusionment, anger, and mainly shame at how much she idealized Jalil and dismissed Nana, who had been right all along. She wonders how she’ll be able to apologize. The... (full context)

After Nana’s funeral, Jalil brings Mariam back to the kolba to gather her things. Mullah Faizullah arrives... (full context)

...day, Mullah Faizullah comes to visit Mariam. She admits that she keeps thinking of what Nana said to her before she left. Mullah Faizullah assures her that Nana was always troubled... (full context)

...650 kilometers away, and cooking and cleaning for Rasheed. She is particularly terrified of what Nana told her about chores of intimacy that women have to endure with their husbands. Mariam... (full context)

...the women and children in the neighboring houses. She longs for the nights she and Nana would sit outside, or the afternoons reading the Koran with Mullah Faizullah. As the sun... (full context)

...morning Mariam unpacks and begins to cook lentils, carrots, and potatoes, kneading dough the way Nana showed her to make bread. She heads out for the communal tandoor, following the women... (full context)

Mariam recalls how Jalil would visit Mariam and Nana at the first of the three days of Eid-ul-Fitr, the celebration to end Ramadan, before... (full context)

...is no kind of answer from a doctor. It’s snowing hard, and Mariam remembers how Nana said that each snowflake is the sigh of a woman suffering somewhere in the world. (full context)

Sometimes, Mariam thinks that she is being punished for abandoning Nana. Other days, she is angry at Rasheed for celebrating prematurely, or at herself for eating... (full context)

...herself, and so wasn’t in the house when it happened. Mariam recalls the day of Nana’s burial and how nothing could comfort her, not even Mullah Faizullah’s prayers. (full context)

...as Aziza is curled up asleep on the floor. Mariam starts telling Laila about Jalil, Nana, and Mullah Faizullah, about her humiliation at Jalil’s house and Nana’s suicide. After she’s explained... (full context)

...the front of the registration window, thinking of the sacrifices a mother makes—like the ones Nana had made, enduring the shame of bearing a harami. She wishes she’d been a better... (full context)

...of a young Jalil; of Mullah Faizullah playing with her in the stream; and of Nana calling her to dinner in the kolba. (full context)