Analysis Of Under The Persimmon Tree By Suzanne Staples

In the early 2000s, the Taliban took control of most of Afghanistan and changed the locals’ way of life. They destroyed property, killed thousands of people, and took away most human rights. In the book, Under the Persimmon Tree, by Suzanne Fisher Staples, you are put in the shoes of Najmah, a shepherd girl whose family has been taken away by the Taliban, and Nusrat, an american teacher who teaches refugee children. These two are affected by the Taliban, with Najmah’s father and brother, Nur, are taken away to fight. Nusrat, on the other hand, has a husband who is a medic for victims of war, and he hasn’t come back. These two are victims of the Taliban and their harsh ways. Staples’ depiction of the Taliban is very accurate to what it is in

the book, and uses this aspect to impact the book in many ways.
In Under the Persimmon Tree, the Taliban are depicted as a ruthless culture with no respect for human life, they slaughter people to enforce their rules. The Taliban have a long list of simple things they can not do. These things are things that most normal people do but the Taliban strictly refuse, they include “playing music, laughing out loud, keeping a bird to hear it's song in the morning, putting pictures of beautiful scenes on the walls, reading books, flying kites” (Staples 12). The Taliban enforce these obscure rules in the book and have hurt people who don’t follow these rules. In the book the harsh Taliban do many cruel things to people as Najmah explains: “they lock the people of entire villages inside their houses and burn them two the ground and how they slaughter people like goats, slitting them open and leaving their blood to soak into the ground.” (Staples 12). In the book, the Taliban often give pursuit to those who don’t follow them,often shooting them and throwing grenades, it usually hurts others. When Nusrat was going to the doctor’s across town, this kind of thing happened, luckily she was just an observer "Nusrat turns in her seat and notices two bare-headed men running from the gate and at the main lane leading from the bazaar, Over the bobbing red pom-pom plumes attached to the horses' bridles she sees other men running, several of them wearing dark turbans. These men carry guns. She had barely had time to wonder what the commotion is about when a terrible explosion thunders down the lane from the center of the bazaar, pushing dust, smoke, and scraps of papers along the alleys like puffs of smoke through a pipe" (Staples 80). Attacks on civilians like this are common in the book and in real life, they usually don’t end well.

The book does a good job of showing the reader of what life is normally like in afghanistan with the taliban. In real life, the taliban have many rules to follow and punish those who disobey them . As Jack Lynch puts it, "The Taliban are very strict and have many rules to follow. Their rules are to help improve their connection with Allah. They force women to cover their entire body from head to toe. They can't go to school past the age of eight. Besides women's rights, the Taliban also can't listen to music, watch television, or use the Internet. The men's beards had to be long enough for someone to grab their beard and still have hair sticking out. And, like the Nazis, they forced non-muslim minorities to wear a label defining them as non-Muslims.” (Lynch). Their rules are like the ones in the book with them banning most everyday activities and customs, and discriminating anyone who won’t follow their rules. The Taliban have been known to really cruel things to people who didn’t do anything some examples include “A woman who defied the Taliban's orders by running a home school for girls was shot to death in front of her family and friends. A woman who was fleeing Afghanistan with a man not related to her was stoned to death for 'adultery'. One of the worst tales was stating that an elderly woman was beaten with a metal cable until her leg was broken because her ankle was accidentally ``showing from underneath her burqua. (Gouda). “They punished lawbreakers by stoning them, beating them, amputating their limbs and executing them, all publicly” (Lynch). Punishments like this are shown throughout the book and happen all the time in Afghanistan. The Taliban have struck fear into the hearts of its victims and have ruined Afghan society in the book, which is an accurate description of war torn Afghanistan

In Under the Persimmon Tree, the main character, Najmah, must deal with the Taliban and learn to survive after they take her food, family, and way of life.

In chapter 1, Najmah loses her father, who she calls Baba-Jan and her brother, Nur to the Taliban. They have been kidnapped and forced to fight for the Taliban. The Taliban use force and threaten their victims to get what they want, even going as far as shooting innocent people. "'Your son, too,' says the man' he wants to fight, and we wouldn't want to disappoint him.' 'He's just a boy,' baba jan says again, and the man raises the butt of his rifle as if to strike Baba-jan in the face. Baba-jan ducks and turns, and the blow hits his shoulder. He looks at Mada-jan for several seconds. Tears stream down her face, and she repeats over and over again ' you can't go, please! What will become of us?'(Staples). Mada-Jan, Najmah’s mother, is totally upset about the Taliban ruining her life, but they also took their food supply and left them with very little food, now Najmah and Mada-Jan have to do all the work with no help from the men, which will make them work harder and longer without any help, ruining their normal life. After Baba-Jan was shot and their home was looted of all valuable resources, mostly food, They asked for his guns, which they don’t have, "Your guns!" The leader repeats and hammers Baba-Jan's shoulder with the heel of his hand. knocking him off balance again. "I have no guns," Baba-jan says, looking at the man directly. The Pashtun Talib mutters something, and the men shove and drag Baba-jan and my brother toward the Datsun pickup trucks."(Staples). These men are using a lot of force to get what they want, they are known to hit and hurt their enemies and not compromise, as seen here. Besides them being family, Najmah and Mada-Jan are worried about their ownself being, as mentioned before, without more people to help them with the work, they will be exausted all day trying to feed themselves. They

need to do more work, and sense Mada-Jan is pregnant that doesn’t make things better, "I begin to feel hopeless. I can't imagine surviving without Baba-jan and Nur to look after the animals and tend to the fields. We all four work from before the sun rises until we go to sleep every day, and that is how we stay alive. The taliban have already taken the chickens. I am terrified they'll come back and take the sheep and goats, what fruit and vegetables still ripen in the field, and our house and leave us to starve to death on the side of the mountain". Najmah’s family doesn’t have this farm to make a profit, they sustain themselves with the farm and have it to keep them alive, not commercial use. This means they don’t have money for food and grow food on their own, which means they need to wait until their crops grow. They can’t just go to the store to buy food, because they don’t have money to do so. They must work three times as hard to get food, and without the men helping them, they are going to be starving. The Taliban have truly affected Najmah and impacted the conflict of the story.

In summary, the book, Under the Persimmon Tree is a very accurate example of what life is like under the rule of the Taliban. The book gives a great example of what every day looks like for some of these people,surrounded by people you can't trust and can and will ruin your life. In real life, the Taliban are ruthless and destructive of everyone who won't obey their orders and take away most human rights. Najmah’s life was changed forever when her father and brother were taken away by the Taliban, forcing her through tough times, advancing the conflict and the story. The Taliban are depicted as a destructive force that kills anyone who won't comply, and Staples had done a good job of showing that.