In this chap­ter, titled “Two,” the sto­ry cen­ters on Par­vana’s chal­leng­ing day as she nav­i­gates the respon­si­bil­i­ties thrust upon her in a war-torn Afghanistan. The chap­ter opens with the fam­i­ly’s usu­al rou­tine; Par­vana’s moth­er and sis­ter, Noo­ria, are clean­ing while their father takes a rest after a long day. Par­vana, tasked with fetch­ing water, feels her resent­ment towards her fam­i­ly oblig­a­tions. She rec­og­nizes the bur­den of hav­ing to make numer­ous trips to the water tap and is frus­trat­ed, par­tic­u­lar­ly with Noo­ria, who does not have to con­tribute in the same way.

As she treks to the water tap, Par­vana mus­es on her fam­i­ly dynam­ics, not­ing the lim­i­ta­tions imposed on women by the Tal­iban. They have been forced to stay indoors, lead­ing to a monot­o­nous rou­tine filled with clean­ing and chores, which Par­vana despis­es. Despite her anger, she man­ages to fill the tank with water, allow­ing her a moment of respite where she admires her sis­ter Maryam’s artis­tic tal­ent, envi­sion­ing a brighter future as artists.

Their con­ver­sa­tion shifts to house­hold chores, where Parvana’s dis­con­tent toward clean­ing inten­si­fies, espe­cial­ly upon see­ing pre­cious items being set aside for sale, includ­ing her trea­sured shal­war kameez. This con­flict high­lights the dire cir­cum­stances they are liv­ing under, as deci­sions about sell­ing per­son­al belong­ings are being made out of neces­si­ty.

Father, despite the fam­i­ly’s strug­gles, attempts to instill a sense of pride and resilience, recount­ing tales of Afghan his­to­ry and coura­geous fig­ures. How­ev­er, this moment of famil­ial bond­ing is shat­tered when Tal­iban sol­diers burst into their home. The atmos­phere quick­ly turns from a light-heart­ed exchange to chaos as the fam­i­ly is thrust into fear. The sol­diers aggres­sive­ly con­front Father about his edu­ca­tion and opin­ions, cul­mi­nat­ing in a bru­tal scuf­fle where he is tak­en away against his will.

Par­vana, feel­ing pow­er­less, tries to defend her fam­i­ly, show­ing her grow­ing courage but ulti­mate­ly suf­fers under the sol­diers’ vio­lence. After they leave, the fam­i­ly is left dev­as­tat­ed, par­tic­u­lar­ly mourn­ing Father’s absence. Parvana’s real strug­gle begins here, marked by a poignant blend of famil­ial love and an oppres­sive soci­etal struc­ture that threat­ens their exis­tence. The chap­ter ends with a sense of help­less­ness, com­pelling the read­er to empathize deeply with Par­vana and her fam­i­ly in their plight.