How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
At first it was the Soviets who rolled their big tanks into the country and flew war planes that dropped bombs on villages and the countryside.
Parvana was born one month before the Soviets started going back to their own country.
"You were such an ugly baby, the Soviets couldn't stand to be in the same country with you," Nooria was fond of telling her. (1.26-1.28)
Parvana has literally never known anything but life during wartime; Nooria hasn't either, and neither have their younger siblings. Yikes.
Quote #2
After the Soviets left, the people who had been shooting at the Soviets decided they wanted to keep shooting at something, so they shot at each other. Many bombs fell on Kabul during that time. Many people died. (1.29)
It's pretty bad when people want to kill so badly that they turn on their own. Makes you wonder: is violence learned or is it innate?
Quote #3
Now most of the country was controlled by the Taliban. The word Taliban meant religious scholars, but Parvana's father told her that religion was about teaching people how to be human beings, how to be kinder. "The Taliban are not making Afghanistan a kinder place to live!" he said. (1.32)
Parvana's father gets angry when he thinks that the Taliban are using religion as a reason for violence, and he explains to Parvana that the real practice of religion does the exact opposite of what the Taliban are doing. If the Taliban were truly acting in the name of their religion, there would be no violence and certainly no oppression.