The Pearl That Broke Its Shell

Folk proverbs and idioms are simple statements, stories, comparisons, analogies, and commonplace knowledge that help people understand the world. Khala Shaima is a rich repository of such proverbs, often incorporating them into casual conversation, or using them as a basis for argumentation.

For example, Khala Shaima uses proverbs to explain Raisa’s situation to Rahima. Khala Shaima describes Raisa’s addiction by saying, “In an ant colony, dew is a flood” (225). Rahima does not know what it was like to be in Raisa’s position, and she should reserve harsh judgement of her mother. Because the compass of her life is small, losing her daughters to marriage represents a disproportionate disaster. Though Rahima suffers worse and remains stronger than her mother, the scope of her life is greater, and she is better able to weather the hardship.

According to Khala Shaima, the human spirit “is harder than a rock and more delicate than a flower petal” (224). It is this contradictory combination of delicacy and endurance that allows people to survive. Shekiba, for example, survived due to the toughness she developed though a hard life. However, this does not mean that she did not suffer or love: She often feels alone throughout the novel, and she falls back on romantic ideas and the hope for motherhood in order to sustain her spirit. Raisa has created her own “rocky” spirit by turning to opium to dull the pain her more delicate side experiences. While this does not excuse the abdication of her motherly duties to Rohila and Sitara, it does make her into a more sympathetic character. 

Birds function as a symbol of beauty, oppression, and freedom, as well as omens and carriers of prayer. Parwin, Rahima’s artistic sister, sketches a picture of “five birds each flying off in a different direction” (124). This picture represents the scattering of her family when she, Rahima, and Shahla learn they will be married into Abdul Khaliq’s family. As she watches Rahima and Shala argue, she quietly says, “One by one, the birds flew off” (130). This refrain becomes a motif throughout the story that Rahima and Shahla return to several times throughout the narrative.

Using this metaphor, Parwin is the first “bird” to fly off, to find the escape that most of the women in the novel desperately want. When Rahima sneaks out of Abdul Khaliq’s compound, Parwin again echoes the phrase, “Birds fly away, one by one” (181) when Rahima is dragged away. This time, it carries a fatalistic tone. At first, it was a metaphor for Parwin’s family falling apart. Now, however, it represents inevitability and being trapped in a situation over which she has no control: Though birds can fly, Parwin is trapped. Her suicide is an escape, breaking out of the metaphorical cage she is trapped in.

Birds are an omen for Shekiba and a method of prayer for Rahima. Both interpretations of birds play into folk tradition and superstition. When Shekiba moves into Aasif’s house, she frequently makes note of the three caged canaries they have outside the window. These seem to represent the Aasif, Gulnaz, and Shekiba. Following the birth of Shah, Gulnaz falls out of favor with Aasif; Shekiba, in many ways, becomes the primary wife. When Gulnaz attempts to curse Shah, Shekiba retaliates by doing the same to Shabnam. The little girl alerts her mother to the fact that one of the canaries has died. This represents the deterioration of Shekiba and Gulnaz’s relationship. It also represents the death of King Habibullah, of which they are notified soon after.

Before her final visit to Kabul, Rahima and Gulalai visit the family graveyard so Rahima can pay respects to Jahangir. Gulnaz sprinkles breadcrumbs on the graves for the finches that live in the cemetery. The belief is that the breadcrumbs represent prayers, which the birds will carry off with them after they eat the crumbs. As they leave, Rahima watches them until “one by one, the birds had flown away” (390). This time, the birds represent her final escape from Abdul Khaliq. She is flying away from her painful past into a future where she can find solace and healing.