Aside from the anger I felt in this section I also felt other emotions while reading. I thought the scene in which Parvana tied up Nooria in order to teach first aid was so funny. Part of me felt as though this was a sort of revenge on Nooria for all of the mean things that she had done to Parvana (although I don’t think anything could make up for stealing Parvana’s story). This chapter also reminded me of my excitement of becoming a teacher. Parvana was so excited to be able to teach these students first aid in a practical, although devious, way. It made me think of how excited I am to teach a room full of students in engaging ways that make them excited about learning.
I also felt such sorrow and sadness for the way that Parvana, and in turn many Afghans, were treated in the prison. In chapter nine, Parvana thinks about torture and what would cause her to torture someone. It made me think about how we can rationalize torture on other people. We make people into the “other” or dehumanize them in order to make torturing them acceptable.
This section of chapters also prompted many questions for me. I have listed some of my questions below. Some of which are questions about the story itself and its characters. Others are about the topics and content of the book.
- Who is Shauzia? Parvana continually references her friend but so far I don’t know who she is or where Parvana knows her from.
- In chapter 11, in a letter to Shauzia, Parvana writes “ We are back on the road. It almost feels like we never left.” Who is we?
- In this same chapter she writes/talks about Green Valley and “in this camp.” Are these the same thing? When she talks of a camp, is it the refugee camp?
- In chapter 12, when describing the market full of signs demanding the closure of the school, Parvana uses the phrase “forest of hatred.” This made me think, What are some examples of “forests of hatred” here? How are we fighting them? Or are we?
- In the final chapter of this section, chapter 14, we see that if the school’s numbers don’t go up, then they will lose funding. Who is funding this school? Is it countries like Canada? If so, who gives us the right to decide who and when someone is worthy of our money?