Significance Of Phoebe In A Thousand Splendid Suns

Another significant subplot that Phoebe faces that is similar to what Sal faces is they were both convinced their mothers would come back and wouldn’t just leave them. When Phoebe and Sal’s mother were here, they knew that their mothers loved them a lot. When their mothers left, both characters were absolutely positive that their mothers would return to them because their mothers love them so much. Since they thought their mothers love Sal and Phoebe so much, both characters thought their mothers wouldn’t leave them. Sal says, “I would not leave the place to which, I was convinced, my mother might return,” (page 104). Phoebe says, “ ‘She might not come back, Phoebe-’ ‘Shut up, Sal.’ ‘She might not. I just think you should be prepared-’ ‘She
You’re being too horrid,’ ” (page 182). Sal refused to leave Bybanks because she was so sure her mother would come back. Even if she did know it in her head that the chances of her mother returning are very slim, she refused to accept it. Phoebe thinks Sal doesn’t know what she is talking about when Sal says Phoebe’s mother might not come back. She argues with Sal and is being stubborn and doesn’t want to listen to Sal because she knows her mother is going to come back. Both girls felt like their mothers wouldn’t just leave them. Sal says, “And just like Phoebe, who had waved her mother’s sweater in front of her father, I had brought a chicken in from the coop: ‘Would Mom leave her favorite chicken?’ I demanded. ‘She loves this chicken.’ What I really meant was, ‘How can she not come back to me? She loves me,’ ” (page 125). These girls thought that their mothers’ wouldn’t leave them behind. When their mothers did leave, Phoebe and Sal thought they wouldn’t leave their favorite items behind. But what they really meant was, how could their mothers just leave them like that without any explanation. They thought their mothers were definitely going to come back to them since they love them so