Najmah's Life In Under The Persimmon Tree By Suzanne Fisher

(AGG) “Those we love don't go away, they walk beside us every day… Unseen, unheard, but always near, still loved, still missed and very dear” (BS-1) Najmah is drastically affected from the loss of her father and brother when they left to serve the Taliban.(BS-2) Secondly, Najmah is shaped in good ways and bad from the death of her mother and baby brother.(BS-3) And lastly, When Najmah focuses on finding her family it ultimately shapes her into a new person.(TS) Throughout the novel Under the Persimmon Tree, by Suzanne Fisher Staples, Najmah’s life was affected and shaped by the losses she had gone through.

(MIP-1) Najmah is shaped by the loss of her father and brother when they leave to fight with the Taliban.(SIP-A) After her father and

This began the big changes to Najmah’s life because she was now responsible of taking care of her family that is left. (STEWE-2) Najmah is not used to being in authority of taking care of everyone and she had to start taking on more tasks that she normally wouldn’t have to do. “I help her to stand, and slowly she walks to the door and goes outside in the sunlight. When she comes back she sits again, and I give her a bowl of potatoes and some tea” (Staples 38). Najmah is taking very cautious and gentle care of her mother ever since Baba-jan and Nur left.(SIP-B) Najmah gets her haircut once in the beginning of the novel by Khalida and once towards the end by Nusrat, both showing

(SIP-A) Najmah jumps at every opportunity to locate her father and brother. (STEWE-1) During Najmah, Akhtar, and Khalida’s trek through the mountains, Najmah often gets distracted by ‘what if’ thoughts about her lost family. After hearing the news that the Taliban is hiding, Najmah fills with hope that “Perhaps my father and Nur have escaped from the Taliban and I will find them in Peshawar! With the border closed, it will be difficult to get there, but somehow I will manage. For the first time I forget the gnawing in my stomach, and my eyes fly open” (Staples 108). She disregards thinking of all the complications and difficulties she will encounter if she went to Peshawar to find her family, other than the border being closed. Because her hope is driving her, Najmah ignores the fact that she is starving because of her aspiration to find her family. (STEWE-2) In the bazaar, while deprived of hope, Najmah’s focused on hearing news about her father and brother. After feeling comforted by the familiarity of the language and words being spoken, Najmah is comforted and feels “it gives me the courage to decide to ask someone where I might find shelter and where I might learn news of my father and brother” (Staples 167). She is very devoted to finding her family to the point where finding them is as