Mehri School
The Mehri School for girls in Herat is a symbol of the education and social acceptance that Mariam, as a harami, is denied. It represents the legitimate world from which she is excluded, a world of classrooms, teachers, and notebooks that she desperately longs to enter but is forbidden from even imagining for herself.
Identity and Location
The Mehri School is a girls' school located in Herat, Afghanistan. It is attended by Jalil's legitimate daughters, Saideh and Naheed, who are Mariam's half-sisters. The school is mentioned in the context of Mariam's childhood, when she lives in the kolba outside Herat with her mother, Nana. The school is a concrete example of the life Mariam cannot have, a life of learning and social integration that is reserved for legitimate children.
Mariam's Longing and Nana's Refusal
Mariam learns of the Mehri School through Bibi jo, a village gossip, who brings news that Jalil's daughters are attending it. This news sparks a powerful desire in Mariam to attend a "real school" herself. She confides in Mullah Faizullah, her tutor, asking him to intercede with Nana. Mariam pictures herself in a classroom with other girls her age, longing to use a ruler and draw lines. When Mullah Faizullah broaches the subject, Nana reacts with sharp anger, dropping the knife she was using to slice onions. She dismisses the idea of schooling for a girl like Mariam, comparing it to "shining a spittoon." Nana insists that the only skill a woman like them needs is endurance, and that Mariam would only face ridicule and the cruel label of "harami" at school. Nana's refusal is rooted in her own bitter experience and her fear of losing Mariam to the world that has rejected them. The Mehri School thus becomes a symbol of the education and social mobility that are forbidden to Mariam, reinforcing her status as an illegitimate outsider.
Contrast with Legitimate Daughters
The Mehri School serves as a stark contrast between Mariam's life and the lives of her half-sisters. While Saideh and Naheed attend school and later plan to enroll in Kabul University, Mariam is married off at fifteen to a much older man in Kabul. The school is a marker of the legitimate life that Mariam is denied, a life of opportunity and social standing. The fact that the school is mentioned in the context of Mariam's own desires and Nana's refusal highlights the injustice of Mariam's position as a harami, a child born out of wedlock who has no claim to the privileges of her father's legitimate family.
