assasination of light at the rivers flow-nadine

I thought that this was a scary, but truthful story about life in traditional places like Afghanistan. The narrator, a dreamy young girl, goes to school. For her, school is more than a place to learn, it is a safe haven from the rest of the surrounding world. We learn that this girl lives in Afghanistan, where terrorists roam the streets, and every step you take outside could be your last. Well, maybe it isn't that dangerous, but it is true that life in Afghanistan is dangerous and full of death. Also, not many girls get an education in a country like Afghanistan, which is so traditional. The school symbolizes opportunity and freedom to girls like the narrator.

When our narrator comes home to her parents, her mother tells her that she has arranged a marriage for her and a wealthy man. When the narrator refuses to marry him, her mom slaps her, beats her, and pulls out her hair. This shows how different our life in the US is than life in Afghanistan. Here, this would have been considered child abuse, and the narrator would have a right to say she would not marry, and would not be forced to, the mom would have been sent to jail, but in Afghanistan, the narrator is expected to marry at a young age and to do what her parents tell her.

At first, I wondered how a mom could abuse her own daughter; all she had done was refuse to marry! But then, looking from the mother's point of view, I understood that the narrator had refused to obey her parents, and even worse, she was a girl!!! Gasp And girls in traditional countries are supposed to be quiet, polite, and do what they are told. The narrator disobeying her mother, must had not only shocked the mother, but disgraced her as well. What decent family has a misbehaving independent daughter that refuses an arranged marriage made by her parents?? Of course, I do not think that this justifies the mother's actions, but because life in Afghanistan is so different than in the US, beating up their daughter is probably what many other mothers in Afghanistan would have done if faced with this situation of family pride.