The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

The Breadwinner, by Deborah Ellis, is a very sad, scary, yet entertaining book. Without Parvana, a pre teen girl living in modern day Afghanistan, her family could not have survived. She transforms herself into a boy so that she may travel to the market and shop for food and to read and write for those who are illiterate. It is forbidden for a girl or woman to go outside without a man by her side and when Parvana’s father is arrested and taken away to a prison, she has no choice but to travel to the market each day in disguise.

            The book made me think more deeply about life, and the world. I compared my life to Parvana’s and it had more differences than similarities. We are both tweens and we both live in small spaces, although my apartment seems much larger than her one room for the whole family: her father, mother, her older sister, and her two young siblings. I do not have to wear certain clothing, but the women in the Afghanistan do. It is fun to pick out my outfit each day and I can not imagine having to wear the same thing over and over. In America, it is illegal for girls under eighteen to get married, but the girls in Afghanistan get married at a much earlier age. For example: Shauzia told Parvana that her grandfather was already looking to find a husband for Shauzia (page 158, third paragraph). Another difference is that Afghanistan does not have a stable government, but America does. There are no women’s rights in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule, but in the United States, a woman has the same rights as a man.

            From Parvana’s experiences, I learned that she has a very tough life in Afghanistan. I used to complain about doing chores, but ever since I read what Parvana has to do everyday for her family, such as working and doing all the grocery shopping, it makes me think twice about saying no to a

chore I do not want to do. It bothered me that Parvana was beaten so many times on the street by men that she did not even know. The soldiers hit Parvana and her mother when she walked to the prison to find out what happened to her father. She was also beaten when she was found in the market without having on a burqa. (A robe that covers the woman from head to toe)

            I learned a lot about Afghanistan culture and it made me think about how we don’t have to walk the streets worrying that were going to step on a land mine. It is sad that Afghanistan has been at war for so long. I liked the story about Malali, the young girl who gave a pep talk to Afghani soldiers and told them not to give up. Parvana was like Malali because she never gave up hope that her father would return from prison. I am thankful that my mom or I don’t have to walk outside with a man accompanying us all the time. I live in a neighborhood where I see Muslim woman dressed as if they could be in Afghanistan. There wearing a chador and a burqa but no there is no note pinned to their burqa, saying that they have permission from their husband to be outdoors alone. If I were a Muslim girl in Afghanistan, I would write the note myself! How would anyone know?

            In conclusion, without Parvana, her family could not have survived the year without her father. Parvana was not an adult, she was not the oldest in the family, and she was not really a boy. Her bravery made her the family’s best chance of survival. She could pass as a boy and take the reading and writing she learned in school and from her father, and provide food and money for her mother, brother, and sisters.