Under The Persimmon Tree Najmah Character Analysis

Lots of people around the world go through losses and sit and think about for many days or even months, but Najmah, unlike many regular people that are older than her, took actions to make herself a better person. In the novel Under The Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples, Najmah is presented as a young girl in war torn Afghanistan after the tragic events of 9/11. Najmah loses many things in her long haul and reacts from them as time passes. She finally meets someone that turns her whole world back up. Najmah has encountered many calamities: after all these events she became a completely different girl, in the end Najmah became a stronger person on the inside and outside with the help of her new friends. Najmah has been shaped by

Furthermore, losing her father and older brother means that Najmah had to do most of the chores outside of the house leaving her mom all by herself. Najmah and Mada-Jan were keeping the farm and home up and running, even with the birth of Najmah's new baby brother, until, “My mother lies on the ground nearby with her legs splayed at odd angles to the rest of her. She reaches her hand toward me, and opens her lips to speak. Instead of words, blood pours from her mouth. By the time I reach her she stares with glassy, dead eyes”(67). Najmah does not know what could have gone worse, she has to take care of a farm and home by herself! But luckily Najmah also has other neighbors that haven't lost their families and are traveling to Pakistan. Najmah only agrees to this because she hopes that Baba-Jan and Nur will be there waiting for her. In addition to all this Najmah has forgotten that she will lose the home that she was born in and spent the last twelve years in, " I look back over my shoulder at the path we've ridden all through the night. But they are far, far behind us, and I realize I will never see them

When Najmah met Nusrat she could not believe all the luxuries she had been offered, “I nod my head. It suits me very well, but I can barely believe my ears. She’s giving me a safe, clean place to sleep, food, and an opportunity to go to school. Surely she will ask for something in return” (203)! Najmah is in awe from all the resources Nusrat is providing her with to help her recover. Nusrat is helping a random stranger that showed up at her door, this leaves Najmah to be very cautious because she had never seen this level of kindness from anyone before. Nusrat has made Najmah strong and healthy again through her kindness and patience that one in a million people might have showed in the time war, “It feels so good to laugh! It feels as if the world might very well go on”(244). Nusrat changed Najmah from a girl that had her head down and could not talk into a girl that is laughing and telling stories again. This shows how a little bit of time and kindness can impact a person. Najmah is now willing to go back to the torn Golestan village with Nur to keep her family's legacy rooted, “‘It was our father's last wish that we should keep our farm from the hands of the Taliban or Uncle’”(256). Baba-Jan wants Nur and Najmah to keep the land safe so generations after them can have the same land to work with and love. This is the only way the family got money, resources and food.