What are three important ideas from chapters 1-10?

In Chapter Two, Amal introduces the idea of being blamed whenever radical Muslims take violent actions in any setting and for any reason, anywhere around the world. This is an issue that she continues to deal with throughout the novel.

The relationship between Amal and her parents is an underlying theme that affects many aspects of the novel. Amal and her mother are close, but Amal says she draws the line at allowing her mother to help her choose clothes or get dressed. When Amal is trying to get ready for school the first day she wears the hajib, she is clearly struggling with the veil, trying to get it arranged perfectly. Jamila wears the hajib all the time, and she offers to help but Amal refuses. That seems like a very typical mother-daughter relationship, and it is likely that teenage girls and their mothers have similar conversations regularly.

The role of parents is one of the novel's underlying themes, and Leila's situation is a prime example of this theme. Leila's mother married at a young age. Leila says Gulchin was about 16 when she married, and she has never considered that a woman should have options for her life other than marrying and becoming a housewife and mother. Leila is intelligent and determined to become a lawyer, and this is horrifying for Gulchin, partly because she has no respect for lawyers but mainly because she feels that Leila has to choose between a career and marriage. Gulchin can apparently see no possibility that Leila could have both. This is a sign of Gulchin's cloistered life. Her parents were too poor to afford education for all their children, and Gulchin never learned to read. She has no real understanding of the modern world and is trying to impose her beliefs on Leila. However, readers should also understand that Gulchin is a strong woman in some ways because she is doing her best to insure that Leila has a secure future. The problem is that she does not really know how to do that, other than trying to set Gulchin up with a successful husband who has a good future and can provide well for his family.