Parvana Essay

Parvana is a novel written by Deborah Ellis that was published in 2002. Throughout the detailed book, Parvana and her companions encounter certain responsibilities which relate to the quote; ‘Some responsibilities are taken by choice, others are forced upon us.’ This especially relates to a certain character in the book, Mrs Weera who is one of Parvana’s old school teachers. Throughout the book, she has to make many decisions on whether she will stand up and take responsibility. This includes taking control of Parvana’s household, taking care of the children and caring for Homa.

Education had been completely banned for girls, and boys limited to learning the Quran when the Taliban entered Afghanistan. Latifa and her friend Farida had ‘lived this closeted life’ in which they do ‘nothing at all’ and they both thought they should pass on the knowledge they had acquired. Inspired by the bravery of their former teacher Mrs Fawzia who had set up a secret school but was then caught by the Taliban in the middle of teaching (her pupils were beaten, and she was thrown down the stairs causing her leg to break and then thrown into jail), Latifa, Farida, Maryam and another one of their friends (unnamed) set up a school where they teach mathematics, reading, writing, history and English in their own homes. The girls, their families, and neighbours all work together to ensure the school runs safely and smoothly, each person contributing one way or another, from gathering school supplies to keeping lookout for the Taliban. The creation of the school shows incredible bravery and resilience of the families’ human spirit in that they decided to all work together to give an education to their children, even though they could be caught and executed by the Taliban. By creating the school, their lives were transformed for the better because they had a focus and a purpose in their

The Taliban came into power in 2005 in Pakistan and began dictating the civilians how to live their lives the “right Islamic way”. The people of the Swat District were forced to obey every command of the Taliban unless they and their families wanted to be killed. Women especially became very oppressed and had to enter Purdah, wear hijabs whenever in public, and were encouraged to not go to school. All westernized media, clothes and games were banned, anyone who did not follow the law would be shot. The community lived in such a terrible state of fear that Malala and her family were afraid to go outside where they were known as famous social, political and educational activists. A BBC correspondent contacted Ziauddin to make a blog from a school girl’s point of view on living under Taliban rule. Malala soon took up the challenge and related her experiences over the phone about her oppressive life in Swat Valley and the threats against girls like her for going to school. Eventually, her school had to close after many local school bombings, and then the whole valley had to be evacuated for the Pakistani Army to come wipe out the Taliban.

All throughout this book, Afghanistan had many switches of power and constant war involving many countries, including the US and Russia. At the end of the book, as things are calming down, Laila says to Tariq, “Maybe there will be hope at the other end of this war, maybe for the first time in a long time.” (Hosseni 386). This quote shows the hope that the people of Afghanistan still had to possess to persevere through the years of war. The war affected thousands of lives in the country, as the war swept through the different cities. This war of especially affected Laila because it resulted in the death of her parents. Afghanistan as a whole had to show tremendous strength throughout the book as they endured through the war. Perseverance is most prominently shown through all citizens during the country’s war.

Farah Ahmedi’s goal was to cross the Afghanistan border to get to a better life in Pakistan. In the first read, The Other Side of the Sky, it says, “‘Night was falling, we were stranded out there in the open’”(Ahmedi 4). This states it was nighttime and her and her mother had no place to stay. Along the way, her and her mother faced many hardships, “The worst thing would have been if we had gotten separated. We were only risking injury”(Ahmedi 3). In addition, “Terribly warm and we had no water, but we walked. My mother began to wheeze. Her asthma was bad. Her anxiety made it worse. We could have gotten over in little more than an hour if not for my mother. Our journey took many hours”(Ahmedi 11). Overall, they succeeded their mission and made it over the border. For example, “This excerpt from “Escape from Afghanistan” describes their efforts to make it across the border and into Pakistan”(Introduction). This states Ahmedi and her mother made it over the border. In conclusion, Farah Ahmedi

Farah Ahmedi’s goal was to cross the Afghanistan border to get to a better life in Pakistan. In the first read, The Other Side of the Sky, it says, “‘Night was falling, we were stranded out there in the open’”(Ahmedi 4). This states it was nighttime and she and her mother had no place to stay. Along the way, her and her mother faced many hardships, “The worst thing would have been if we had gotten separated. We were only risking injury”(Ahmedi 3). In addition, “Terribly warm and we had no water, but we walked. My mother began to wheeze. Her asthma was bad. Her anxiety made it worse. We could have gotten over in little more than an hour if not for my mother. Our journey took many hours”(Ahmedi 11). Overall, they succeeded their mission and made it over the border. For example, “This excerpt from “Escape from Afghanistan” describes their efforts to make

Growing up and living in Afghanistan as a woman has its challenges. Parents choose who can marry you and they choose everything for you. In this book, Laila and Mariam both show the struggles it is to be a girl, and how much disrespect they get in Afghanistan. Both Mariam and Laila are married to the same man, and he is abusive to both of them. They also live under Taliban rule, and the rules that they set are very unfair for women. In Khaled Hosseni’s novel, he has many different themes but the most prevalent one is of woman inequality, and that is shown through multiple accounts of abuse, disrespect, and unfairness.

Education is what provides us the opportunity to learn new things and it helps to build our knowledge by expanding horizon. After Dawood Khan, the president of Afghanistan was assassinated by PDPA during 1970s and Afghanistan had become democratic and republic, education for girls was required. There were certain social reforms such as banning burqas and raising the minimum age for marriage. However, the invasions of Soviet, Mujahideen and Taliban forces revoked several women’s rights. Under the Taliban rule, women were imprisoned in their homes. Girls were forbidden from attending a school and were beaten if found alone in the street. Punishments were hard if their discriminatory laws were violated. (“Women in Afghanistan: The Back Story”). Even though women have gained some political rights now after the Taliban rule in 2001, but there are still many afghan

Ms. Gardizi is eligible for asylum. She is a member of a social group of educated women, and a teacher as well. The fact that she ran the school illegally does not diminish the fact that it still put her life at risk. Additionally, as a woman, Ms. Gardizi would most certainly face persecution by the Taliban and their followers due to the Taliban’s treatment of women and the gender apartheid that is enforced in Kabul. Women who disobey these rules are executed without any sort of due process. She was a well-founded fear that if she were forced to return to Afghanistan, the Taliban will persecute her on account of her characteristics. Ms. Gardizi has suffered past persecution because of her education and the role she played in trying to teach the other young girls in her city and when her school was discovered, the Taliban subjected to her an escalating cycle of intimidation, imprisonment, bodily harm, and death threats. That persecution entitles her to a rebuttable presumption of future persecution, and she also has a well-founded fear of future threats because of the Taliban’s

A Thousand Splendid Suns, a book written by Khaled Hosseini, gives us a unique and informative glimpse into life in Afghanistan in the early 1960’s to the 2000’s. In it we can see many different political and social issues ravaging the country, with the most evident being gender inequality. Though many diverse groups of people were being discriminated against at the time, most of the subordination fell onto women as they had more and more rights taken away from them when various ruling powers took control. The author relays this information to us and educates us as to what happened through compelling and thought-provoking literary devices such as symbolic characters and objects, and allusions. By using these

Aziza has been through the worst ever since the taliban took over, from abuse to being forced away from her family, she has dealt with it all without being phased.

Though men are seen to be worthy of an effective education, the Taliban believes that women should not be educated. Soraya goes against this belief when she chooses to become a teacher in America (Hosseini). In contrast, Miriam is laughed at and reprimanded when she expresses a desire to be educated like her half-brothers (Hosseini). Her mother tells her that education gives women a false sense of equality, and her husband later uses her lack of education to torment her and insult her intelligence. The Taliban does not believe that women should be educated; they are utterly against it. Many attacks have occurred due to protests that women should be educated just as men should be educated. “The Taliban jailed and then deported a female foreign aid worker who had promoted home-based work for women and home

After everyone in the room prayed for her, the President expressed his and the First Lady's condolences to her family. Even though the inhumane acts towards your daughter happened not too far of a distance from this room, I promise to each and everyone of you that the innocent killers will be punished to the full extend law of The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, as long as I'm one of the Presidents. And since the First Lady happened to be a woman activist, she will be also monitoring this case very, very closely. It's about time for someone to look after the guilty women of our country, isn't it? I must say President Abdullah Abdullah also feels as bad as I do. By us leaving the country while the remaining of your daughter's body parts were still siting inside of that clean river, we saw it from the

The incident in the stadium also reveals to Parvana and Shauzia the complete horror of living under such a regime and haunts Parvana for the next few days. As a Muslim, the writer believes that the actions of the Taliban like the one’s depicted in this novel disgrace Muslims in the present times. Islam is a peaceful religion that promotes morality and generosity among all people, not the twisted version portrayed by the Taliban.

Most of the Afghan population believe that a female’s education is not important. These beliefs led to the Taliban regime against girl’s education. However, Razia Jan openly opposed these views claiming in a CNN interview that “the Taliban regime was very brutal” (Torgan). Her actions during this time led to her being named a heroine due to the sacrifices she had to make. Dr. Alex Lickerman, in his article “What Makes A Hero,” argues that “it’s the willingness to make a personal sacrifice for the benefit of others.” This can be applied to Jan’s life by her giving up her rich and fulfilling life in America to help the oppressed girls of Afghanistan. She also had to sacrifice her safety on multiple occasions. Jan knew from past experiences that she would be risking her life when she attempted to give girls a better chance at an education. Razia