Rasheed

Rasheed was a widowed shoemaker, whose first wife and son died many years before his marriage to 15-year-old Mariam. Conservative and willful, Rasheed quickly instructs Mariam on what he believes is the ideal wife:

"subservient, obedient, and fertile"

When Mariam proves to be unable to have children, Rasheed loses patience with her and abuses her both physically and verbally.

Endlessly motivated by the desire to replace his dead son, Rasheed entraps Laila, another young girl with limited options, into marriage. Only when Laila provides him with a son do Rasheed's redeeming qualities emerge:

With Zalmai, Rasheed is patient, loving, kind, and gentle.

However, Rasheed's affection for Zalmai does not extend to Laila's daughter, Aziza, or to his two wives. Rasheed's cruel, manipulative ways eventually result in Mariam killing him in self-defense.

Quotes:

"No matter. The point is, I am your husband now, and it falls on me to guard not only your honor but ours, yes, our nang and namoos. That is the husband's burden. You let me worry about that."

(Part 3, Chapter 31, page 223)

"Well, one does not drive a Volga and a Benz in the same manner. That would be foolish, wouldn't it?"

(Part 3, Chapter 31, page 223)

"What good are all your smarts to you now? What's keeping you off the streets, your smarts or me? I'm despicable? Half the women in the city would kill to have a husband like me. They would kill for it."

(Part 3, Chapter 38, page 283)

"Rasheed didn't say anything. And, really, what could be said, what needed saying when you'd shoved the barrel of your gun into your wife's mouth?" (Part 3, Chapter 40, page 300)

"After the fire, Rasheed was home almost every day. He slapped Aziza. He kicked Mariam. He threw things. He found fault with Laila, the way she smelled, the way she dressed, the way she combed her hair, her yellowing teeth." (Part 3, Chapter 41, page 304)