Comparison: Mariam's green hijab

As a kid, Mariam loved the visits that her father, Jalil, made. One day on a visit, she made him promise that he would take her to the movies with the rest of her family. What she didn’t know was that her mother, Nana, called her a harami (bastard) because she was a bastard child.

“The next morning, Mariam wore a cream-coloured dress that fell to her knees, cotton trousers, and a green hijab over her hair. She agonized a bit over the hijab, its being green and not matching the dress, but it would have to do – moths had eaten holes into her white one.”(Hosseini, 29)

Mariam was bothered by her green hijab not matching her cream dress because she wanted to look nice for Jalil, her biological father, who wouldn’t even let her live in the same house. When Jalil didn’t come to her house to pick her up, she finally set down the hill into the city, which was supposed to be a killing zone for harami as described by Nana. There she found out that Jalil wasn’t home. Still, she waited on the doorstep for his return. After a long while of waiting, Jalil’s driver was sent out to drive Mariam home but it was in vain since they found Nana hanging from a tree.

                “In the morning, Mariam was given a long-sleeved, dark green dress to wear over white cotton trousers. Afsoon gave her a green hijab and a pair of matching sandals.” (Hosseini, 51)

                 After Nana’s death, Jalil was forced to take his harami in. Mariam was not too happy about this either. The father she waited for so eagerly every time he came to visit had betrayed her trust. Of course, Jalil didn’t want to live with his mistake any longer so he made arrangements to have her married off to an older man living in Kabul.