A toshak is a narrow mattress that take the place of seating or beds.
Toshak Quotes in The Breadwinner
The The Breadwinner quotes below are all either spoken by Toshak or refer to Toshak. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5
Quotes
“Mrs. Weera!” Nooria exclaimed. Relief washed over her face. Here was someone who could take charge, who could take some of the responsibility off of her shoulders.
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Chapter 14
Quotes
“I don’t like working alone. The marketplace isn’t the same when you’re not there. Won’t you come back?”
Put to her like that, Parvana knew she could not refuse. [...] Part of her wanted to slip away from everything, but another part wanted to get up and stay alive and continue to be Shauzia’s friend. With a little prodding from Shauzia, that was the part that won.
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Toshak Term Timeline in The Breadwinner
The timeline below shows where the term Toshak appears in The Breadwinner. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...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...
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...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...
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Chapter 4
Mother refuses Nooria’s help as she tears off her burqa and collapses onto a toshak. She sobs and allows Nooria to wash her dusty face and feet. Eventually, Mother falls...
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Chapter 6
...successful, but Maryam is the only one who seems excited. Mother is back on the toshak and Ali sits next to her, trying to get her attention. Nooria hands Parvana the...
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Chapter 14
...Parvana that Mother and Nooria are safe, but Parvana feels hopeless. She crawls onto the toshak and stays there for two days. She insists to Mrs. Weera that the women in...
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