Najmah's Personality

(AGG): Imagine yourself all alone, where everything surrounding you is complete violence, you have no one to help guide you through the violence, Najmah has been through all of that terror by herself and she was only ten years old.(BS-1):Najmah has suffered major trauma, these impacts forced her personality to mature.(BS-2): Najmah and her neighbors head off to Peshawar and her experiences changed Najmah’s personality.(BS-3): When Nusrat came into Najmah’s life, she learned to trust again and found the hope she needed to return to Golestan.(TS): Najmah has been through many losses that have shaped and impacted her as a person.

(MIP-1): Najmah lost all of the people that she loved, this impacted every part of her life and she struggled each

(SIP-A): Akhtar and Khalida begin to care for Najmah, her personality starts to change with their help. (STEWE-1): Khalida took a pair of scissors and began to cut Najmah’s hair while Akhtar dug a hole to bury the hair. “It isn 't until the first tinge of light shows on the horizon that I realize the hole where Akhtar has buried my hair also holds my mother and baby brother (85)”. This is significant because she needed to pretend to be a boy so that she would be protected from the Taliban. After this experience, Najmah’s personality was being shaped by the kindness of Akhtar and Khalida. When her hair was buried in the ground, Najmah felt that her childhood had ended too. (STEWE-2): Najmah was traveling with Akhtar, Khalida, and their boys to get away from the Taliban. Once they arrived in the bad conditioned village, Akhtar left them to get food in the bazaar. Khalida said to Najmah, “It isn 't safe for a woman or girl in a strange city, she whispers, shifting her chin toward where the Pashtun talib had beaten the woman begging by the side of the street (90).” Najmah realizes that she needs to dress like and act like a boy because girls and women are not treated well by the Taliban. Najmah had seen the woman begging and watched her get beaten and knew that she would only be safe if she pretended to be a boy. (SIP-B): When Najmah has reached the refugee camp, she starts to think of a plan to get to Peshawar so she can see her father and brother again. (STEWE-1): Najmah starts to get hopeful that she may see her family again. “Perhaps my father and Nur have escaped from the Taliban and I will find them in Peshawar!”(108). This reveals Najmah’s new feeling of hope and new goal of finding her family in Peshawar. (STEWE-2): While in the refugee camp, Najmah sneaks onto a fruit truck without Khalida knowing and the truck is heading to Peshawar. “Before slipping out of the