Character Analysis Of Parvana In The Breadwinner

Breaking Out Parvana is a strong, brave girl living in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. She is forced to take dangerous responsibility and face her immense fears.

The Taliban is a radical religious military group who controls Afghanistan. Under its ruling, women’s freedom is taken away; Females are only allowed outside under a man’s supervision. Women cannot reveal any skin in the public. Women are not to be served in shops. Girls cannot go to school. If the rules are not obeyed, there are extreme consequences, like death. With all of these rules, only Parvana’s father can work to provide for the family since there are no other males in the family, except for a toddler.

The book is Parvana’s journey of getting to understand her identity which forces the reader to empathise because identity is not something concrete, it is constantly changing. In the beginning, Parvana is afraid, and she would “slump down further on the blank and try to make herself look smaller.” Later on, Parvana has to take on her father’s responsibility, this changes her into a dauntless person and “ whatever it was[is], she felt[feels] ready for it.

The Taliban soldiers burst into Parvana’s house and took Father to prison. Mother is determined to get Father back with Parvana. We empathise with Parvana when she doesn’t want to go “but she knew that sitting at home waiting for him to return would be even harder. Once she arrives at the prison, she “felt[feels] even smaller.” But she remembers the story of Malali which Father had told, “Malali would lick her lips at such a challenge”.

Mother is fearless, she marches up to the gate and says “I’m here for my husband.” Eventually, Parvana joins in. The soldiers start hitting them and the violence of the scene forced the reader to empathise with Parvana as “Parvana fell to the ground, her body covering the pieces of her father’s photograph.”

With Father’s absence, Parvana has to take on responsibility. Initially, she is reluctant as she feels this shouldn’t be her responsibility. I empathise with Parvana as the author shows the argument between the family. ‘“Cut Nooria’s hair! She’s the oldest! It’s her responsibility to look after me, not my responsibility to look after her!”’ Furthermore, how Nooria says “You see? I told you she was too scared” force the reader to sympathise and empathise with Parvana as she begs “don’t make me do this!” because she is scared of being revealed as a girl and what would happen to her.

Parvana gets more comfortable in the marketplace. She is proud and turns out she loves pretending to be a boy and work, “Parvana liked[likes] the idea.” Parvana stumbles upon an old classmate, Shauzia, during work. Both girls are dressed as boys to work and they get close after chatting for a while. They talk about someday when they have enough money to buy trays and things to sell from them, but neither has come up the way. Eventually, Shauzia has an idea.

Shauzia and Parvana are going to dig bones. There is a bone broker who they are going to sell the bones to. When Parvana finishes digging, she denies to her family that she has been digging up graves, initially. But she couldn’t lie and eventually confessed. Mother is reasonably mad, “ So this is what we’ve become in Afghanistan.” Surprisingly Nooria stands up for Parvana and their sistership has gotten closer.

The theme of courage and suffering in Parvana help us to understand the concept of experience and empathy. This is because to prevent further suffering, Parvana had to use all her courage to work in the marketplace. An example of this is the absence of Father. Parvana had to dress up as a boy to work and take on Father’s responsibility. She could be punished by the Taliban, but she still took the risk. She knew what the suffering and the burden of her family was going to be if she didn’t step up and conquered her fears. As a result, we learn about how courage can help to eliminate suffering.