Chapter 1 Questions – The breadwinner
1- What characters do you meet in this chapter?
Parvana: Parvana is an 11 year old girl, who comes from a poor family and helps her father
get to and from work everyday
Parvana’s Father: He lost his leg and has trouble walking and needs Parvana to get to work.
He is one of the rare people who are able tor read and write.
Parvana’s Mother: Worked in Kabul radio station before the Taliban took over and forbade
women from working, she is also one of the few people who received an education
Nooria: She is Parvana’s older sister and is closer to their mom than Parvana is. She had to
drop out of high school because of the Taliban rule. She remembers Kabul before the Taliban
took over
Maryam: Parvana’s youngest sister who plays with Ali
Ali: Parvana’s youngest sibling, who is too young to help the family in anything.
The Taliban: They rule the government and different parts of Afghanistan and have placed
really strict rules, especially against women
Peddlers: They sell things in a market by attracting attention to earn a living.
2- How has life changed for Parvana’s family in ten years?
Parvana’s family started out rich but from the bombings they kept have to move onto
different homes, until they moved into a one room apartment. Her mother had to leave her
job and her sister was dropped out of high school. Parvana was also not allowed to go to
school anymore. While the father had to work to support his family with one leg.
3- Image that suddenly you are not allowed to go to school. After the first day? After the first
month? After the first year?
At first I probably might no mind, but after a few days id start to wish to go back, because
school fills up most of free time. I wouldn’t be able to do things consistently because life
would become repetitive and would lose interest. I’d start to thing of other ways to learn
and go to school possibly and find different activities to do.
4- How long has it been since the mother and children, besides Parvana, have been outside the
house? Imagine you were not allowed to leave the your home. How do you think you would
cope?
It has been a year since her mother and siblings left their home. If I was not allowed outside
I’d cope be moving as much as I can and thinking of as much ways as I can to be able to go
outside, even if it includes a little bit of sneaking out.
5- What do you learn about the Taliban in this chapter?
I learned that they completed ruled the country and ruled it with an iron fist. Placing
multiple rules against women and their education and such as well as placing a curfew for
the people. I also learned that they were the people who couldn’t place down their guns
after the multiple invasion from different countries and decided they should take over
Afghanistan themselves.