Parvana's Journey

Ellis highlights education as a motif throughout the novel that contributes to her themes of war and the position of women. She shows both the value of education and the lack of access to a formal education that many people, particularly women, experience. Parvana’s father was well educated and prized education, working as a teacher before his school was bombed. He made it a priority to pass his knowledge to Parvana, and he gave her lessons as they journeyed together. He sees Parvana as smart and worthy of education. Parvana’s father gives her lessons to overcome the fatigue and monotony of walking each day. Later, when Parvana must walk alone after her father’s death, she misses their lessons. Eventually, she must bury some of father’s books to lighten her load.

Ellis’s portrayal of education through the lens of Parvana’s relationship with her father shows the importance of education for knowledge and self-improvement. She also creates a stark contrast between the world of academics and the world of war that Parvana experiences. Her life of school and learning feels far away and insignificant in comparison to the need to survive. However, Parvana’s father recognizes that making time for education, even in the midst of a war zone, is a path to survival in itself. Instead of seeing learning as a luxury, he sees it as a necessity and continues to teach Parvana, despite their desperate situation.

While Parvana stays at Green Valley, Ellis again highlights education. This time, she shows that Parvana’s life of learning both in school and from her father is not necessarily the norm. Neither Leila nor her mother or grandmother ever went to school. When Parvana gives Grandmother a book, a little bit of life returns to her eyes. Such a simple object that most people take for granted means the world to this elderly woman who has never owned a book in her life. Both Leila and Grandmother blossom as Parvana gives them lessons, and teaching helps Parvana feel more like herself again. Through this situation, Ellis shows the plight of many women in Afghanistan who lack access to education. She shows how women are not given the same opportunities as men for learning. Furthermore, Parvana’s act of giving lessons to Leila and her grandmother shows her following in her father’s footsteps. Despite the war’s destruction of normalcy and routine, Parvana’s actions reveal how a small act, such as sharing one’s knowledge, can provide comfort and human connection in a time when simply surviving captures most of one’s attention. Through the education motif, Ellis shows the value of education in tumultuous times, and highlights the plight of women in Afghanistan who cannot receiving a formal education because of their gender.