Parvana's Journey

Ellis’s choice to focus her novel on the experience of Parvana and the children she meets along her journey highlights the ways in which Afghan children have been, and continue to be, affected by the war. The novel reveals that, although the children are not soldiers, the war directly affects them and places them in harm’s way. Parvana’s home, school, and friends are taken away, and she suffers the deaths of her father, baby brother, and “sister” Leila. Her life shatters because of the war, and although she is strong and brave, she will never be the same. Through her portrayal of children in the novel, Ellis highlights the way the war forces children to grow up too quickly and alters their identity.

At just 13 years old, Parvana shoulders the burden of traveling alone, finding food and water to survive, caring for a baby, and later being the leader for Leila and Asif, who are only slightly younger than her. These are challenges that most young teenagers do not face. By highlighting Parvana’s experience, Ellis shows the way war forces children to grow up too quickly. She ironically emphasizes Parvana’s youth when Parvana tells baby Hassan, “It must be nice to be young” (17). Even though Parvana is also young, she doesn’t feel that way because of the sorrow she experiences and the responsibilities she carries.

At a few points in the novel, Parvana expresses frustration at the way her childhood has been taken from her too soon. She no longer believes in fairy tales, and the few times she uses her imagination to escape reality, it backfires, such as when she and Asif dig for treasure in the cave and find only bullets. Furthermore, when she forgets to boil water from a stream and all the children get sick, she feels frustrated that she must be the one to remember such things. With no capable adults around for the duration of her journey, the burden of survival falls to Parvana, and she is forced to face trials that even many adults never encounter.

Ellis also shows the emotional toll the war takes on each of the children, affecting their sense of self. One primary example is Asif, whose abrasive personality clearly stems from the trauma in his past: the deaths of his parents, his time living with an abusive uncle, and the loss of his leg because of a landmine. Although the reader cannot see what Asif’s personality used to be, Ellis does provide glimpses of his tender side as he cares for Hassan and occasionally provides assistance and encouragement to Leila and Parvana. The war and its damage to his life filled him with fear and bitterness, causing him to push others away by maintaining a tough, rude exterior.

Another example of the way the war can alter a child’s identity is Ellis’s characterization of Leila and her desensitization to death. Leila views the minefield as a means of getting food and supplies from people who die from an explosion, rather than as a source of danger and destruction. Her need to survive leads her to detach emotionally from the horrors of her situation. Finally, Ellis uses Parvana’s character to show the way war affects a child’s identity. Parvana struggles at several points to maintain her identity from before the war tore her family apart. She has a hard time believing that her memories of a carefree childhood really happened. She no longer feels like herself, and she grapples with the way the war and her experiences change her personality and identity. Ellis’s characterization of each of the children shows the way war forces children to grow up too quickly and inevitably alters children’s identity, taking an emotional toll that they will always bear.