Violence comes in all forms in Kabul—bombs, beatings, apartment raids, amputations—no one is safe, and there seems to be no end in sight. In The Breadwinner, the landscape has been shaped by warfare—Parvana's family lives in a bombed-out apartment after losing their home to, yup, a bomb—and so have people's bodies. Father lost his leg to a bomb, and Hossain lost his life to a land mine. Nothing—and nobody—is safe when it comes to warfare in this book.
Questions About Warfare
- Parvana's brother was killed by a land mine. How has this affected the family?
- Was Parvana's family wrong when they sent her out as Kaseem to make money and buy food? How could they subject her to Kabul's violence?
- During this time of war in Kabul, are there any signs of peace?
- Are there any times in the book in which you forget Parvana's family is living during a war? If so, how are these scenes written?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
The only way for the Afghans to fight the Taliban is with violence.
When the Taliban first arrived, Parvana's family should have left—what's happened after was their own fault.