Najmah's Past Experiences

The novel revolves around two women, Mariam and Laila. The novel takes place during a terrible time to live in Afghanistan, but things were especially hard for women. Their lives brought together and are forced to live through unimaginable situations. At first, they didn’t get along, but then a beautiful friendship began. Their friendship would eventually be their salvation. They both experienced incredible character development. Mariam and Laila’s childhoods were very different, which is explains their characteristics in the novel. Laila’s modern upbringing gave her courage, which inspired Mariam to take action in both of their lives.

This shows that Nada, whom Karim loved a lot was no more with her, she died in the blast because the building collapsed. Karim couldn’t believe what he saw and she was the one for whom he decided to stay in Lebanon. The sad part was that by now Kareem was shattered and was feeling unlucky. However, he tried to overcome his fear and move ahead. Kareem had no other way to move on in his life.

She had already lost her father and brother, and she nearly had lost her life when a bomb exploded near her and tore her leg off. However, when they reached the gate to Pakistan, they found that the border guards had closed the gate and was not letting anyone through. The only people getting through were bribing the guards, but they had no extra money to do this. "I felt desperate to get through, because the sun was setting, and if we got stuck here, what were we going to do? Where would we stay? There was nothing here, no town, no hotel, no buildings, just the desert." "Night was falling, and we were stranded out there in the open." At the end of the second day, Ahmedi and her mother were camped near a friendly family. After striking up a conversation with them, the woman told Ahmedi that her husband, Ghulam Ali, had gone to look for another way across the border. "He was checking out a goat path that supposedly went over the mountains several miles northeast of the border station." "You can go with us," the woman said. The woman's husband agreed to take them, but wanted them to rest one more day and build up their strength since it was going to be quite a climb. "Long after dark---or early the next morning, to be exact, before the sun came up---that man shook us awake." "It's time," he said. The climb was not long, but it was steep. It should have taken us little more than an hour except

(SIP-B) But through her trip, it's evident that her mental state is improving, represented in the stars. (STEWE-1) She has shown signs of development from her initial breakthrough from her past mental state.The next time in the book development is shown, Najmah is yet again changing her mental state in a positive way,“Moon- and starlight guide us through the mountains, and I am able to keep our direction true by finding al-Qutb… just as my father showed Nur and me what seems a lifetime ago in our village in Kunduz” (Staples 109). Najmah is focusing more on the reality of her situation, rather than staying in the past, and she shows that whilst thinking of her missing family. Though she has shown she has “found a new purpose” so to speak, the purpose being her decision, “... to look for my father and brother” (Staples 131), she still isn't able to let go of her mother and baby brother just yet; “Intermittently clouds roll over the sky, obscuring the moon and the stars…” (Staples 109). The clouds could be seen as her memories blocking her from being able to move on and to be able to grow and help herself, as they are obscuring the stars, which represent her hope.

To begin with, Farah Ahmedi worked hard to get her and her mother to a land free of war. For example, Ahmedi stated how “[...]her father and brothers [were] dead from a rocket attack[...]” (Studysync). Farah knew how dangerous her country, Afghanistan, had become and they (Farah and her mother) were “[...]desperate to get through[...]” (Ahmedi 1). This led Farah to not only want to save herself, but also her

for example,"They separated us not long after they took us from Golestan. They told the boys to stay behind the hill with a guard. They took Baba jan and the other village men in their trucks. They tied their hands behind their backs and drove off, over the hill, with the men crowded in the back like cattle. Not long after we heard gunshot" (254). This quote shows a large impact on our character Najmah, it shows how her brother Nur and her father Baba jan were kidnapped and how Baba jan was killed by The Taliban and when Najmah knew that her father was dead it changed part of her life. A Lot of events happened in this novel to our character Najmah. particularly this is a quote that shows a even that tells us about our character " I hold Habib close, as if the warmth of my body will bring him back to life. I can tell by his utter stillness that he is gone. I carry him to where my mother lies on her side" (82). This is another big part that affects Najmah, her mother and baby brother died because of bombs from the time of war that they were in. The Taliban impact Najmah a lot to illustrate "this is a matter of the greatest honor to us, we must do everything to obey our father's wish if we don't we may as well die" (Staples 256) from the piece of textual evidence it is the great honor to Najmah and Nur to keep what their father has demanded before he has left, and from what the decision will be depends on their faith as to keep their father's wish. Najmah and her brother will go through the danger to go back to their land, so The Taliban caused a lot of things in Najmahs

There are many events in this book that display the obvious transformation in Ma’s character. From private internal suffering to the unconditional love she shares with each family member, there is no doubt that Ma had the vastest change of personal development throughout this entire

All these traits reveal Najmah as the child that she is. However, after the Taliban take

(BS-1)Najmah’s father and brother were taken by the Taliban, in spite of losing them, she became very mature and she made a goal to find them instead of grieving about it.

(SIP-A)Baba-Jan and Nur were taken by the Taliban to fight for them, Mada-Jan and Habib, Najmahs newborn baby brother were both bombed by the americans in their house.

(BS-1)Najmah’s father and brother were taken by the taliban, in spite of losing them she became very mature and she made a goal to find them instead of grieving about it.

(MIP-1) Najmah has lost most of her family at the Taliban and Americans hand, leaving Najmah with no family to be with. (SIP-A)Baba-Jan and Nur were taken by the Taliban to fight for them, Mada-Jan and Habib, Najmahs newborn baby brother

(MIP-1) The loss of her mother affects Najmah's actions throughout the book. (SIP-A) After the death of her mother, Najmah Is taken on the journey throughout the mountains with Akhtar and Khalida. (STEWE-1) After the death of Mada Jan, Najmah is saved by Akhtar and Khalida and brought on the journey in the mountains. “The next thing I am conscious of is being lifted in the arms of Bibi Usmani’s brother Akhtar” (83). While they are on the journey Najmah starts to dress as a boy to allow her to do more things than she would be able to do as a girl “I take advantage of being dressed as a boy to wander into the makeshift bazaar that has sprung up at the end of the tent village”(148). (STEWE-2) If Mada Jan had not passed, Najmah would not have

(BS-3) Najmah loses all her family members at this point she changes very dramatically.(BS-2) The loss of her father and brother changes Najmah hugely.(BS-1)During the war Najmah witnesses the bombing and killing of her mother this shifts her focus to finding her father and brother who were taken by the Taliban.8(R) The war in afghanistan changed many people’s future like the children, who had to witness the loss of family members and friends. While they did lose them they also gained many useful traits that helped

In this section of the book, Naeem is being asked to do a very risky thing. He is being asked to become a watcher, a mosque crawler.(Budhos 45). This is evident of others judging Naeem for his culture, because in this sense these policemen are taking advantage of the fact that Naeem comes from a poor family and is need of money. Here Naeem makes a decision that affects the entire novel. “They went back to Bangladesh, what with all the trouble after 9/11.”