It’s 6:37 a.m. and my father doesn’t want me to know how drunk he is.
-- Salahudin (chapter 2)

Importance: The first line of Chapter 2 marks an abrupt shift from “then” to “now,” instantly dispelling the dreamy atmosphere of the opening chapter and succinctly introducing us to a new scenario (3, 4). The sentence is short, but attention-catching and informative: it gives us the precise time, and tells us not only that Sal’s father is drunk, but that he is trying to hide it. However, there is continuity – as well as contrast – between the beginning of this chapter and the end of the previous one. “Let my future husband be gentle,” thinks the teenage Misbah – and she gets her wish – but the ensuing portrait of her husband (in the future) helps to explain why perhaps she “should have prayed instead for a man unbroken” (3).

Last time I was this close to him, he was...
-- Noor (chapter 3)