Under The Persimmon Tree Sparknotes

1440 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How gender roles affect identity

Introduction: (AGG) The book Under the Persimmon Tree demonstrates how characters deal with the real life conflicts fought by Taliban women everyday. (BS-1) Staples creates conflicts for her characters through the Taliban dress code. (BS-2) Najmah and Nusrat both act differently to the Taliban’s code of law regarding traveling with a male relative. (BS-3) A conflict with society is created for Najmah because of the Taliban’s code of law. (TS) The author correctly demonstrates the unfair treatment of women in the Taliban through conflict in her book Under the Persimmon Tree. First Body Paragraph: (MIP-1) The Taliban had strict laws regarding the clothes worn by women, Staples correctly shows this through the characters in her …show more content…

(SIP-A) Nusrat, on one hand, follows the laws regarding women traveling alone. (STEWE-1) In order to protect themselves from the Taliban, Nusrat and Husna travel only with a male "Basharat poses as the brother or husband of Nusrat or Husna" (Staples 78). Since neither Nusrat nor Husna have a male relative with them, they travel with Basharat to insure that safety. How Nusrat deals with conflict, shows how scared she truly is over the Taliban’s laws. (STEWE-2) The punishments for the women who broke the Taliban’s law were great and costly. “Reportedly, women were shot to death… for attempting to leave Afghanistan without a male family member to accompany them” (“The Afghan Taliban Strikes Out”). Nusrat is truly frightened by the Taliban laws and follows them to avoid punishment, even though she might think that the laws are wrong. The laws regarding traveling help shown how Nusrat truly feels about the Taliban and their laws. (SIP-B) Najmah,on the other hand, alters her appearance so she can travel without a male and go against the Taliban’s rules. (STEWE-1) Najmah dresses as a boy despite the consequences she could face if she were caught by the Taliban. “I take advantage of being dressed as a boy to wander in the makeshift bazaar” (Staples 148). Najmah uses her appearance as an advantage to not bond with Khalida and Akhtar. This shows that Najmah values her …show more content…

(SIP-A) To protect herself from the Taliban, Najmah must become Shaheed. (STEWE-1) Khalida and Akhtar change Najmah into Shaheed to protect her from the Taliban’s laws against women. “If you speak,’ she says, her voice barely audible, ‘be sure to call me Khalid. Not Khalida. I shall call you Shaheed.’ I nod my head slightly. ‘It isn't safe for a woman or girl in a strange city” (Staples 90). Khalida demands that they call each other by male names to make them seem more believable as men. Women weren’t safe in strange cities because of the Taliban’s laws. “The whippings were extreme: the recovery period could be months, and sometimes the whippings were fatal” (“The Afghan Taliban Strikes Out”). In order to stay safe from these harsh punishments, Khalida and Najmah make sure to stay unsuspicious. (STEWE-2) Akhtar introduces Najmah as Shaheed to the malek so she will have more freedoms in the refugee camp. “‘This,’ he says, ‘is Shaheed, my oldest son’” (Staples 128). As a girl, Najmah wouldn't have been given as many rights in the refugee camp if she were a boy. She also wouldn't be safe with all the strange people around. So in order to protect her and give her more rights, Akhtar and Khalida change her into Shaheed. (SIP-B) Najmah slowly returns back to herself after seeking safety from the Taliban’s laws. (STEWE-1) Nusrat slowly begins to open up Najmah after meeting her. “But it's very

Show More
Related

  • Background Info on My Forbidden Face

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    she couldn’t walk in the long skirts and couldn’t breathe under the facial clothing. Latifa liked to wear nail polish and earrings but this privilege was taken away when the Taliban came into power. Women were treated very badly under the Taliban rule, but Latifa found ways to deal with it.

    Read More

  • Swallows Of Kabul Sparknotes

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel Swallows of Kabul by Yasmine Khadar shows how Kabul is under the control of the Taliban’s and how they treat the people of Kabul. This novel illustrates the Islamic culture, and how Kabul has been affected by the invasion of Taliban’s. This book shows the different perspective from different characters; it shows both female and male versions of what it was like to live in Kabul at that time. This book also goes into depth about how women had no voice, and were treated unfairly with little or barely any respect. This novel is very meaningful and it basically paints you a picture of life in Kabul while the Taliban’s are in charge.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Under The Persimmon Tree

    1628 Words  | 4 Pages

    AGG) The author of “Under The Persimmon Tree” often uses symbolism throughout the book. (BS-1) The author of UTPT uses the stars to give Najmah a superstitious belief, and give her hope and guidance to drive her towards her goals. (BS-2) The stars are used to help Nusrat accept loss, she looks to them for hope and guidance, and they have a religious meaning to her. (BS-3) The author uses changes in the stars to convey events and changes in Najmah’s life. (TS) The stars are used to portray changes in the characters lives, and the author uses them to give the characters hope, guidance, and an important meaning, as well as the ability to deal with loss

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Book 'Under The Persimmon Tree'

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rumors spread to Najmah that “woman wearing henna on their fingertips had their fingers chopped off”(Staples 12). When Najmah heard the clink of bangles under a woman’s burqa and the click of her heels on the pavement, the sound created an unsettling sensation within her. Suddenly, Najmah recalled how the “Taliban would whip women whose shoes made a sound on paving stones (Staples 180).” She wanted to warn the woman, for her mother had told her that “women risk their lives by hiding their jewelry” (Staples 180). As for Nusrat, notwithstanding the fact that she just moved to Pakistan not long ago, she was extremely vigilant and prudent when the Taliban was around. One time, a servant of Nusrat’s disappeared. Nusrat sent someone to search for her and discovered that “she had been badly beaten and was held without charges” (Staples 99). From this incident, the unfair treatment towards women helped Nusrat to learn more about the Taliban’s rules in Pakistan. Given the facts above, it is very apparent that Taliban’s cruelty toward women is depicted precisely and vividly through the different stories of two

    Read More

  • Mariam And Darkness's Symbols Of A Burqas

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    The women in Afghanistan during this time period, were shielded from the outside world, and the outside world was shielded from them. Women became nobody’s and their life was unimportant. Burqas kept the women from being who they were, and being more than just a wife. They were not known or judged for the women they used to be, but for the wives they had become. Whether they could cook well, keep a house clean, or even bear children (particularly boys), it never mattered. What mattered was that they obeyed their husbands and the rules of the Taliban. “You will not, under any circumstance, show your face. You will cover with a burqa when outside, If you do not, you will be severely beaten.” (pg. 278). Before the Taliban forced women to wear burqas, women were already being diminished. Women were raped, beaten and even killed just by walking outside their house. That doesn’t even start to describe what happened behind closed doors. Women were already losing their rights, but burqas took away who they were. Burqas affected Mariam and Laila in a big way. Mariam was barely a teenager when she married Rasheed, and had grown up with a strong, independent, man-hating mother. Mariam was never taught that she

    Read More

  • My Forbidden Face by Latifa

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Taliban also require all women to wear a chadri (a veil that covers the woman's head, face, shoulders, and arms). In addition to veiling, which Lerner's book talks about, it is mandatory that women are accompanied by a man at all times when they are out in public. Also, women cannot wear brightly colored clothing or make-up under their chadri. In further attempt to keep women out of the public eye it is forbidden that women work. This is almost like what Mintz talks about in her book where in the 1950's women are not supposed to hold jobs or get a college education. In the 1950's it is for more of a social reason rather than law, but the same idea applies. Men frown upon the thought that their wives are more educated than them or that their wives have a job. Women are supposed to stay home and keep house.

    Read More

  • A Look at the Status of Health Care in Afghanistan In relation to The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

    1320 Words  | 3 Pages

    This book by A. Widney Brown and LeShawn R.Jefferson reflects on the negative impacts of different Talib decrees on the overall development Afghan women.

    Read More

  • Factors Leading to the Holocaust

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    "The Taliban." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Gale Cengage Learning, 2010. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. .

    Read More

  • Women’s Rights within A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

    1407 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...a visit with Aziza, Laila saw a middle-aged woman, with her burqa pushed back…Laila recognized the sharp face… Laila remembered this woman once forbidding the female students from covering, saying women and men were equal, that there was no reason for women should cover if men didn’t” (322). To see a woman who was as close to a feminist as a woman in Afghanistan could get, to see her fall to level that the government wanted her at was crucial point in the novel that allowed us to really see the affect that the government had on the women in controlling every aspect of their lives.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Under The Persimmon Tree By Suzanne Staples

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

    2679 Words  | 6 Pages

    There are many examples throughout the text that specifically focus on the overbearing treatment of women. During the country's revolution there is a shift to extremely conservative religious conviction that force women to cover themselves head to toe while in public. Ultimately, Nafisi refuses to wear a veil while teaching at the University of Tehran which leads to her expulsion. These examples presented throughout the text along with various outside sources, can be a tool to interpret and scrutinize the oppressive treatment of people in unjust societies like that of Iran's.

    Read More

  • A Thousand Splendid Suns Identity Analysis

    612 Words  | 2 Pages

    Later on in the book the Taliban have control over Kabul and have enlisted a lot of rules upon all citizens but mostly the women and the way they can act, talk, look like, be treated, and more. Rasheed is almost pleased with the new rules especially since they go hand in hand with exactly what he believes in. Although his younger wife Laila is not so keen on the new rules “ ‘They can’t make half the population stay home and do nothing,’ Laila said. ‘Why not?’ Rasheed said. For once, Mariam agreed with him. He’d done the same to her and Laila, in effect, had he not?.... ‘This isn’t some village. This is Kabul. Women here used to practice medicine; they held office in the government-’ Rasheed grinned. ‘Spoken like the arrogant daughter of a poetry-reading university man that you are. How urbane, how Tajik, of you.” (Hosseini 279). He not only talks down about her beliefs but her culture and family that she was raised in.

    Read More

  • Similarities between Amir and Author Khaled Hosseini in The Kite Runner

    1979 Words  | 4 Pages

    War establishes many controversial issues and problems within society and can often expose an individual to many economic and sociopolitical hardships; thus creating an altercation in the way they view life. Amir, from the novel The Kite Runner and the novel’s author Khaled Hosseini, both saw the harsh treatment toward the people of Afghanistan through a series of wars, invasions, and the active power of a Pashtun movement known as the Taliban. Amir, much like Hosseini, lived a luxurious and wealthy life in Kabul. He is well educated and immerses himself in reading and writing. After transitioning from a life in Afghanistan to a life in the United States, both Hosseini and Amir faced obstacles in order to assimilate to American society. In The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, the protagonist Amir parallels the experiences and hardships that Hosseini endured in his own lifetime.

    Read More

  • Culture In A Thousand Splendid Suns

    1459 Words  | 3 Pages

    One aspect of the novel that highlights this struggle is its setting, as it takes place during four time periods, each at a different stage in Afghan history. Throughout these unstable decades, the country’s government went through continuous upheavals with each new government advocating different

    Read More

  • A Woman's Place: The Kite Runner

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 to the laws the Taliban enforce. Hosseini uses the wives of Amir and Hassan, Soraya and Farzana, to represent the injustices to which women in Afghanistan are subjected. Before the rise of the Taliban in the early 1990s, women in Afghanistan were mostly treated as equals and with respect.

    Read More

More about Under The Persimmon Tree Sparknotes

Open Document