Daria Taplin Exploring Voice

"Another bus ride with Rasheed. Snowing again. Falling thick this time. It was piling in heaps on sidewalks, on roofs, fathering in patches on the bark of straggly trees. Mariam watched the merchants plowing snow from their storefronts. A group of boys was chasing a black dog. They waved sportively at the bus. Mariam looked over to Rasheed. His eyes were closed...Mariam reclined her head and closed her eyes too...she wanted away from this bus"(90).

The voice of Khaled Hosseini that runs through this passage is subtle yet consistent. From sentence to sentence Hosseini uses a rhythmic, repetitive, "straight to the point" writing style. Hosseini's diction is quite distinct, his descriptions are vivid and lengthy, often using a sequence of descriptions strung together with commas. However, he also uses many short, incomplete sentences that say exactly the message he is trying to convey. This passage starts off with three blunt incomplete sentences. Hosseini is writing about a young girl forced into an arranged marriage. Having a father who abandoned her, and a mother who committed suicide, she is left with no control of her life, just an abusive husband. Through every horrendous event Mariam is put through, the story is told through a serious tone. These short sentences help set the tone as dark and depressing by not displaying any emotion, almost as if it's monotone. This particular passage shows Mariam's lack of control of her life and feelings. The only direct action Mariam can do for herself to cope with the pain of her life is to close her eyes. At the end of the passage it bluntly states what Mariam wants..."She wanted away from this bus." This is a clear example of Hosseini's voice, he presents the reader with his message on a silver platter. The tone of this passage represents the voice of the book as a whole as well as providing an example of the prevelent diction and sentence structure Hosseini uses.