Parvana

The novel Parvana is set in Afghanistan and shows the difficult life of a family, who live in a war torn country. The family in focus consists of Parvana, Mrs Weera and Nooria. The members became distraught as their father was taken from their house by the Taliban, a violent religious military group. This meant that they had to change their ways to survive without him. First the Taliban had taken over their city, Kabul, then they took one of their parents and slowly the family was losing Mother as well. After Father was taken Mother became distressed and could no longer cope without him. Parvana and the women in her family had to become risk takers to live. Echoing in her ears were the words her father said to her as he was pulled away from the house, “Take care of the others, my little Malali.”

The spirited child was determined to complete her father’s task. With Mother depressed Parvana had to become one of the household leaders. With her natural strength of courage, she had to persist to find a way of survival for her family. She had to complete life risking challenges and faced the women hating Taliban day in and day out. Out of bravery and necessity Parvana cut off her damaged hair, and dressed as a boy. She did this with the support of the female adult figures in her life.
“As more and more hair fell away, Parvana began to feel like a different person.” And a different person she was. Parvana, now disguised as a boy, went off to work at the market place, writing and reading letters. She was brave and went to earn money for her family to live on every day. With her families survival in her mind everyday she had to work as hard as she could. On a daily basis she watched the tea boys run around to the other stalls, little to the other tea boys’ knowledge, one of their own workers was Parvanas old classmate Shauzia. Parvana and Shauzia soon started working together as boys, digging up bones to earn money. With Mrs Weera advising her on what they need to