Terrorism In Suzanne Fisher Staples Under The Persimmon Tree

“The objective of a terrorist is to create political change in the society he targets”-Tom Clancy. Terrorism is a key conflict in Under The Persimmon Tree written by Suzanne Fisher Staples. It plays a large role in the way the main characters lives are portrayed. It affects almost every aspect of their lives from education to mental health. In the book, the two main characters are Najmah and Nusrat. Nusrat is from America but came here with her husband who is a doctor. Najmah is a teenage girl who lived her whole life in a village with her family. But, when the Taliban tries to take control of Afghanistan a war breaks out. The fictional portrayal of terrorist groups in the text impacted Najmah and Nusrat in a similar way as it affects people
In the story, the Taliban are trying to take control of Afghanistan. They do not let anybody get in their way. The taliban go around “ slaughtering men like goats, slitting them open and leaving their blood to soak into the ground” (staples, 12). Clearly, many people live in fear of these blood thirsty human beings. Also, the taliban “ lock the people of entire villages in their homes” but not only that, they “burn them to the ground” (staples, 12). The taliban just cares to torture people, they do not care the cost, who gets hurt or anything else. The taliban affects how people live their everyday lives, such as going to school, making money or working, and even daily events such as when there was a bombing at the Bazaar. Also they have very strict rules that seem extreme to people who live in the west and have different freedoms. Some of the rules include how long your beard is and clothing. At one point in the book Asma has an incident with a member of the taliban when she had very little skin showing, “your in violation of dress code, the man said to Asma” (staples,96). These rules take away the rights of many innocent people in the book. Many other rules are in place like “playing music, laughing out loud, keeping a bird to hear its song in the morning, putting pictures of beautiful scenes on the wall, reading books, flying kites” (Staples, 12). These rules are much
Because of terrorist groups now, first responders need to go through additional training, extra security is added in many places and many other things. Additionally, because of the Taliban “10,000 troops are being kept on the ground throughout 2015 to drive the Taliban out of afghanistan” (Wu, Athena). These troops cost the United States money to stay there. The terrorist groups are proud of the crimes they commit, “Recently many videos have been put for the public to see” (Santiago, Kyle) these videos show terrorists proud of the attacks they launch. Today, terrorist groups such as ISIS have a big impact on the world. People located all over the world have had to take extra security precautions in many events, because of the fact that many attacks are unexpected. Terrorists not only injure but kill many people every year, “In Iraq over 6,362 people have died and 14,047 have been injured” (Purcell, Erin). Terrorist groups have inflicted so much pain and suffering upon many innocent people of the world. Many terrorists base their groups on certain ideologies, some more extreme than others, and some claim they are just doing what is best for society. Though in many cases this is not the case. In the United States, everyone has many rights, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

In the book the Taliban, affects Najmah and Nusrat and causes their lives to become more chaotic. They cause