Now you know what you’ve given me in this marriage. Bad food, and nothing else.’” This act of utter abuse is almost horrifying. Being forced to eat rocks off of the definitely unsanitary road and then breaking teeth from the hardness of the rocks is amazingly cruel and certainly an evil act, if not worse than evil.
	“Then Laila struck the wall. Crashed to the ground. On her face and arms, a shower of dirt and pebbles and glass. The last thing she was aware of was seeing something thud to the ground nearby. A bloody chunk of something. On it, the tip of a red bridge poking through thick fog.” This is from Laila’s house and family being blown up. I chose it to show that the war going on in Afghanistan at the time, where the two sides where ruthlessly blowing everyone up, was a horribly evil thing. So many lives of loved ones like this were lost for absolutely nothing.

	“Mariam sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her back and neck were sore. ‘I’m going to wait for him.’” This quote shows loyalty as well as strength. Mariam sits outside Jalil’s house all night, waiting for him because she wants to live with him. She’s loyal and devoted to showing it.
	“The next morning, Mullah Faizullah came to visit her. When she saw her friend at the door, his white beard and his amiable, toothless smile, Mariam felt tears stinging the corners of her eyes again.” Mullah Faizullah is a constant in Mariam’s life. He’s been there and he’s stayed there since she was born. By supporting her, he shows his loyalty and devotion.
	“‘You go, then. Take your daughter and run away. Send me a postcard. But peace is coming, and I, for one, am going to wait for it.’” Mariam’s mother shows loyalty and devotion to her sons by refusing to leave Afghanistan, even when the fighting gets horrendous. 
	“‘It’s my father I can’t leave,’ Laila said. ‘I’m all he has left. His heart couldn’t take it either.’” When Laila denies the biggest desire her heart has ever had so that her father could be happier, she shows an amazing amount of loyalty and devotion. 

	“‘You’re a clumsy little harami. This is my reward for everything I’ve endured. An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harami.’” Because Jalil didn’t marry Nana, Mariam has been dubbed a fatherless child. Her life is filled with this discrimination, as she is scorned for it by the people that know.
	“‘Actually, your father has already given Rasheed his answer,’” When Jalil gives Mariam away without her consent, it shows how women, and especially women who aren’t 18 yet, are thoroughly discriminated against. They don’t really have the right to even choose their own husband.
	“Mariam began shivering. His hand crept lower still, lower, his fingernails catching in the cotton of her blouse. 