Shooting Kabul

Mariam’s Barbie Doll symbolizes Mariam’s personality and her connection to both Afghan and American culture. Gulmina is first mentioned when Mariam asks Noor if she can help sew Gulmina a new dress. Mariam inherited the doll from Noor, and it serves as a connection between the two sisters. The doll is an important object in Mariam’s life: “the envy of all her friends. […] And now, even though the doll’s features had faded and she was missing a left hand, Gulmina accompanied Mariam everywhere” (80). Mariam loves the color pink, and she asks her sister to make the doll’s dress pink or lavender. When Noor does sew Gulmina a dress, it is a hot pink burka like the one Mariam wears. We usually think about Barbie as quintessentially American, but the image of the doll in a burka demonstrates Mariam’s cultural fluidity. The dress also foreshadows the outfit Mariam is wearing when she is discovered: At the end of the novel, Fadi recognizes Mariam in the photograph because she is wearing a bright pink burka.

This fictitious book is the only one Fadi saves and brings with him when the family leaves Afghanistan. Fadi identifies with the novel’s