Kiss The Dust Essay Research Paper Kiss

Kiss The Dust Essay, Research Paper

Kiss the Dust

Kiss the dust by Elizabeth Laird is a story about a young Kurdistan girl names Tara. Her life is challenged by having to escape from Baghdad, because her father is a member of the Pesh Murgas. She has to move from Baghdad to the mountains of Iran. Tara has to adapt to her new surroundings and struggles to survive through each day.

Tara is forced to adapt to her new surroundings when her family flees to the mountains of Kurdistan. Following there escape to the mountains, Tara has to do without many of her old luxuries in life. Unlike her old home where if she wanted water she could just go to the sink to get some, in the mountains there is no running water. Therefore Tara has to go to the spring and carry they heavy water back to her cabin if she wants water for anything. Secondly, she no longer has the convenience of being able to sleep in a big, lush, comfortable bed. She now has to sleep on the hard cold floor with the rest of her family. Finally, Tara has to do without her old normal every day appliances. For instance, it now takes hours for their samovar to heat up, when before she had to convenience of a microwave or oven that only took a short amount of time to heat or cook her food. Even through the struggle to adapt to her new surroundings, she learns to become accustomed to her new ways of life.

Taras?s new life in Kurdistan was completely different then that of her old life in Iran. For example, in the mountains of Kurdistan women had to wear specific clothing. ?The women all had to wear a navy scarf and a gray floor length coat, with buttons running all the way down the front, over there own clothes.?(Pg.201) Women in the Kurdistanian camp were also expected to work doing such jobs as sewing, washing clothes, and clean everything. The place where the people bathed was very inadequate. “The showers here, were the barest you could imagine, in the barest possible room, where 5 people had to wash at the same time.” (p. 199) Tara had to adjust and adapt to all these ways of life during the time when she lived in the mountains of Kurdistan.

Tara?s willingness to adjust to her new environment enabled her to survive through each day in the mountains of Kurdistan. She not only changed her style of clothing, but the way she appreciated the simple things in life. Her desire to alter her ways not only showed character, but her strength as an individual. Kiss the Dust is a interesting and exciting book which shows the struggles of adapting to a lower class of life and still being able to survive.