Amal Unbound

Books are an important part of Amal’s life. They symbolize both Amal’s future and her freedom. Amal loves reading and learning. The new knowledge and ideas that books convey further Amal’s education and advance her dream of being a teacher. Books expand Amal’s world beyond her tiny village and beyond the Khan estate. Books also give Amal hope. Learning about famous Pakistani poets and leaders like Iqbal help her realize that dreams can be made reality. Amal feels having access to books is worth almost any risk because they keep her “mind alive.” Books also help her escape the reality of her imprisonment, helping her become “unbound.” She comments that books “…were what made my days bearable. They were what helped me sleep at night without my homesickness choking me” (114).

In teaching Fatima to read, Amal gives Fatima the same power to break free from the confines of everyday life. Amal gives Fatima a “window to see worlds beyond ours…and to feel free” (189). Amal’s reaction to Jawad’s unread library also shows her conviction that books, and their knowledge, belong to everyone and should be utilized. Amal believes that hoarding, or denying others access to knowledge, is a “crime.