The Afghan country side is nothing but battlefields, expanses of sand, and cemeteries.

Question

Artillery exhanges shatter prayers, wolves howl at the moon every night, and the wind, when it breathes, mingles beggars' laments with the croaking of crows.

 

I don't understand the sentences above this one. They are from the text of The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra.

Answer 1

Tumaiesla,

 

Literature is imprecise in the sense that it's words and images stimulate and evoke personal experiences, stories and understandings from the reader that color the reader's interpretation.  That's why two different readers can get different things from reading the same story and they'll argue over what the author meant.

 

I'll give you my slant on the meanings of the various clauses above. You can then come up with your own interpretations.

 

Your title:  There seems to be no joy or productive activities going on in this country. The land is either being used and being scarred by destructive behavior (battles), is sand and thus useless for growing things on it, or cemeteries for burying the dead.

 

Artillery exchanges shatter prayers. Most people want to be safe and carry on their normal lives. So when they hear artillery exchanges, they pray it won't hurt or kill them or their family members, livestock, friends, and doesn't damage their house, barn and belongings, etc. They're helpless to do anything else.

 

Wolves howl at the moon every night. At night time things get even more desolate, artillery noises stop, people stay inside for safety, etc, so the only noises you hear outside are the wolves.

 

And the wind, when it breathes, mingle beggars' laments with the croaking of crows.  The wind comes and goes. It seemingly brings noises of all kinds.  Because lots of people have been hurt or had their homes, belongings smashed, and have no means of self support any longer, they become beggars to survive. There are few or no job opportunities outside your own farming to support yourself in a primitive society.  And the crows gather and constantly croak around the dead bodies lying around from the fighting. So both beggars and crows seem ever present and so are their characteristic sounds in the air.

Answer 2

They're metaphors for the plight that's going on: prayers for peace are silenced under the explosions of artillery, whether it be the explosions are louder, or killing people. beggars living in the streets or poorer neighborhoods are in the weakest living conditions, and crows are a symbol of death due to the carrion that can be part of their diet. The wind carries the sounds of one to the other and carries both of them onward.