Response 1
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis is set in war-ravaged Kabul, Afghanistan during the Taliban’s rule of the country. The quote, “There had been a war going on in Afghanistan for more than twenty years”(13) indicates that it probably took place in the Taliban’s early rule between 1996 and 1998. The protagonist is a young eleven year girl named Parvana who has spent most of her life witnessing and suffering from the turmoil in her country. At the beginning of the story, she appears to be a naive and ordinary girl in the sixth grade who innocently believes that, when the Taliban close down the girls’ schools, she is getting a short holiday from school.
Throughout the novel Ellis attempts to concentrate on Parvana’s personality
The relentless succession of terrifying scenes Parvana has to witness, experience and endure are testament to the gravity of the book. The abduction of father (chapter 2) ,the beating she received at the prison along with her mother (chapter 4), and the scene at the stadium (chapter 11) are exemplars.
Mrs.Weera and Fatana are two characters who are similar - yet different. They are both educated and articulate women. They also appear to be feminist and oppose the Taliban. However, Mrs.Weera has a more direct and a stronger approach than Fatana. While Fatana refuses to leave home and is content to wait until the Taliban’s governance ends to denounce their rule, Mrs.Weera wants to take immediate action by starting a magazine about life under Taliban rule. Fatana falls into depression after losing her husband; on the other hand Mrs.Weera has lost most of her family but still remains strong-willed. This shows that in Mrs.Weera and Fatana’s case, the physical description match their personalities. Mrs.Weera is described as a strong, athletically built while there is no proper physical description provided in the book, one would assume she does not have a domineering physical description.

There were numerous examples of conflicts in The Breadwinner:
i) Character vs. Character: Fatana and Father had regular arguments over a couple of specific topics. While Fatana wanted to leave Afghanistan to lead a better life elsewhere,