Cover of The Breadwinner

    The Breadwinner

    by testsuphomeAdmin
    The Breadwinner

    In Chap­ter Four­teen of “The Bread­win­ner,” Par­vana encoun­ters a cry­ing woman in a dark set­ting. Ini­tial­ly star­tled yet sup­port­ive, Par­vana intro­duces her­self and dis­clos­es her secret of pre­tend­ing to be a boy named Kaseem to earn mon­ey. The woman, how­ev­er, remains silent, prompt­ing Par­vana to sug­gest they leave togeth­er for com­fort, as she has a friend, Mrs. Weera, at home who could help. The woman, lack­ing a burqa, con­fess­es to being out­side with­out one, which could attract trou­ble. Par­vana plans to fetch a burqa for her, but the woman, fright­ened, grips her arm tight­ly.

    In a moment of com­pas­sion, Par­vana shares her food with the woman, con­vinc­ing her that they will wait until it’s dark before head­ing out to avoid draw­ing atten­tion. They find a secure spot near the door to stay hid­den as the night approach­es. Par­vana reflects on how Kab­ul has changed over the years, con­trast­ing the city’s past vibran­cy with its cur­rent murky dark­ness due to the ongo­ing war and cur­few.

    When the dark­ness arrives, Par­vana assures the woman that it’s not far to her home, and togeth­er they nav­i­gate the treach­er­ous streets, care­ful to avoid patrols and the threat of the Tal­iban. Upon arriv­ing, a relieved Mrs. Weera wel­comes them, offer­ing sup­port and food as she exam­ines the new­com­er, who appears to be quite young. Par­vana learns the woman’s name is Homa, who reveals she fled Mazar-e-Sharif after the Taliban’s inva­sion, wit­ness­ing hor­rif­ic atroc­i­ties, includ­ing the deaths of her fam­i­ly mem­bers.

    Haunt­ed by Homa’s sto­ry, Par­vana is over­whelmed by the thought that her own fam­i­ly could be suf­fer­ing the same fate. Instead of seek­ing solace in hope, she with­draws into despair, lying on her toshak as a means of cop­ing. After two days of inac­tiv­i­ty, Shauzia sur­pris­es her with a vis­it, shar­ing news from the mar­ket and encour­ag­ing her to rejoin her in work. Moti­vat­ed by their friend­ship, Par­vana ris­es from her sor­row, return­ing to her dai­ly life, which feels increas­ing­ly sur­re­al amidst the chaos. The chap­ter con­cludes with Par­vana com­ing home to find that her father has returned, mark­ing the end of one trag­ic ordeal while leav­ing her to nav­i­gate the con­tin­u­ing strug­gles of war-torn Kab­ul.

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