MYP Language and Literature 2

2 December 2022

The Breadwinner

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis is a novel that tells the story of an eleven year old girl

who lives in Afghanistan. Parvana and her family live under the ruthless Taliban rule that does

not allow women to go outside or to have freedom and live a normal life. Some of the challenges

that they face include restrictions from the Taliban and difficulties buying food and water.

Therefore, Parvana and her family suffer many physical and emotional challenges and overcome

these situations as a family.

To begin with, Parvana and her family go through many challenges that deeply hurt them

both physically and emotionally. Firstly, people from Afghanistan are abused and controlled by

the Talibans who were ruling the cities. "Afghanistan doesn't need your foreign ideas!"(25).

When the Taliban discovered Parvana’s father was a professor in England, the Talibans took him

to jail because they didn’t want any foreigners' ideas to impact the afghani society. Another

challenge that Parvana’s family went through was that her family couldn't go out of the house

because of the law in Afghanistan. Women can’t go out of their house unless they wear a burka

and go with a man or get permission from a man in their family. Parvana’s mother and sister

couldn't feel the breeze outside because of this law. Another big problem is that kids are not

getting an education and many Afghani kids stay home all the time or work at a young age. “The

Taliban had ordered all the girls and women in Afghanistan to stay inside their homes. They even

forbade girls to go to school” (1). Overall, there were many physical and emotional challenges

that they had to suffer because of the war and Talibs.

 Furthermore, Parvana and her family overcome the physical and emotional challenges as

a family. After Parvana disguises as a boy, Parvana lets everyone in the family go for a walk

outside. This has a positive physical impact on the family members. “Then I could be your

escort, I could be Nooria's escort, too, and you could both get outside sometimes” (83). In

addition, Parvana tries harder to get more money for her family since her father is gone. For her

job, she sells her belongings and reads letters, even risking her life by once reading a letter to a

Taliban. “Parvana was about to squish her eyes shut and wait to be shot when she saw that the

Talib had taken out a letter” (71). Lastly, the reason why Parvana’s family doesn’t break apart is

because nobody keeps a secret nor lies to each other. When Parvana secretly goes bone digging

and comes home very late, Parvana is hesitant at first to tell her mother about this. Eventually,

Parvana bursts into tears and tells her mother everything that happened. Parvana said, “I was

digging up graves, Parvana took the money out of her pocket, then dug the rest of the money out

of the shoulder bag” (109). This explains that whatever bad actions Parvana does, she will

always stay loyal to her family and tell them everything. Overall, Parvana and her family are

loyal to each other and overcome their challenges as a family.

Lastly, the physical and emotional challenges impacted each family member differently.

Parvana becomes more responsible for her family because she starts being the breadwinner for

her family and finds how hard it was to earn money. “She felt the money she'd earned, tucked

safely in her pocket. Feeling very proud of herself, she ran all the way home.” (76). Next, Nooria

grew closer and became more open to Parvana. “Nooria suddenly did something very unusual.

She gave her sister a hug. ‘Come back,’ she whispered.” (33). This shows that even though

Nooria has negative thoughts about Parvana, in difficult times Nooria shows that she still loves

Parvana. At last, after Parvana’s father gets taken away by the Taliban, Parvana’s mother falls
into a deep depression and pain. However, at the end of the story, Mrs. Weera cheers her up by

encouraging her. In addition, Mrs. Weera gives her motivation to keep going. “Parvana guessed

Mrs. Weera and her mother had been talking long and hard while she was asleep. She was glad

of that. Her mother already looked better.” (58). Overall, the physical and mental challenges that

they went through change each family member in a positive way and to bond more with each

other.

In conclusion, Parvana and her family suffer physical and emotional challenges as a

family such as being abused by the Taliban and financial difficulties. Yet, these challenges were

overcome by familial support and each one of them changed in a positive way.