Analysis Of Suzanne Fisher Staples Under The Persimmon Tree

1264 Words3 Pages

Currently, thousands of refugees are seeking safety and shelter in refugee camps that offer little aid, and struggle to support the many refugees. This is not the case for the refugee camps in the Under the Persimmon Tree, and the refugee camps only depict very few elements of real world refugee camps. These are present issues portrayed by Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples. In this fictional version of Afghanistan, Najmah, a young girl, is separated from her family because of the war. Najmah then embarks on a grueling and long journey with numerous people, and sometimes her self. She pushes forwards because of the hope of reuniting with her remaining family. While on her journey, Najmah encounters many challenges and moral …show more content…

Najmah enters as a refugee and is given food and water. She describes her and Khalida’s experience this way as they “sleep for two more nights under the stars, and during the day milk and ghee and lentils from Pakistan are handed out in addition to the fruit bars and grey biscuits” (Staples 146-147). The good nutrition and a safe place to stay helps them regain their health. Along with food and water from the first refugee camp, at the second camp, Najmah is able to "slip through the gate quickly without asking, not wanting to give the guard a proper opportunity to turn me away” (Staples 182). Najmah was able to walk into a refugee with considerable ease, while in real life, many refugees await permission to enter a refugee camp. Lastly, when Najmah was moving through the refugee camp, she could "tell by looking at them that they have little food and no clean water, and the only thing they live on is the dreams of their farms, which no longer exist” (Staples 186). Najmah is surprised by the very poor living conditions of the refugee camp after her positive experience living in one herself. Although many characteristics of the refugee camps portrayed in the book are not entirely accurate, some examples clearly represent different aspects of real world refugee

More about Analysis Of Suzanne Fisher Staples Under The Persimmon Tree

Open Document