The Breadwinner

Mother and Nooria are immersed in cleaning projects. Parvana begins to take off her chador, but Nooria and Mother tell her to fetch water first. It takes six trips to fill their water tank, and Parvana hates the heavy work. Nooria quips that Parvana wouldn’t have so many trips if she’d done it yesterday and flips her beautiful hair. Parvana grumbles as she hauls buckets up the stairs. No one helps her with her chores and that annoys her, but she knows that Mother and Nooria can’t help—they’d never make it up the dangerous, uneven stairs to their third-floor apartment in burqas, and they can’t go out safely without a man. Parvana is the only person in the family who can do it. Sometimes she’s proud of this; sometimes she resents it. But she knows that someone has to do the work.

When Parvana is done, she joins Maryam on the floor and compliments Maryam’s drawing. Mother and Nooria call Parvana to help them clean out the cupboard. They just did it three days ago, but with no work or school, there isn’t anything else to do. Parvana hates all the cleaning—it uses up water quickly. Parvana looks around the tiny room, which contains only a tall cupboard and their two toshaks. The lavatory is just a small room with a platform toilet, the water tank, and the propane cookstove. The stove is there because the room has a vent. Though they have neighbors in the part of the building that’s still standing, Father insists they keep their distance. The Taliban encourages neighbors to spy on each other. Because of this, Parvana is lonely.

Mother and Nooria begin to put things back in the cupboard, and Mother hands Parvana new items to sell. Parvana is enraged that Mother is selling Parvana’s good shalwar kameez, but Mother insists there’s no need for it. Parvana asks why they don’t sell Nooria’s clothes, but Mother insists that Nooria will need them when she gets married. When Nooria makes faces at Parvana, Parvana insists that Noria’s husband will be marrying a stuck-up snob. Mother shuts down Parvana’s tirade. Parvana hates Nooria and if her mother weren’t her mother, she’d hate her too.

Parvana’s anger disappears when Mother puts the parcel of Hossain’s clothes away in the cupboard. Hossain used to be the oldest child, but a land mine killed him when he was 14. Mother and Father refuse to talk about Hossain, but according to Nooria, he was a happy, laughing person and often played with Nooria and baby Parvana. Parvana helps prepare supper, and after the meal, the family sits together. Parvana keeps a close eye on Nooria and Mother for the silent signal that passes between them that starts the cleanup process, but she can never catch it.

Father, dressed in his good white shalwar kameez and with a freshly combed beard, looks rested and handsome. He tells the story of Malali. In 1880, the British invaded Afghanistan. During one terrible battle, the British were winning, and the Afghans were feeling increasingly hopeless. But then a young girl ripped off her veil, ran to the front of the battle, and waved her veil like a battle flag. She led the Afghan soldiers into battle and victory. Father says the moral of the story is that Afghanistan’s women are the bravest in the world, as they’ve inherited Malali’s courage. Maryam waves her arm, but Nooria insists they can’t be brave if they can’t go out and lead men into war. Father says there are many different kinds of battles as Mother insists it’s time to clean up.

Parvana makes a face that causes the whole family to laugh. Suddenly, four Taliban soldiers burst in. Ali screams and Nooria covers herself with her chador—the Taliban sometimes steal young women. Frozen from fear, Parvana watches the soldiers grab Father. Mother screams at them as they tell Father that Afghanistan “doesn’t need [his] foreign ideas.” Mother hits the soldiers, but a soldier beats her with his rifle. Parvana flies at the soldiers as they drag Father out and down the stairs. Two more soldiers dig through the cupboard and slash the toshaks. Parvana is terrified—Father has English books hidden in the bottom of the cupboard, and the Taliban often burns books. Parvana screams at the soldiers to leave until they turn to beating her. When the soldiers finally leave, Mother gathers Ali and Maryam comforts Parvana.