Parvana's Journey

“‘A lot of people have died here,’ the man who had helped her said. ‘Sometimes we are bombed by the Taliban. Sometimes we are bombed by the other side. We used to be farmers. Now we are targets.’” 

These words from one of the village men who helps Parvana bury her father highlight the senselessness of the war. The villagers are innocent civilians, yet they are targeted by both sides. Ellis shows how those affected most by the war are innocent people like Parvana and these villagers. Rather than hurting the enemy in an effort to win the war, both sides are primarily hurting Afghan citizens. 

“A rusty Soviet tank stood on the top of the hill, hidden by some boulders. The children scrambled on it like it was the swing set Parvana dimly remembered from her old schoolyard in Kabul. They played battle, shooting each other with finger-guns until they were all dead, then jumping up to do it all again.” 

Through the presence of an abandoned Soviet tank, Ellis shows how war has been part of the Afghanistan landscape for a long time. Furthermore, she shows the way the country’s children grew up with war; they never knew life without a war. They proudly show Parvana this tank and pretend to kill each other, using the tank as their playground. The children’s games are a heartbreaking picture of the way war and death have become a normalized part of life in Afghanistan. 

“‘Some people are dead before they die,’ her father once told her. ‘They need quiet, rest, a special doctor who knows of such things, and a glimpse of something better down the road. But where will they find these things in this camp? It is hard enough to find a blanket. Avoid these people, Parvana. You cannot help them, and they will take away your hope.’” 

When Parvana encounters the woman wailing on the hillside, she remembers her father’s words that these kinds of people are already dead inside. Later, Parvana meets Leila’s grandmother, who similarly has lost all hope and sense of self.