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