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Baba Jan / The Commander / Commander Sahib
The son of Iqbal (Abdullah’s half-brother), Gholam is a clever, savvy teenager who befriends Adel during Chapter Seven of the novel. Gholam knows from his father that The Commander, Adel’s father, is a thief and criminal. He doesn’t hesitate to share this information with Adel, despite the fact that Adel idolizes his father.
Gholam Quotes in And the Mountains Echoed
The And the Mountains Echoed quotes below are all either spoken by Gholam or refer to Gholam. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 7 Quotes
“My father is not a thief!” Adel shot back. “Ask anyone in Shadbagh-e-Nau, ask them what he’s done for this town.” He thought of how Baba jan received people at the town mosque, reclined on the floor, teacup before him, prayer beads in hand. A solemn line of people, stretching from his cushion to the front entrance, men with muddy hands, toothless old women, young widows with children, every one of them in need, each waiting for his or her turn to ask for a favor, a job, a small loan to repair a roof or an irrigation ditch or buy milk formula.
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Explanation and Analysis:
In this chapter, we meet Adel, a young, idealistic boy who hero-worships his father, "The Commander." Although it's never explicitly stated, we get the sense that Adel's father isn't such a good man--in fact, he's probably a member of the Taliban,a fundamentalist, terrorist group that hurts and oppresses innocent people. The reason that Adel thinks of his father as a "good man" is that The Commander makes a point of granting special favors to the people of his community--he uses his wealth and prestige to make his neighbors loyal to him. As far as Adel is concerned, The Commander's actions Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui
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Gholam Character Timeline in And the Mountains Echoed
The timeline below shows where the character Gholam appears in And the Mountains Echoed. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
...They get into a lively conversation about soccer, and afterwards, the boy introduces himself as Gholam. Adel introduces himself as well. Adel enjoys talking with his new friend, as he hasn’t...
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Adel and Gholam continue talking. Gholam explains that he was born in a Pakistani refugee camp outside of...
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Gholam and Adel continue talking. Gholam mentions that Adel’s father has many enemies. Adel has heard...
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In the coming days, Adel sees little of Gholam. Then, about a week after meeting him for the first time, Adel sees Gholam near...
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One day, Gholam tells Adel something unpleasant: Adel’s father built his mansion on Gholam’s family’s land. The orchard...
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The evening after his fight with Gholam, Adel still isn’t sure what to believe. On one hand, he worships his father, and...
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A few days after he speaks with his stepmother, Adel sees Gholam wandering through the orchards. Gholam tells Adel that there’s been a highly suspicious mix-up at...
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A few days after Adel’s talk with Gholam, Baba jan returns to Shadbagh. Adel is overjoyed to see him, though he can’t stop...
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