Sparks Like Stars: A Novel

The ring that is excavated from Ai-Khanoum and brought to Kabul is a powerful symbol that develops new layers of significance throughout the novel. Sitara describes it as “a gold ring with inset teardrops of turquoise and garnet” (24), the stones nearly the size of her fingernail. At first sight, it is merely a treasure to marvel at. The fact that it is an artifact of the Greek-Bactrian civilization that thrived during the Hellenic period, however, makes it a powerful representation of the long history, beauty, and richness of Afghanistan. As that Afghanistan is destroyed before her eyes, Sitara takes the ring with her, a symbol of a lost, ancient world that now serves as a symbol of the world Sitara has lost. She protects the ring as her talisman, “a key to my survival” (90).

The ring becomes Aryana’s connection to her parents and homeland. She hides the ring from Janet and Everett, her foster parents, the way the real Sitara is hidden from them, something precious they could never understand and might destroy in their ignorance. During her life in New York, Aryana keeps the ring buried in her jewelry box, symbolic of her buried past. However, the ring also becomes her link back to Afghanistan and her reason for making a return.