Apricots

Ah, the sweet taste of friendship. From the first day Shauzia meets up with Parvana in the marketplace, she gives her dried apricots to nibble on—and the gift is much appreciated. When Parvana takes a bite of the fruit, it is like:

[…] a wonderful sweetness flooded through her mouth. (9.8)

Given that Parvana mainly subsists on nan and tea, we believe that eating something so seemingly ordinary as a dried apricot tastes like magic. And the thing about this, of course, is that this wonderful sweetness she tastes when she bites into a piece of dried apricot mirrors the sweetness of friendship that Shauzia brings to Parvana's life.

Parvana is so happy to be reunited with a kid her own age. Since she's been forced to pretty much leave her childhood behind by the Taliban, connecting with Shauzia brings a little bit of that lost childhood back to her days. Finally she has someone to talk to that understands what she's going through, who can relate to how hard life is as an eleven-year-old charged with supporting the family, but who also wants to chat about old school friends and giggle.

And while the sweet flavor of the apricots represents the sweetness of friendship, the giving of the apricots symbolizes how much Shauzia appreciates Parvana's friendship too. Since these girls are so strapped for basic necessities—like food—sharing her treat with Parvana is an indication that her presence in Shauzia's life means a lot to the girl. Giving the apricots is like a silent way of saying thank you.

If you at all doubt whether the apricots symbolize Shauzia and Parvana's friendship, though, then consider this: when the girls separate, Shauzia gives Parvana a bag of dried apricots as a goodbye gift. Each time Parvana bites into one, she will literally taste the sweetness of Shauzia's friendship, and in this way, their friendship will linger in Parvana's days as she goes forward… at least until she finishes eating the apricots, anyway.