Chap­ter 3: In this chap­ter, Par­vana and her fam­i­ly are left to deal with the dev­as­tat­ing con­se­quences of their father’s arrest. The chap­ter begins with Moth­er, who, despite her own exhaus­tion, care­ful­ly places her younger chil­dren, Ali and Maryam, onto the floor before start­ing the over­whelm­ing task of clean­ing up their home. Par­vana, already drained from the emo­tion­al weight of the sit­u­a­tion, feels the strain of the phys­i­cal work as her back and legs ache from bend­ing and lift­ing. She watch­es her mother’s slow move­ments, which reflect the bur­den they both car­ry in the wake of their father’s absence. The house, once a place of com­fort, now feels like a chaot­ic reminder of their new harsh real­i­ty.

After they man­age to restore a sem­blance of order, the fam­i­ly pre­pares for bed, but Par­vana strug­gles to find peace. She is haunt­ed by the absence of her father, her mind con­stant­ly replay­ing mem­o­ries of him—especially the com­fort­ing sound of his snore dur­ing nights filled with uncer­tain­ty. As she lies awake, her imag­i­na­tion races with fear­ful thoughts about his con­di­tion in prison, a grim pos­si­bil­i­ty shaped by the unset­tling sto­ries her aunts told about pre­vi­ous incar­cer­a­tions. Her moth­er often men­tioned that being con­nect­ed to some­one in prison was part of being Afghan, and this idea stays with Par­vana, remind­ing her of the deep emo­tion­al toll their fam­i­ly is endur­ing. Sleep eludes her, and in the qui­et of the night, her wor­ries only grow more intense, fur­ther strain­ing her already frag­ile sense of secu­ri­ty.

Unable to bear the uncer­tain­ty, Par­vana sug­gests light­ing a lamp in the hopes of guid­ing her father’s return, an idea that is met with resis­tance from her moth­er. Con­cerned about attract­ing atten­tion, her moth­er dis­miss­es the sug­ges­tion, aware that the Taliban’s oppres­sive rules make it dan­ger­ous for women to be seen in pub­lic with­out a male guardian or offi­cial per­mis­sion. The family’s predica­ment is com­pound­ed by these strict restric­tions, leav­ing them feel­ing trapped and pow­er­less. Parvana’s des­per­a­tion to find some way to bring her father home is tem­pered by the harsh real­i­ties of their sit­u­a­tion, where every deci­sion is weighed against the ever-present threat of pun­ish­ment from the author­i­ties. The ten­sion in their home con­tin­ues to rise, and the bur­den of their col­lec­tive grief weighs heav­i­ly on them, espe­cial­ly as they nav­i­gate the oppres­sive world the Tal­iban has imposed on them.

The next morn­ing, Parvana’s moth­er announces her deci­sion to attempt to res­cue their father from prison. She treats the daunt­ing task with a calm­ness that con­trasts with the fear and anx­i­ety Par­vana feels, as if it were no dif­fer­ent than going to the mar­ket. Par­vana, both fear­ful and intrigued, is struck by the enor­mi­ty of the task ahead, won­der­ing what it will take to suc­ceed. A note from Noo­ria pro­vides their moth­er with some sem­blance of offi­cial per­mis­sion to be out, though Par­vana can’t help but doubt the note’s true effec­tive­ness. The fam­i­ly pre­pares to face an unknown and intim­i­dat­ing jour­ney, their hopes hang­ing on a frag­ile thread of pos­si­bil­i­ty. Parvana’s mind races as she con­tem­plates the dan­ger they will face, unsure whether their actions will lead to a chance at redemp­tion or fur­ther despair.

As they make their way through the crowd­ed streets of Kab­ul, Par­vana clings to her moth­er, aware that los­ing sight of her in the sea of burqas would be dis­as­trous. They both brave the intim­i­dat­ing atmos­phere of the prison, a place that has become syn­ony­mous with fear and oppres­sion. Parvana’s anx­i­ety grows with every step, but she also draws strength from the thought of Malali, a woman of great courage, hop­ing to embody the same brav­ery. The idea of being strong like Malali, a role mod­el she admires, keeps Par­vana mov­ing for­ward, despite the over­whelm­ing fear she feels. Togeth­er, they approach the prison with a sense of deter­mi­na­tion, though Parvana’s inter­nal strug­gle con­tin­ues to sim­mer beneath the sur­face. This moment marks a piv­otal point in her jour­ney, where her courage and her family’s bond will be test­ed in the face of over­whelm­ing odds.

When they arrive at the prison, Moth­er demands to see her hus­band, but the guards respond with hos­til­i­ty, dis­miss­ing her pleas and dis­re­spect­ing her in the cru­elest way. They tear up her husband’s pho­to­graph, a sym­bol­ic act that fur­ther exac­er­bates the pain and frus­tra­tion Par­vana and her moth­er feel. Vio­lence erupts when the guards strike both Par­vana and her moth­er, push­ing them to retreat in fear. The ris­ing ten­sion and hos­til­i­ty of the prison cre­ate an unbear­able atmos­phere, but despite the phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al assault, they man­age to help each oth­er escape the dan­ger­ous sit­u­a­tion. Although their attempt to seek jus­tice ends in hard­ship, the ordeal strength­ens the bond between Par­vana and her moth­er, reaf­firm­ing their com­mit­ment to fac­ing their bleak real­i­ty togeth­er. This chap­ter, filled with moments of pain and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, cap­tures the depths of Parvana’s strug­gle and the resilience of her fam­i­ly as they con­tin­ue to fight for a sense of hope in a world that con­stant­ly seems to take it away.