Chap­ter 9 of The Bread­win­ner intro­duces a sur­pris­ing reunion between Par­vana and her for­mer class­mate, Shauzia, in the mar­ket. Par­vana, ini­tial­ly caught off guard by the encounter, quick­ly learns that Shauzia has adopt­ed a new iden­ti­ty for her work. She now goes by the name Shafiq, assum­ing the role of a tea boy in an effort to sur­vive under the oppres­sive con­di­tions imposed by the Tal­iban. Shauzia, need­ing to return to her duties at the tea shop, promis­es Par­vana that she will come back to con­tin­ue their con­ver­sa­tion. As Shauzia effort­less­ly blends into her new envi­ron­ment, Par­vana is remind­ed of their school­days, real­iz­ing that although they were nev­er par­tic­u­lar­ly close, the sight of Shauzia evokes a sense of excite­ment and a spark of famil­iar­i­ty. In the midst of their reunion, Par­vana reflects on how much has changed since those days and how much they have both been shaped by the harsh real­i­ties of the world around them.

When the two girls final­ly find time to sit down togeth­er, Shauzia offers Par­vana a rare treat—dried apri­cots, which Par­vana glad­ly accepts. This ges­ture, sim­ple yet mean­ing­ful, sym­bol­izes their shared under­stand­ing of scarci­ty and hard­ship. As they exchange their sto­ries, Shauzia opens up about her own per­son­al tragedies. She reveals that her broth­er has gone miss­ing after trav­el­ing to Iran for work, and her father has passed away, leav­ing her with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of sup­port­ing her fam­i­ly. Par­vana, in turn, shares her own mis­for­tunes, includ­ing her father’s arrest and the com­plete lack of any updates about his sit­u­a­tion. Despite the weight of their sto­ries, both girls remain resilient and con­tin­ue to search for ways to sur­vive. They bond over their shared expe­ri­ences in the tea trade, both express­ing hope that this ven­ture could lead to a bet­ter income. How­ev­er, Shauzia pro­pos­es a new idea: that they col­lab­o­rate and start sell­ing goods from a tray in the mar­ket to increase their earn­ings. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, both face the harsh real­i­ty of not hav­ing enough mon­ey to even begin this new ven­ture, leav­ing them frus­trat­ed but still hope­ful for the future.

As they con­tin­ue their walk towards Parvana’s home, she invites Shauzia to vis­it, and they con­tin­ue their nos­tal­gic con­ver­sa­tion. Their talk drifts to mem­o­ries of school, their teach­ers, and the class­mates they once knew before the world around them became con­sumed by war. There is a bit­ter­sweet sense of long­ing as they rem­i­nisce about sim­pler times, before the Taliban’s con­trol of Kab­ul dras­ti­cal­ly changed their lives. Upon reach­ing Par­vana’s home, her fam­i­ly greets Shauzia with warmth and kind­ness, show­ing that even in the dark­est of times, the spir­it of hos­pi­tal­i­ty and com­mu­ni­ty can still endure. This moment of shared kind­ness under­scores the impor­tance of fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty bonds in the face of adver­si­ty. Shauzia, in turn, reveals the dif­fi­cul­ties she faces at home. She shares how she cares for her sick moth­er and the chal­lenges of liv­ing in a house­hold plagued by ten­sion and con­flict. The bur­dens on both girls are heavy, but their con­nec­tion with one anoth­er offers some solace.

Mrs. Weera, ever the prag­mat­ic and hope­ful fig­ure in their lives, sug­gests an idea that lifts their spir­its for a brief moment: start­ing a secret school for girls. This plan offers a glim­mer of hope in a world that has robbed girls of their right to edu­ca­tion. The thought of pro­vid­ing an edu­ca­tion­al space, albeit secret and dan­ger­ous, fills the group with a sense of pur­pose. For a short time, laugh­ter and excite­ment replace the usu­al despair, as the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a bet­ter future begins to feel tan­gi­ble. How­ev­er, as the chap­ter moves for­ward, the mood shifts when Shauzia brings up a new oppor­tu­ni­ty to make mon­ey. While Par­vana is intrigued, the nature of this oppor­tu­ni­ty makes her uneasy. Shauzia hints at the poten­tial for prof­it but also sug­gests that the method might come with sig­nif­i­cant risks. Par­vana, unset­tled by the idea, finds her­self caught between the desire for finan­cial relief and the fear of com­pro­mis­ing her own morals and safe­ty. This moment of uncer­tain­ty fore­shad­ows the dif­fi­cult choic­es Par­vana will have to face in the com­ing chap­ters, as she con­tin­ues to nav­i­gate a world filled with both hope and per­il.

The chap­ter con­cludes on this unre­solved note, empha­siz­ing the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion. Both girls are caught between their desire to improve their cir­cum­stances and the harsh real­i­ties that force them to make dif­fi­cult deci­sions. Parvana’s inter­nal con­flict grows as she con­tem­plates her future, unsure of the paths ahead but deter­mined to find a way to sur­vive. This chap­ter delves deeply into themes of sur­vival, resilience, and the bonds of friend­ship and fam­i­ly amidst war, set­ting the stage for the chal­lenges that lie ahead. Par­vana’s jour­ney of per­son­al growth con­tin­ues, as she faces moral dilem­mas and the con­stant strug­gle to main­tain her human­i­ty in a war-torn world.