Coming Of Age In The Breadwinner, By Deborah Ellis

The duration of an individual’s coming of age is one of the most important times of their life which shapes them into who they are meant to be as an adult. Throughout this journey, they will be influenced by a variety of experiences such as discrimination, society’s perception or misperceptions, love, and interaction with adults. These influences help them reach maturity, gain an understanding of the world and overcome the challenges they might come across in their everyday life. “The Breadwinner” written by Deborah Ellis, tells the story of a young girl named Parvana who is living in Afghanistan. After her father’s arrest, Parvana takes the responsibility to work and earn money for her family by disguising herself as a boy. The influence of

These experiences help her gain a new perspective on the world around her and the injustices that exist in it. To begin with, adults are one of the most important and common influences on an individual through their coming of age. Sometimes the adults that influence a person are beyond their family members and include adults such as teachers and friends. In this novel, Parvana is positively influenced by her father. Her father teaches her bravery by telling her a story about a brave girl named Malali. This is demonstrated when Parvana’s father says, “‘The lesson here, my daughters,’ he looked from one to the other, ‘is that Afghanistan has always been the home of the bravest women in the world. You are all brave women. You are all inheritors of the courage of Malali’”(Ellis 33). Listening to Malali’s story had a significant

Parvana experiences discrimination which is key to her coming of age. The story takes place during a time in which women and girls in Afghanistan are not allowed to go out without a man escorting them. They are not permitted to attend school, go to work, go shopping, use the bus or even go outside of their houses to get fresh air. This is shown when the narrator says, “Buses were not permitted to carry women who did not have a man with them” (Ellis 40). When Parvana’s father got arrested Parvana and her mother had to walk a long distance to see him because they did not have a man accompanying them. These experiences make Parvana question the world around her as she grows older. As mentioned above, women and girls are not allowed to work but Parvana is interested in becoming a tea deliverer: “She’d like to be run around in the market, to know its winding streets as well as she knew the four walls of her home” (Ellis 17-18). After disguising herself as a boy, Parvana finally goes out to the market to work but she continues to do what her father used to do which was reading people’s letters and writing letters back and later she can buy a tray to sell food to other people in the market place. In summation, the discrimination Parvana experiences have a significant impact on her overcoming challenges