Empathy

In the book The Breadwinner, the author, Deborah Ellis, made me feel empathy throughout the course of the book. I think it is good to make the reader feel empathy because it can get the reader emotionally involved with the book.

The first example of empathy from The Breadwinner is just after Parvana's father was sent to prison. Parvana and her mother attempted to go beg for her father's freedom, but their plan failed. "Nooria tried to help, but Mother just waved her away. She threw her burqa down on the floor. Her face was strained with tears and sweat. She collapsed onto the toshak where Father had taken his nap just yesterday." In this example the author made me feel empathy for Parvana's family because they may never see their father again. The strategy that the authour is using is to make the reader feel empathy by talking about memories of the father. When the author said " She collapsed onto the toshak where Father had taken his nap just yesterday." you can only imagine the thoughts that would be going through her mother's head about how her father lay there just yesterday and now he is gone.

Another example from the Breadwinner where Deborah Ellis made me feel empathy was when Parvana and Shauzia were walking home and Shauzia kicked a wall. " Shauzia kicked at the wall in a rythm, but Parvana stopped her. She'd seen the Taliban hit a child for banging on an old board like it was a drum. The Taliban hated music." The author made me feel empathy for all of the people affected by the Taliban. This example of empathy really shows the readers how restricted the people are in the affected areas of the Taliban. The way the author made me feel empathy in this passage was by describing how few rights the people have, if they can't even hit something in a rhythm. When the author said "The Taliban hated music", that really puts our freedom in prespective. It makes me realize the freedoms we have and how much we take it for granted.

These are just a few examples of when Deborah Ellis makes her readers feel empathy. It is a useful wirting strategy because it makes the reader feel more involved with the characters and their lives. I know from reading The Breadwinner I was able to better understand the situation and struggles of the people in Afghanistan by becoming involved with the characters in the book and their lives, and feeling empathy for them.

Covered

Imagine yourself living in a world where you couldn't show your full self. You wouldn't be able to leave your home unless you were covered from head to toe in a burqa. For many women in the world, including those in Afghanistan, this is the case. They are not allowed to go anywhere without being fully covered.

There are quite a few adjustments that would have to be made about the way you go about your day to day life, if you had to be fully covered. First, as you can imagine, you would feel like you mean nothing to society, if people told you that they didn't want to see any part of you. Also, you would get very angry because you would probably not be able to do everything you would like to do. The burqas would make it diffucult to do some things. Finally, you might also feel like you are invisible to everyone around you, because no one would pay attention to you if no one could really see you. These are some of the ways women in Afghanistan would be affected by having to be fully covered when going outside.

From reading the Breadwinner, I have a better understanding of the struggles that woman face in Afghanistan. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to even do the simplest things. For example, when you go out to the grocery store, just to buy some milk, suddenly men with guns might pass you and you would be afraid that they might hurt you. This might be an every day situation for women in Afghanistan. They constantly live in fear. I know this might sound strange, but maybe some woman think of the burqa as an advantage. Think of the grocery store situation. Maybe you would want to hide yourself, and not get noticed so that the men don't hurt you. Maybe some of the woman think of it as a way to hide from the men walking in the streets.