Chap­ter 2: In this chap­ter, Par­vana faces the emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal toll of her family’s dai­ly strug­gles in war-torn Afghanistan, liv­ing under the oppres­sive rule of the Tal­iban. The chap­ter begins with Par­vana’s fam­i­ly in the midst of their routine—her moth­er and sis­ter, Noo­ria, are clean­ing, while their father rests after a long, exhaust­ing day of work. Par­vana, bur­dened with the task of fetch­ing water, feels the weight of her grow­ing resent­ment toward the con­stant chores she is forced to per­form. She becomes increas­ing­ly frus­trat­ed with her respon­si­bil­i­ties, par­tic­u­lar­ly when com­par­ing her own heavy work­load to Nooria’s less demand­ing role. This stark dif­fer­ence between their duties leaves Par­vana feel­ing iso­lat­ed and over­whelmed, as the unfair­ness of her sit­u­a­tion looms over her thoughts. She rec­og­nizes how these bur­dens restrict her free­dom, mak­ing her long for a life where she isn’t trapped by soci­etal expec­ta­tions.

As Par­vana trudges to the water tap, she is forced to reflect on her sit­u­a­tion and the oppres­sive rules placed on her by the Tal­iban regime. The harsh restric­tions imposed on women, who are for­bid­den from leav­ing the house or par­tic­i­pat­ing in pub­lic life, make Parvana’s world feel small and sti­fling. The domes­tic rou­tine, filled with nev­er-end­ing clean­ing and chores, has left her feel­ing defeat­ed and pow­er­less, as these tasks offer no escape from the grim real­i­ty of her life. Despite her frus­tra­tion, she suc­cess­ful­ly fills the water tank, a small but nec­es­sary accom­plish­ment that brings a fleet­ing moment of relief. While doing so, she observes her younger sis­ter Maryam, who shows her artis­tic abil­i­ties by draw­ing. Par­vana, inspired by Maryam’s cre­ativ­i­ty, dares to imag­ine a dif­fer­ent future—one where her sister’s tal­ent is rec­og­nized, and she can pur­sue a life out­side the con­straints of their cur­rent exis­tence. How­ev­er, this dream of free­dom is over­shad­owed by the relent­less oppres­sion they face.

The con­ver­sa­tion with­in the house­hold soon turns to the fam­i­ly’s finan­cial strug­gles. Par­vana watch­es in silence as her moth­er decides to sell some of their pre­cious belong­ings, includ­ing Parvana’s trea­sured shal­war kameez. This painful deci­sion high­lights the extent of their hard­ship, as even the most sen­ti­men­tal and valu­able pos­ses­sions must be sac­ri­ficed for sur­vival. These items, once sym­bols of iden­ti­ty, have now become noth­ing more than com­modi­ties to be trad­ed for basic needs like food. Parvana’s sense of loss deep­ens as she watch­es her family’s belong­ings being set aside for sale, real­iz­ing that every sac­ri­fice fur­ther erodes their sense of dig­ni­ty. This moment exem­pli­fies how war not only destroys phys­i­cal homes but also dis­man­tles emo­tion­al and cul­tur­al ties to per­son­al belong­ings that once defined their sense of self.

In the midst of these harsh cir­cum­stances, Parvana’s father tries to instill some sense of pride and hope in his chil­dren, recount­ing sto­ries from Afghanistan’s rich his­to­ry and telling them about the coura­geous fig­ures who once shaped the coun­try. These tales pro­vide some com­fort and a tem­po­rary escape from the grim real­i­ties of their cur­rent life. Par­vana clings to these moments of con­nec­tion with her father, feel­ing a deep sense of famil­ial love and respect. How­ev­er, this brief respite is vio­lent­ly inter­rupt­ed when Tal­iban sol­diers storm their home, bring­ing an end to the frag­ile peace they had momen­tar­i­ly found. The atmos­phere shifts instant­ly from one of shared bond­ing to fear and chaos, as the sol­diers demand answers from Parvana’s father about his beliefs and edu­ca­tion. In a shock­ing turn of events, the sol­diers phys­i­cal­ly drag her father from their home, tak­ing him away, leav­ing the fam­i­ly in a state of emo­tion­al dev­as­ta­tion.

Par­vana, despite feel­ing pow­er­less, tries to pro­tect her father and defend her fam­i­ly from the sol­diers’ vio­lence. Her grow­ing courage is evi­dent as she steps for­ward, attempt­ing to shield her father from harm. How­ev­er, her efforts are futile, and the fam­i­ly is left in dis­ar­ray, shat­tered by the bru­tal­i­ty they have just wit­nessed. The chap­ter clos­es with a sense of hope­less­ness, as Par­vana is forced to con­front the absence of her father and the deep uncer­tain­ty that now sur­rounds their fam­i­ly. This piv­otal moment marks the begin­ning of Parvana’s per­son­al strug­gle, one that will test her resilience and strength as she tries to nav­i­gate a world filled with oppres­sion, vio­lence, and fear. The emo­tion­al weight of the chap­ter res­onates deeply with the read­er, pro­vid­ing a pow­er­ful look at the human cost of war and the toll it takes on chil­dren like Par­vana, who are left to face unimag­in­able chal­lenges at such a young age.