The Assasination of LIght at the River's Flow

I find The Assassination of Light at the Rivers Flow a very sad story. Raha described in the beginning of the story about how she doesn't watch the television or listen to the radio, because there was always war and killings broadcasted everyday. She talked about how the city she lived in was one peaceful place where everyone lived together; it was very different environment compared to what news were being broadcasted everyday. 

I find it kind of sick when Raha's mother abused Raha, because I cannot imagine a mother abusing her daughter. Especially Raha's mother because Raha said that her mother has been taken good care of Raha "...the hair that she had taken such care of all my childhood, brushing it, shaping it, showing it off to her friends, calling it the waves and ripples of a beautiful deep black river..." pg. 69 line 3-5 I don't understand how Raha's mom can change from a caring, good mother into what Raha called "the devil" just because Raha refused an arranged marriage. 

I was a little confused in the beginning about who Raha was talking about when she said "them". "I will carry my books to them, and my rosy notebooks, and show them all I have learned." pg. 67 line 21-22 Also, I didn't understand what Raha meant when she said that she didn't know in what wave she drowned in. I'm a little confused as to whether Raha died or that she just succumbed to her parents and went with the arranged marriage.