Najmah's Misconceptions

(MIP-1) The Taliban took Nur and Baba-Jan, it showed her that there are real situations that she will have to go through in life. She would also have to grow up a lot faster than she planned on for her and her family. (SIP-A) Before the Taliban took Nur and Baba-Jan she was scared of things she had no reason to be scared of, she pretty much acted just like any other kid. (STEWE-1) Najmah had things she liked to do with her brother before he ended up being taken, things

The autobiographical tale, The Rugmaker of Mazar-E-Sharif, depicts the harrowing true story of protagonist and co-author Najaf Mazari. Najaf recounts his journey from his home in war-ridden Afghanistan all the way through to the immigration and detainment systems of Australia and finally to freedom. The conflict that Najaf has witnessed has been one of the key subject matters in this book. Conflict has seemed to follow Najaf wherever he goes, all through his life, this has changed how he thinks, feels and ultimately who Najaf is as a person.

The conditions in Afghanistan created upon the Russian invasion caused much pain and suffering to the citizens of the country. In Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner,” the consequences of this invasion created a harsh environment for the children and adults of Afghanistan. This environment created the development of mental disorders in Amir, Assef, and Sohrab throughout the novel. By examining the mental disorders such as Narcissistic disorder in Assef, the antisocial disorder in Amir and the adjustment disorder in Sohrab, it will be shown how the events in Afghanistan contribute to these characters mental problems.

Chraibi’s book Muhammad: A Novel is a fantastic, powerful read because it is just that: a novel. It is a fictional story, but written by an author who had an unusual, mystical calling himself to write the book. By using original aspects from the traditional biographies of Muhammad and then adding his own personal, esoteric twist on these characteristics, Chraibi creates a work of literature that is truly compelling and shows Muhammad’s journey to becoming a prophet in a mystical light. Two central distinctions, namely Muhammad’s relations with Khadija and Bahira, add the spice in this novel that really help the reader grasp what is mystical about both this literature and most importantly, Muhammad himself.

(STEWE-1) 17 “ The leader turns and says to Baba-Jan, ‘To repay us for having helped our enemy, you must come and fight with the taliban’... , Your son, too,’ says the man.” Najmah and her mother were left alone by themselves with no food to eat or animals to kill for food. They also had no male members living with them so any man could come and take their land.

In Khadra’s Swallows of Kabul, the reader is thrown into a war torn nation as the the Taliban’s reign on Kabul deeply affects the main characters. Arguably, the new laws administered by the Taliban affect the women considerably more than the men. Two of the main female characters, Zunaira and Mussarat, are both married women whose lives changed drastically after the Taliban come into power. One might argue that the Taliban not only changed their lives but, also the way they thought and the actions they chose to take. The new atmosphere around the women effected them both in different and in similar ways.

The narrator is so excited to go to the bazaar, “Araby”, for Mangan’s sister and bring her back a present because he believes the bazaar will be a bright and beautiful place. The narrator has never felt this amount of excitement before and greatly anticipates the event: “I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days. . . by day in the classroom her image came between me and the page I strove to read” (Joyce). The narrator cannot wait to experience something so new and promising as Araby, so the thought consumes most of his days and distracts him from his duties. While the narrator is being forced by his uncle to wait to go to the bazaar, he realizes that by the time he gets there it will be preparing to close and all the people will be leaving. At the bazaar, the narrator notices how “nearly all the stalls were closed and the greater part of the hall was in darkness” (Joyce), proving how the narrator’s expectations of a bright, beautiful bazaar are not exceeded. Instead, he is met with more darkness, and comes to the realization that darkness will be all he will come to know in life. At the end, the narrator describes how he sees himself as “a creature driven and derided by vanity; and [his] eyes burned with anguish and anger” (Joyce). This suggests that the narrator has realized that he is naïve and will turn to any promise of a better life to escape

Throughout Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, the reader observes many injustices committed due to the presence of the Taliban and cultural conflict in Afghanistan. One of the most concerning issues in Afghanistan is the mistreatment and inequality that women face on a daily basis due to Taliban mandates. Women in Afghanistan are treated as inferior beings to men and are unable to stand up for themselves due the laws the Taliban enforces. Hosseini uses the wives of Amir and Hassan, Soraya and Farzana, to represent the injustices to which women in Afghanistan are subjected.

The Taliban are first introduced as overpowered men ruling over Najmah's family and the people around them. Najmah had been been told “how they lock the

(MIP-1) The Taliban taking Nur and Baba-jan to fight and leaving Najmah and her mother because they are women, an event that occurred often in Afghanistan, caused Najmah to mature quickly and lose her childhood innocence. (SIP-A) Nur and Baba-jan were taken by the Taliban which is something that has happened in many cases in real life. (STEWE-1) In the beginning of the book, the

“Neither am I a boy named Shaheed but I must pretend to be Shaheed if I am to look for my father and brother in Peshawar. I do not care how I appear to others. Reuniting with them is my one and only reason for existence, and if I must do it as Shaheed, then I will be Shaheed for as long as necessary”(150). (CS) Najmah is in shock over the loss of her mother and baby brother and as a result of that she is silent, she makes an important decision when she leaves Akhtar and Khalida and tries to look for her father and brother by herself.

(SIP-A) Najmah is starving and the fear of dying pushes her to steal food. (STEWE-1) The war has made resources slim, and made the resources that are there expensive. Najmah is surviving by herself, and has no money, or work to earn money. She is starving and she decides to steal. “I am very hungry, and almost without thinking I grab a piece of fresh, hot onion bread from a basket on the counter before I run away” (Staples 167). Najmah needs steals food in order to live, even if it's wrong. (STEWE-2) Najmah didn't want to steal but she had no choice. She knew that stealing was wrong and immediately after she felt guilty. “ A combination of hunger, fright, and shock that I have so easily resorted to stealing leaves me with shaking hands and knees”(Staples 167). In regular conditions Najmah would never have even considered stealing. It scared her how easily she stole, because she knew that it is wrong. (STEWE-3) She tried to justify why she stole to herself, with no avail. It was the fear of her dying that pushed her to do so. “I really have no choice, I tell myself. The shopkeeper had not been at all helpful and treated me like a thief just for trying to speak to him. I had to do it from starving to death”(Staples 167). The harsh conditions of having to survive by herself, and the fear of starving to death, that caused her to steal. (SIP-B) Nur is forced into war, he had to fight for a side he didn't believe in, and kill people. (STEWE-1) Nur is taken by

The incident in the stadium also reveals to Parvana and Shauzia the complete horror of living under such a regime and haunts Parvana for the next few days. As a Muslim, the writer believes that the actions of the Taliban like the one’s depicted in this novel disgrace Muslims in the present times. Islam is a peaceful religion that promotes morality and generosity among all people, not the twisted version portrayed by the Taliban.

The development of individuals and their quest to find their own identities is often difficult under conventional circumstances. However, it is even more difficult for individuals who live in unstable environments given the severe challenges that they encounter and must adapt to. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, the environment is shaped by an erratic political landscape in which political powers are constantly changing hands, a deranged social environment in which Hazaras are oppressed by Pashtuns, perilous living conditions due to conflict and war, as well as afflicted relationships between characters. The conditions of the unstable environment in Afghanistan have negatively affected the spiritual, emotional, mental, physical, and social development of characters throughout the novel. Additionally, the environment has altered the characters perceptions, attitudes, values, and beliefs which made it harder for characters to form their self-identity throughout the course of the story. The circumstances that influence the development of the characters in The Kite Runner are evident when analyzing Amir’s thirst for acceptance, Sohrab’s isolation from the people around him, and Baba’s inability to adapt to change after moving to America.

The feminisation of the nation exaggerates the requirement of the discipline of a masculine authority. This dialectic is demonstrated through Fatimah’s and Mamood’s responses to the presence of the tiger. Through the dialectic, the value of fear is emphasized in conquering the way a person thinks, act and carry out decisions without giving second thoughts. Although “Fatimah was hypnotized into a helpless fear by the glaring eyes of the tiger, and the sudden stillness that fell around her numbed her mind” (100), Fatimah radiated “a feeling of fearful strength” (100) as her body was tense in the water. Fatimah’s capacity to remain composed and react rationally although she was afraid allowed her to be compassionate and sympathetic towards the tiger, causing her to be “averse to having the tiger hunted and killed” (101). In comparison, Mamood seems impulsive as his “youthful face afire with excitement, came in with a gun slung across his shoulders…Mamood fingered his new double-barrelled gun with all the impatience of one whose hunting spirit had been aroused” (101). Through this dialectic comparison between the two genders, it is clear that Fatimah is acting within her feminine private space while Mamood being a male demonstrates male virility in the public sphere. In the broader sense, the ambiguous identity of Mamood might represent the British colonial powers. Yet,