Evidence-Analysis Practice

Positive Student Sample:

Claim:
Having a lack of power can affect an individual to an extent where the individual’s mental health and sense of
self-worth declines, creating a cycle of low self-esteem.
First Paragraph:
In the book, ‘the sun and her flowers’ by Rupi Kaur, the author shares her personal experiences of pain, trauma,
and heartbreak throughout the book. One recurring theme in the book is the lack of power that the author has
experienced in her life. The author went through a breakup with a boyfriend and ended up going through a
depression which made her go through a deep spiral of low self-esteem to the point where she would belittle herself
and tell herself that she wasn’t enough. Her ex-boyfriend had the upper hand in their relationship because how the
author reacted to the breakup shows how he meant a lot to her. On page 61 of "the sun and her flowers" by Rupi
Kaur, the author writes a poem about depression and feeling consumed by it. The author describes a sense of
despair and hopelessness, where even the beauty of nature is lost and all that is left is a feeling of emptiness. This
can be seen as a metaphor for the effects of a lack of power in one's life. The page says “yesterday when i woke up
the sun fell to the ground and rolled away flowers beheaded themselves all that's left here is me and i barely feel
like living. -depression is a shadow living inside me.” (Rupi Kaur, 61) The poem connects to the claim that a lack
of power can lead to a decline in mental health and self-worth. The speaker's depression is described as a shadow
living inside them, which suggests that it is a constant presence in their life. This can be interpreted as a result of
feeling powerless as if there is no control over the circumstances that lead to depression.

Task: Use the claim below and two of the provided quotes below to construct a paragraph
response which restates the claim and evidence and includes your analysis, explaining how
the chosen quote supports this claim.

Claim: Mariam’s life has been guided by the self-fulfilling prophecy that she does not deserve a life
of happiness nor freedom from shame.

Evidence:
“She understood then what Nana meant, that a harami was an unwanted thing: that Page 4
she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim to the
things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance.”

“I wish my father had had the stomach to sharpen one of his knives and do the Page 6-7
honorable thing. It might have been better for me…Better for you too, maybe. It
would have spared you the grief of knowing that you are what you are.”

“You were a good daughter, Mariam jo. Even in birth you were a good daughter.” Page 12

“It’s our lot in life, Mariam. Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have. Do you Page 19
understand?”

“What’s the sense schooling a girl like you? It’s like shining a spittoon.” Page 18

“Mariam cried lying down. She didn’t sit up, didn’t want to be seen. She imagined all Page 35
of Herat knew this morning how she’d disgraced herself.”

“I shouldn’t have left her. I should have-” Page 43-44

“You stop that. These thoughts are no good, Mariam jo. You hear me child? No good.
They will destroy you. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t your fault. No.”

“She remembered Nana saying once that each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an Page 91
aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. That all the sighs drifted up the sky,
gathered into clouds, then broke into tiny pieces that fell silently on the people below.
As a reminder of how women like us suffer, she’d said. How quietly we endure all
that falls upon us.”

Your Paragraph: Write in this space or type in the assignment in Google Classroom

Claim: Mariam’s life has been guided by the self-fulfilling prophecy that she does not deserve a
life of happiness nor freedom from shame.

Throughout the book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, the traits of Mariam are constantly being expressed.
Things such as her personality, relationships, interactions with others, hopes, and personal
thoughts/perceptions of the world. Most importantly relating to the two quotes I’ve chosen, however,
there are in-depth displays of Mariam’s relationship with her mother Nana, that appears to be a toxic
one. The first quote that presents this degrading power dynamic between them states: “She understood
then what Nana meant, that a harami was an unwanted thing: that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate
person who would never have a legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love,
family, home, acceptance.” The choice of phrasing here from the writer shows that at this point in
Mariam’s progression of life, she had finally come to understand the painful weight of her mother's
words. It also appears that she has begun to internalize and find truth in these cruel sentiments that her
mother would constantly preach, therefore feeling as though she will never be enough for a happy
fulfilling life. Furthermore, it is all but uncommon for Nana to make direct insults akin to harami towards
Mariam, as shown in the quote “What’s the sense schooling a girl like you? It’s like shining a spittoon.” In
this text, Nana is expressing that she believes Mariam is so worthless, that anyone trying to provide her
with education would be as futile as cleaning a dirty pot meant to be spat in and used for nothing more
than a meaningless, lowly purpose. This quote is quite jarring and thoroughly underscores how little care
Nana shows for Mariam through her words, even if she may truly care for Mariam internally. It also
supports reasoning as to why Mariam would begin to adopt a mindset believing she does not deserve a
life of happiness, nor freedom from shame.