The Swallows of Kabul
~Blog Post #4~
Topic H
May 11, 2015
By: Megan Teehan
In chapter 15, Atiq has completely lost his mind. He is
wandering around the town clueless and delusional. Throughout the book, Atiq
has been gradually changing and becoming more isolated. His friend and acquaintances
have pointed it out, but Atiq denies this. So, when Zunaira runs away, it is
not unusual to see Atiq out of his mind. At this point, Atiq is under the
impression that each woman is Zunaira. The book calls this moment a frenzy and
describes him as, “chasing women down and –O sacrilege!- lifting their veils
above their heads” (194). The people in the town are terrified of this man and
begin to throw bricks at him and beat him. Now of these actions seem to stop or
affect Atiq because he continues to run after women and harassing them.
As I read this section, I was reminded of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment. The heat and
humidity in both of these books have foreshadowed that tensions were high and
something would happen in this town, but that is not the only relationship
these books have. In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov is wandering through his
town in frenzy. In fact, throughout the entire novel, Raskolnikov continues to
have a battle inside him and slowly begins to lose his mind, just as Atiq did.
Both men lose their sense at the end of the book and Atiq ends up being killed and
Raskolnikov is thrown into jail. The love, passion, and emotion these
characters feel make them crazy.
I did feel a little deja vu when reading about Atiq's sanity deteriorating. I always hate to witness a character slowly lose his or her mind. At least Raskolnikov seemed to understand his faults in the end. He wanted to seek forgiveness and right his wrongs. Atiq just slowly goes crazy and dies. He never understands why Zunaira ran away, and he doesn’t attempt to understand either. He just wallows in his own self-pity. He so desperately wants Zunaira back that he starts to believe that every woman he sees is Zunaira. He lets all of his filters and restraints go and lets the sadness eat him alive.
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