“Is your name Parvana?” the opening words to this novel reveal a major theme that will be developed throughout the rest of the novel, the theme of identity. This theme has been one that Ellis has developed throughout the other books in her breadwinner series starting in the first novel where a younger Parvana must dress herself as a boy in order to sell cigarettes and read or transpose letters on the street in order to support her family during the Taliban insurgency. In many ways The Breadwinner Series follows Parvana’s coming of age and her growth from a child who is disguising her true identity to where we find her in this book; a confidant young woman who is beginning to access her true self and find her way in the confusing and dangerous world of post-Taliban Afghanistan.
“Is your name Parvana?” This question is echoed again and again throughout the book as the sergeant and the general question Parvana and attempt to construct her identity from the limited clues that they have obtained. In reading even the first page I was struck by the repetition of this question. Why did Ellis chose THIS as the question to forefront and guide the title of her book?
I looked up the meaning of the name ‘Parvana’ and it means “butterfly”. I think this is highly symbolic and intentional. If we compare the life cycle of a butterfly to Parvana’s life, we can draw many parallels. Parvana starts out the series as a girl who sits in the dirt writing and reading letters. Her life is far from glamorous, she is vulnerable to being ‘squished’ under the foot of the Taliban. In this stage she is like a caterpillar; weak, insignificant, quotidian. Throughout Parvana’s journey she has to go into hiding many times, or go into her cocoon, and here we are seeing her in her true new identity, as a beautiful butterfly. Parvana’s independent fighting spirit has been a part of her all along, but it is only in the less restricted setting of this book in the series that we are able to see her begin to show her true colours. On thing that I also thought was significant was the mention of her “dusty blue chador” in these first couple of chapters. The colour of her clothing is mentioned multiple times, and I believe its significance has to do with Parvana’s newfound identity in this book. At one point in the book Parvana changes from her own plain white ‘student’ chador into her sister Nooria’s blue chador. This change not only symbolizes Parvana’s move from student to teachers, but also from girl to woman. Nooria and Parvana have been constantly juxtaposed within the Breadwinner series. In the first novel, “Parvana is jealous because Nooria is older, has beautiful hair, and doesn’t have to do chores like bringing water in from the outside tap [and] Nooria is jealous because Parvana is able to go outside and roam the city” [1]. The contention between the sisters continues into this novel, and again we see Parvana wishing for the things that Nooria has, specifically a scholarship to study in New York (more to come about this in a later post). When Nooria leaves, Parvana is able to step into Nooria’s role as a teacher at the school and thus dons the dusty blue chador. In many ways, Parvana is becoming more like Nooria throughout the novel; she is becoming more mature and leaving some of her childish antics behind.
One other thing I would like to comment on is the play of power in these first few chapters. The “sides” are clearly delineated through uniforms. There are the Taliban, or the conservative men who support fundamentalist Islam. There are the American soldiers demarcated by their uniforms. There are the teachers and the students at the Academy. The teams are drawn up, the lines cemented… but are they? Despite the many barriers that Ellis constructs between Parvana and other characters in the book, I can’t help but feel that the Sergeant, the “woman in the green army uniform” (13) might become Parvana’s ally. She certainly seems sympathetic to Parvana. Whether it is just because they are women living in “a man’s world” at this point in the novel, or the fact that when she looks at Parvana she sees a scared little girl instead of a terrorist, whatever the case I feel like they share a bond. I can’t wait to see if their relationship becomes a key plot element in the remainder of the book.
[1] Literature Circle Guide to The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis.
<http://www.scholastic.ca/clubs/activities/images/breadwinner_t.pdf>