Parvana's Journey

Deborah Ellis

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2002

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-6

Chapters 7-10

Chapters 11-14

Chapters 15-18

Chapters 19-21

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 3-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3 Summary

Parvana comes upon a tiny village mostly destroyed by bombs. This is nothing new to her. Because of the war that continued for over 20 years, “Someone was always bombing someone else” (27). Sometimes soldiers live in the abandoned village houses after bombing them, so Parvana watches the village carefully for signs of movement before approaching. As she makes her way through the rubble, looking for food and useful items, Parvana hears crying and finds a baby. The baby’s mother lies dead near the child, and Parvana takes the baby to the house with the least damage. She finds some rice and stale nan, cleans herself and the baby, and dresses him in clean clothes. She names him Hassan.

In the morning, they explore the village more and find goats to milk and chickens with fresh eggs. Parvana also finds useful supplies for their journey. Even though she’s ready to continue her journey, she is reluctant to leave. She cleans the house and contemplates what it would be like to make a home there. Just as she tries to catch a chicken to eat, she sees Taliban soldiers in the distance headed toward the village. Parvana snatches Hassan and her bundles of supplies and runs away from the village as far and fast as she can. When she finally stops, she knows she must lighten her heavy bundles. The only things she can afford to spare are three of her father’s books. She buries them with a heavy heart, hoping she will be able to return one day and retrieve them.

Chapter 4 Summary

Parvana comes across a cave situated near a stream. When she ventures inside, a child’s voice immediately threatens her: “Go away or I’ll shoot you” (41). Parvana gathers her courage and uses food as a bargaining chip in exchange for sharing the cave. The boy in the cave, named Asif, is about 10 years old. He has only one leg, is dirty and malnourished, and suffers from a deep cough that reminds Parvana of her father’s sickness. As Asif and Parvana eat together, Parvana shares information about herself: that her father died and that she’s a girl pretending to be a boy. However, Asif refuses to say much about his own background. He only tells her he came to the cave because a monster was chasing him. Despite Parvana’s kindness in sharing her food and blanket with him, Asif is only rude in return. As night falls, Parvana writes to Shauzia, saying she plans to leave Asif behind in the morning, and maybe even Hassan too, since they are, “not [her] problem” (46).

Chapter 5 Summary

In the morning, Parvana says she won’t share any more food with Asif until he washes in the stream. He resists, so she begins to wash Hassan instead. Asif accuses her of, “doing that all wrong,” (48) and washes Hassan himself, who immediately takes a liking to Asif. After washing Hassan, Asif agrees to wash himself, but rudely orders Parvana around all the while. He needs help rinsing his hair, and when Parvana comes to help, she’s shocked to see several scars crisscrossing his back. She doesn’t ask about them, and Asif doesn’t offer any information. After scrubbing everyone’s clothing in the stream, Parvana sits to write another letter to Shauzia. She thinks of the life she used to have in a house with her family and can hardly believe her memories are true. She writes, “That must have been a dream” (52).

Chapter 6 Summary

Parvana sweeps the floor of the cave and pictures what it would be like for her family to make a home there, choosing where each family member would sleep. When Asif makes fun of her for cleaning the cave, Parvana tells him it might be a treasure cave, like the ones in which Alexander the Great used to bury treasure. The more she tells Asif about the possibility of finding buried treasure, the more both of them become convinced that the cave may actually contain some. As they begin to dig, Asif announces that he will buy fast horses with his share of the treasure. Parvana decides she will buy a magic house for her family, “where bombs just slip off the roof without exploding” (57). Eventually, Parvana and Asif unearth a large metal box. However, when they open it, all they find are bullets—another sign of the endless wars that have plagued Afghanistan.

Chapters 3-6 Analysis

In these chapters, Parvana meets Asif, a young boy on his own who has clearly been through trauma. Asif wears his rudeness and toughness like armor, constantly berating Parvana and pretending he doesn’t care about what she does or where she goes. However, Asif is clearly desperate for human connection. He only lets down his guard with Hassan, who brings out Asif’s tenderness. Although he resists sharing information about his background with Parvana, the many scars on his back betray the suffering he has endured, and his missing leg indicates that even as a 10-year-old, he has not been exempt from the war’s violence. Ellis’s characterization of Asif shows the way war and cruelty takes a toll on children.

Parvana’s reactions to Asif’s rudeness reveals much to the reader about her character. At first, Parvana struggles between compassion for him and frustration at his insolence and lies. Ultimately though, she shares her food and blanket with him and helps him wash in the stream. Part of her is driven by her instinct for self-preservation, and it battles with her sense of self—the compassionate and caring girl inside. Based on her actions towards Asif and Hassan, Ellis shows that Parvana has been raised to care for others and do the right thing. Even in the abandoned village, she feels guilty for taking food and supplies from the houses of people who used to live there. Parvana has upstanding moral character from her upbringing, but Ellis shows how Parvana’s good character wars with her survival instincts. In this way, the author demonstrates how war can make even a kind and moral person callused to the needs of others.

Ellis establishes the cleaning motif in these chapters as Parvana cleans both the house in the village where she sleeps and the cave she shares with Asif. Parvana cleans to feel at home, settled, and somewhat normal. Her mother taught her to keep things clean, so she perhaps feels a connection to her mother by performing this simple household task. After cleaning both the village house and the cave, Parvana considers making a home in these locations. In the village, she pictures staying with Hassan and planting a garden in the yard. In the cave, she visualizes where each member of her family could sleep. Cleaning brings the possibility of a home to her mind and reveals what she wants most: a settled home with her family, safe from the war.

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Ellis uses Parvana’s letters to Shauzia to reveal Parvana’s innermost thoughts and feelings. The letters function as a kind of diary in which Parvana can share her worries, fears, and dreams without judgment. The letters provide the reader with a deeper, more poignant account of Parvana’s inner struggle than the narration of events alone. For example, in one letter, Parvana reflects on her old life and can hardly believe that she used to have ice cream, cake, television, homework, and a bed to sleep in. This letter shows the contrast between her previous life and current life. Ellis uses Parvana’s letters to Shauzia throughout the novel to reveal Parvana’s thoughts and to draw the reader into her story.