Najmah's Losses In Under The Persimmon Tree

(AGG) Losses can affect a person’s life and how they act by the decisions they make. (BS-1) With Baba-jan and Nur gone, Najmah has to step up and be more mature to keep her and Mada-jan safe and alive. (BS-2) Najmah has seen her mother and baby brother die right in front of her and she has to handle herself. (BS-3) Najmah knows that if she goes back to her homeland she has a chance of saving her farmland. (TS) In Under The Persimmon Tree, Najmah’s losses has changed and shaped her throughout the novel which has affected her decisions.

(MIP-1) Najmah has to step up and become more mature in order for Mada-jan and herself to survive. (SIP-A) Najmah has changed and become a mother to Mada-jan because she has witnessed Baba-jan and Nur get taken

‘He wants to fight, and we wouldn 't want to disappoint him.’ ‘He’s just a boy,’ Baba-man says again, and the man raises the butt of his rifle as if to strike Baba-jan in the face” (Staples 17). Najmah witnesses her father and brother get taken away by the Taliban and now Mada-jan and Najmah have to survive on their own together but since Mada-jan is pregnant, Najmah is the only strong one that can do the heavy and hard work. (SIP-B) Najmah has to be a mom since Mada-jan is pregnant. (STEWE-1) Najmah has matured and wants Nur back because she needs his help, “I have forgotten my childish quarrels with Nur I am no longer angry with him for scaring me about the leopard, and for saying I can 't carry water as far as he can. It 's as if these things never happened, and all I want is to see the top of his head and Baba-jan’s as they trudge up the hill, carrying water from the Baba Darya” (Staples 37). Najmah forgives Nur because she knows that she has to step up and be a leader since Mada-jan can 't do a lot of work cause she is pregnant. (STEWE-2)

(SIP-A) Najmah’s encounters has led her to this decision because she has been through alot and she knows it would make Baba-jan proud. (STEWE-1) Najmah is alert and ready for whatever happens but she knows that if she doesn 't go back home the land will be taken, “I hear footsteps and a man speaking angrily, and I know it is my Uncle. My heart leaps into my mouth. I know Bibi Nusrat will not tell him I am here. But what if he forces his way inside? I turn out the light in my room and slip out into the hallway to listen” (Staples 241). Najmah knows that if she gets caught by her uncle she will have to go back home and he will surely have her forced into marriage and he will take her father’s land and she will be sent away so he can have the land all to himself. (STEWE-2) Najmah and Nur both know that they have to return to Golestan,“We have no choice but to return to Golestan,’ says Nur quietly. ‘Uncle or someone else surely will take our land if we don 't go back. It was our father’s last wish that we keep our farm from the hands of the Taliban or Uncle” (Staples 256). Najmah can’t stay with Nusrat because she has to go back to Golestan and protect their farm land from enemies or other people that will take their land. Her father’s last wish was to keep the land for generations to come for their family but she can 't if she doesn 't go back and protect it.