I confess I closed the book victoriously after I finished reading the last line.
“This is Afghanistan,” Shauzia said. “What do you want – a happy ending?”
I don’t like happy endings. I know that if the book ends happy, it is simply a frozen frame of their life. If the story were to continue the protagonist would undoubtedly encounter conflict, tension or problems again.
When a story ends unhappily or unresolved I enjoy the realism. I like to be able to imagine the series of possible events that could happen after the story ends. I enjoy a novel that ends with loose needs because our own lives are like that. The moment we think that we have life all figured out with our relationships, dreams and circumstances right where we want it, we realize that we don’t.
Based on the character that Ellis developed Parvana to be, I feel confident that she will pursue a life of helping others perhaps with a focus on education or nursing. I would also imagine that she achieves higher education and travels before returning to Afghanistan to fight for women’s rights, education and reconstruction.
The story does not wrap up all the loose ends because the war in Afghanistan is not over and the country remains unstable. Any promise otherwise would not acknowledge the current situation in Afghanistan.
When a story ends unhappily or unresolved I enjoy the realism. I like to be able to imagine the series of possible events that could happen after the story ends. I enjoy a novel that ends with loose needs because our own lives are like that. The moment we think that we have life all figured out with our relationships, dreams and circumstances right where we want it, we realize that we don’t.
Based on the character that Ellis developed Parvana to be, I feel confident that she will pursue a life of helping others perhaps with a focus on education or nursing. I would also imagine that she achieves higher education and travels before returning to Afghanistan to fight for women’s rights, education and reconstruction.
The story does not wrap up all the loose ends because the war in Afghanistan is not over and the country remains unstable. Any promise otherwise would not acknowledge the current situation in Afghanistan.
Admittedly, I was surprised with Parvana’s forceful release from the American’s by Shauzia and Mrs. Weera’s efforts. I fully expected the kind American soldier to assist her especially after Parvana saves the American soldier and later tells the Americans that they bombed her school. After Ellis had established a negative perspective of the American military, I expected her to demonstrate their sense of justice and compassion by believing Parvana.
However, after thinking about this awhile I realized that Mrs. Weera’s ability as an Afghan woman and Member of Parliament to supersede American authority on behalf of Parvana’s freedom is quite meaningful. The American government and media have strongly emphasized the subjugation of Afghan women under the Taliban. Consider Laura Bush’s patriotic speech to women of America to rally for the women of Afghanistan. Or consider the symbolic unveiling of women in Kabul.
The United States has occasionally used women’s rights as a strong justification for their continued efforts in Afghanistan after they found Sad am Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. (Although when the American government funded the Taliban very little was said about women’s rights) This isn’t to say that the Taliban hasn’t been oppressive and violent against Afghan women. It is that women’s rights have been used for American political gain in Afghanistan.
While there is still a lot of progress to be made for women’s rights in Afghanistan, the same can be said of North America. To date, Afghanistan has better female representation in government than Canada or the United States.
I think that Mrs. Weera’s rescue is poignant. Firstly, because it is a woman who rescues Parvana but also because it is an Afghan woman in a position of political power that supersedes the American military. How fitting that Parvana would be rescued by a fellow Afghan citizen! Furthermore, Mrs. Weera’s authority is suggestive of Afghan sovereignty over their country again! For decades Afghanistan has been under the authority of others including, the Soviet Union, the Taliban and the United States. It is notable that she must back up her claim with threats of appealing to the Human Rights Watch, UN, American Civil Liberties Union and the press rather than a national police force or social services, but her Afghan leadership and authority is commendable.
My Name is Parvana certainly ends with a nod to women empowerment and the future bettering of women’s rights. Yet Parvana’s transfer to “a prison north of Kabul” is also suggestive that the war on terrorism is far from over. Readers who begged Ellis to write a concluding novel to the Breadwinner series certainly got what they asked for but Ellis clearly leaves the reader with the realization that this isn’t the end of the troubles in Afghanistan.
I think her intent is to encourage readers to continue to follow the events in Afghanistan as well as act in some capacity to support women and children in Afghanistan as foreigners in the book did and as Ellis did by donating the royalties from her book to Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan.
However, after thinking about this awhile I realized that Mrs. Weera’s ability as an Afghan woman and Member of Parliament to supersede American authority on behalf of Parvana’s freedom is quite meaningful. The American government and media have strongly emphasized the subjugation of Afghan women under the Taliban. Consider Laura Bush’s patriotic speech to women of America to rally for the women of Afghanistan. Or consider the symbolic unveiling of women in Kabul.
The United States has occasionally used women’s rights as a strong justification for their continued efforts in Afghanistan after they found Sad am Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. (Although when the American government funded the Taliban very little was said about women’s rights) This isn’t to say that the Taliban hasn’t been oppressive and violent against Afghan women. It is that women’s rights have been used for American political gain in Afghanistan.
While there is still a lot of progress to be made for women’s rights in Afghanistan, the same can be said of North America. To date, Afghanistan has better female representation in government than Canada or the United States.
I think that Mrs. Weera’s rescue is poignant. Firstly, because it is a woman who rescues Parvana but also because it is an Afghan woman in a position of political power that supersedes the American military. How fitting that Parvana would be rescued by a fellow Afghan citizen! Furthermore, Mrs. Weera’s authority is suggestive of Afghan sovereignty over their country again! For decades Afghanistan has been under the authority of others including, the Soviet Union, the Taliban and the United States. It is notable that she must back up her claim with threats of appealing to the Human Rights Watch, UN, American Civil Liberties Union and the press rather than a national police force or social services, but her Afghan leadership and authority is commendable.
My Name is Parvana certainly ends with a nod to women empowerment and the future bettering of women’s rights. Yet Parvana’s transfer to “a prison north of Kabul” is also suggestive that the war on terrorism is far from over. Readers who begged Ellis to write a concluding novel to the Breadwinner series certainly got what they asked for but Ellis clearly leaves the reader with the realization that this isn’t the end of the troubles in Afghanistan.
I think her intent is to encourage readers to continue to follow the events in Afghanistan as well as act in some capacity to support women and children in Afghanistan as foreigners in the book did and as Ellis did by donating the royalties from her book to Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan.