1. Why does 12 yr. old Aimal have to suffer twelve hour days working when the family is a middle class family?
A: Aimal has to work at the shop because it is the son's duty to carry on the family tradition of a store they own. He is only twelve, but the head of the household ( the father or oldest son) wants the younger boys to get used to working at a very young age. His shop is in a shabby war-torn hotel and I didn't quite understand it at first, but i think the reason it is located there is so that he can say he goes to work, but doesn't have to deal with the hectic customers all day. The hotel doesn't get many customers and therefore Aimal only has to deal with occasional journalists and the janitors.
2. Why do children and young adults in the Afghan community beg their parents to let them go to school instead of make money at an easy job?
A: Children in this community in the book really want to become educated because they realize that more people succeed if they can read, write, and exchange money without being ripped off. The kids and young adults in the family would rather go to school than work and carry on their families shops because they are under control of the head man in the family. These children have no freedom with how they want to live their lives if they are forced to work in the stores because they are told exactly what to do with it.
3. Why did Sultan get so upset over the stolen postcards when he knew how much the carpenter truely needed the money for his family?
A: Sultan got so angry that some postcards were stolen out of his shop because he had worked so hard to get it all started. He felt like he had to uphold his family's honor by punishing the man who stole from the shop. I think that Sultan wanted to show his authority to everyone by not letting the carpenter go without getting in trouble because he wanted to make sure that they all knew who was in charge. Sultan didn't understand how much the man truely needed money in order to keep his family from starving nor did he really care. All he cared about was getting his postcards back, which makes him a greedy person.
4. What does Sultan mean when he tells Mansur, "Don't be soft Mansur; don't you start to buckle," ?
A: Sultan says this twice in this section and then the author makes it recurrent in Mansur's thoughts so it must be an important quote to remember. I think it is stated multiple times because Sultan wants to test Mansur to see if he can handle being the head of the store one day. Mansur knows that his father watches his every move and therefore, he goes along with everything Sultan says even though he might not agree with it all. Mansur doesn't want to let Sultan down and Sultan wants to make sure that he is one day leaving the shop to someone who can show no mercy and run it right.
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