History Characters / TheBreadwinner

* TitleCharacter: Parvana is the titled "Breadwinner".

* CheerfulChild

[[caption-width-right:300:''"When I was young, Parvana, I knew what peace felt like. Children went to school, women went to university. All day empires forgot about us, for a while at least."'']]

* DadTheVeteran: Fought the Soviets alongside the Mujahideen, an experience that cost him his leg.

* NiceGuy: Is kind and polite to everyone he meets, even Idrees (until he starts harassing Parvana, that is).

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: His son, Sulayman, was killed by a bomb he mistook for a toy.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: It's easy to miss, but in his final scene, he glances at the moon, for which his late wife is named for, suggesting that he feels he had done right by her spirit and would join her soon.

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: It's implied he was very kind and cheerful when alive, [[spoiler:and died picking up a toy in the streets]].

The family’s youngest child, a toddler.

* GrumpyBear: At the beginning of the story, Parvana dismisses her father’s storytelling and resigns herself to her responsibilities. After her PromotionToParent and exploration of the outside world as a boy, she gradually grows in confidence, conviction, and even cheerfulness.

* TookALevelInKindness: Caring for the family and disguising herself as a boy to work makes her much more cheerful and nice.

* {{Foil}}: To Parvana. Parvana starts off as a GrumpyBear before CharacterDevelopment, lives in a loving household in which she's also a DaddysGirl, and spends most of the film trying to reunite with her father. Shauzia is ThePollyanna but she's on the verge of a breakdown, lives in an abusive household with a horrible father who she desperately wants to get away from.

->'''Voiced by:''' Shaista Latif

* RapunzelHair: Before she cuts it short.

* RapunzelHair: Soraya's hair reaches down past her waist.

* AdultFear: She constantly worries for her family’s safety throughout the film. The fact that she’s completely unable to work or protect them under Taliban law just makes it worse.

* InformedAttribute: When she cuts her hair and cross dresses as “Aatish”, her mother says that she looks JUST like Sulayman. However, if the way Sulayman that is presented in the cardboard animation is how he really looks, then this would make no sense. In Parvana’s story, Sulayman is shown as having very curly hair, a unibrow, dark brown eyes, and a gap in between his two front teeth. Parvana, on the other hand, has straight hair, normal eyebrows, green eyes, and normal two front teeth.

* DisappearedDad: Downplayed, justified, and deconstructed. Nurullah is a very much an attentive father but was unjustifiably thrown into prison by a petty Idrees. And since he was the only adult male of his family, his wife and children initially struggle to survive until Parvana decides to pretend to be a boy.

* WouldHitAGirl: [[spoiler:Chases Parvana and Shauzia with a machine gun, fully intending to kill them.]]

* WouldHitAGirl: [[spoiler:Chases Parvana and Shauzia with a machine gun, fully intending to kill them [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil or worse .]]]]

* BeardOfEvil

[[/folder]]

* IcyGrayEyes: The only other character besies Idrees with cold grey eyes, which further highlights his cruelty.

* InformedAttribute: When she cuts her hair and cross dresses as “Aatish”, her mother says that she looks JUST like Sulaymaniyah. However, if the way Sulaymaniyah that is presented in the cardboard animation is how he really looks, then this would make no sense. In Parvana’s story, Sulayman has very curly hair, dark brown eyes, and a gap in between his two front teeth. Parvana, on the other hand, has straight hair, green eyes, and normal two front teeth.

->'''Voiced by:''' Saara Chaudry

* DisappearedDad: Downplayed, justified, and deconstructed. Nurullah is a very much am attentive father but was unjustifiably thrown into prison by a petty Idrees. And since he was the only adult male of his family, his wife and children initially struggle to survive until Parvana decides to pretend to be a boy.

* CryingLittleKid: To be fair, if ''you'' were living under the Taliban, you’d probably be crying all the time, too. Parvana tells him her stories to soothe him and help him go to sleep.
* {{Moe}}