History Literature / TheBreadwinner

* TheFundamentalist: The Taliban.

* UnintentionalFinalMessage:
A Taliban fighter asks Parvana to read a letter from his wife, which happens to be one of these.

UnintentionalFinalMessage:

An animated film adaptation was released in 2017, co-produced by Creator/CartoonSaloon (''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells'', ''WesternAnimation/SongOfTheSea''), Aircraft Pictures Canada and Creator/AngelinaJolie.

[[quoteright:329:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/breadwinner.jpg]]

[[folder:Synopsis]]At the start of the book, Parvana is living in a one-room apartment with her family that consists of her father, her mother Fatana, older sister Nooria, younger sister Maryam, and baby brother Ali in Kabul, Afghanistan. She had an older brother named Hossain but he was killed stepping on a land mine during the war. Her father is the only one who has the right to work in the family but he has a very hard time doing so because of a leg that was injured in a bombing. He also suffers from a severe cough, which developed after the school he was teaching in was bombed. Parvana accompanies her father to the Marketplace where he works each day, reading and writing letters as due to the war and Taliban control, many people are illiterate, and need assistance reading and writing.

One day Talibs come to Parvana's home and take her father away because he attended university in England. When Parvana goes out to buy food for the family, a Talib sees her and chases her. She bumps into a family friend named Mrs. Weera, a former physical education teacher, and her baby grandson, and two come to stay with Parvana's family. Mrs. Weera takes charge of the household because Parvana's mother has become severely depressed over the loss of her husband, and comes up with the idea for Parvana to dress as a boy in order to earn money for the family. She then becomes the family's breadwinner, wearing her dead brother Hossain's clothes.

Parvana runs into girl that she used to go to school with named Shauzia who has been put through the same experience. They start to work together and soon become close friends, though they hadn't been close in school. With the help of Mrs. Weera, Parvana's mother begins to feel better and eventually teams up with her and a group of other women to write the Afghanistan National Magazine, smuggling it to and from Pakistan to be published. Throughout the book Parvana grows closer to her older sister Nooria, and becomes more responsible and stronger emotionally as a person. She also becomes very close with a woman who appears in the window of a building behind where Parvana works. This woman throws small gifts onto her blanket while she is there.

The climax of the story comes when Parvana's seventeen year old sister Nooria announces that she is leaving for Mazar-e Sharif to get married to a boy (an neighbor), because there is no war and she will be going to college. She leaves along with her mother and younger siblings, but Parvana stays since she looks like a boy and her appearance will be difficult to explain and be kept secret. Despite being against it at first, Parvana grows to accept her sister's decision.

Parvana remains in Kabul with Mrs. Weera. One day after work, she meets a runaway girl from Mazar who is deeply upset. Parvana leads her home at night, and soon the girl, named Homa, tells them that Mazar has been captured by the Taliban. Homa's family had been killed by the Taliban, and she had been extremely lucky to run away. Mrs. Weera gladly takes her in. Parvana is very worried since the rest of her family is going there.

One day, Parvana's father returns home, being led by two kind men who found him released from jail, but unable to get home due to the loss of his leg. The women and Parvana nurse him back to health, and the novel ends with Parvana and her father escaping Afghanistan, hidden in the back of a truck. They will search for their family in refugee camps. Shauzia, who had been planning to run away from her difficult family so that she would not have to marry and could start a new life, tells Parvana that she will be leaving with some shepherds. They plan to meet in France twenty years later, at the top of the Eiffel Tower.[[/folder]]

* SweetPollyOliver /WholesomeCrossdresser: Parvana and Shauzia dress as boys in order to earn money for their families, since the Taliban did not allow women to work outside the home.

''The Breadwinner'' is a children's novel by Deborah Ellis. The title refers to the role of the protagonist, 11-year-old Parvana, who is forced by circumstances to be the breadwinner for her family in a war-torn Taliban-era in Afghanistan.

----

!!The film contains examples of:
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Idrees to Parvana; a cruel and nasty young man who makes creepy advances to her twice; once as a girl, [[SweetPollyOliver once as a boy]].
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the book, Parvana is not as pretty as her older sister. In the film, it is the other way around.
* AdaptationNameChange: In the film, Parvana's older sister Nooria is renamed Soraya, her deceased brother Hossain is Sulayman, and her little brother Ali is Zaki.
* ARealManIsAKiller: Naturally, the film skewers men with this mentality.
* ArrangedMarriage: Halfway through the film, Mama-jan arranges a marriage between her oldest daughter Soraya and her cousin's youngest son to make ends meet. [[spoiler:They send a relative to collect her, Soraya, and Zaki while Parvana is out; so she calls it off.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Parvana manages to get her weakened father out of prison thanks to the help of a kindly customer ([[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished who may die of the gun wounds he received for the said rescue]]), and Mama-jan, Soraya, and Zaki manage to drive off the cruel relative come to collect them against their will. But each group is stranded in the middle of the road the same night that a war is starting and bombs are approaching, so it is uncertain if either group will survive the night, or find each other later. But for now, they are happy to be together and have a ''chance'' to reunite later.]]
* CharacterDevelopment: Parvana learns to be more confident and optimistic during her time passing as a boy.
* {{Determinator}}: Parvana will find a way to see her father in prison, no matter what her family or Shauzia says.
* DirtyCoward: Idrees has no problem constantly shouting at and physically assaulting children and old men who can't physically or legally fight back. Once given a gun and told to start fighting in a war (filled with other men with guns who can actually shoot back), he's visibly terrified.
* FelonyMisdemeanor: PlayedForDrama. Any woman or girl caught out of the house without her husband or brother is beaten black and blue for it ''at best'', and merchants caught selling to women (or having a girl assist with selling) risk getting lashed by the Talib. Parvana's father is also arrested for teaching his daughters how to read.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Much like the book, Parvana does not get along very well with her older sister at first, though it is her sister who is not as pretty.
* GoodParents: Parvana's parents are very kind, peaceful, and loving, especially her father.
* GreenEyes: Parvana's most striking feature is her vivid green eyes, which she inherited from her father.
* GrumpyBear: Parvana starts off very pessimistic and brushes off her family's attempts to cheer her up. After she disguises herself as a boy, she learns to smile and laugh more.
* HairTriggerTemper: Idrees, a cruel young man who seems to look for ''any'' excuse to get righteously offended so he can give beatings and arrests on behalf of the Taliban. ([[DirtyCoward Though mostly children and crippled old men.]])
* HeManWomanHater: The Taliban, naturally.
* InformedAttribute: Parvana's mother was a writer, but unlike the book we never see her skills in action. They aren't even mentioned until the very end of the film.
* OpenMindedParent: Parvana's father believes women should be educated, and teaches his daughters how to read and write and learn history. Justified as he was a teacher who married a writer, and had many childhood female friends and relatives he went to school with before the Taliban eventually took over later in his life.
* PartingWordsRegret: Downplayed example. Parvana doesn't say anything outright mean to her father, but she is very pessimistic, brushes off his attempts to cheer her up, and claims she no longer likes stories. After he is taken, she is the most determined to get him out of prison, presumably for this reason. [[spoiler:When they are reunited, the first thing she does is smilingly repeat the last story he told her before his arrest, to let him know she does still love and value his stories.]]
* TheReveal: No one in Parvana's family wants to talk about how her older brother died. At the end of the film, the StoryWithinAStory reveals that [[spoiler:he picked up a toy in the street that had a bomb inside it, that blew up immediately]].
* TheScapegoat: Parvana's father reveals in the start in the film that decades of war and chaos led to people turning to leaders who would restore some semblance of normalcy, and the Taliban did ''that'' by blaming women and forcing them back into the home.
* TheStoryteller: Parvana's father. After his arrest, Parvana takes up the mantle to keep everyone's spirits up.
* StoryWithinAStory: Throughout the movie, Parvana periodically tells the story of a boy who goes on a quest to retrieve seeds his village needs to survive that were stolen by the Elephant King. Each instance, the story is loosely related to what she is going through at the time.
* SweetPollyOliver /WholesomeCrossdresser: Much like in the book, Parvana and Shauzia dress as boys in order to earn money for their families, since the Taliban did not allow women to work outside the home.
* WarIsHell: One of the main themes of the film.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Parvana manages to get her weakened father out of prison thanks to the help of a kindly customer ([[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished who may die of the gun wounds he received for the said rescue]]), and Mama-jan, Soraya, and Zaki manage to drive off the cruel relative come to collect them against their will. But each group is stranded in the middle of the road the same night that a war is starting and bombs are approaching, so it is uncertain if either group will survive the night, or find each other later. But for now, they are happy to be together and have a chance to reunite later.]]
* CharacterDevelopment: Parvana learns to be more confident, optimistic, and brave during her time passing as a boy.

* GrumpyBear: At the start of the movie, Parvana is very pessimistic and brushes off her family's attempts to cheer her up. After she disguises herself as a boy, she learns to smile and laugh more.
* InformedAttribute: Parvana's mother was a writer, but unlike the book we never see her skills in action. [[spoiler:They aren't even mentioned until the very end of the film.]]

* TheReveal: No one in Parvana's family will talk about how her older brother died. At the end of the film, the StoryWithinAStory reveals that [[spoiler:he picked up a toy in the street that had a bomb inside it, that blew up immediately]].
* TheStoryteller: Parvana's father. After his arrest, Parvana takes up the mantle to keep her family's (and Sauzia's) spirits up.

An animated film adaptation was released in 2017, co-produced by Creator/CartoonSaloon (''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells'', ''WesternAnimation/SongOfTheSea''), Aircraft Pictures Canada and Angelina Jolie.

An animated film adaptation was released in 2017, co-produced by Creator/CartoonSaloon (''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells'', ''WesternAnimation/SongOfTheSea'') and Aircraft Pictures Canada.

An animated film adaptation is planned for 2017, co-produced by Creator/CartoonSaloon (''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells'', ''WesternAnimation/SongOfTheSea'') and Aircraft Pictures Canada.

One day Talibs come to Parvana's home and take her father away because he attended university in England. When Parvana goes out to buy food for the family, a Talib sees her and chases her. She runs a family friend named Mrs. Weera, a former physical education teacher, and her baby grandson, and two come to stay with Parvana's family. Mrs. Weera takes charge of the household because Parvana's mother has become severely depressed over the loss of her husband, and comes up with the idea for Parvana to dress as a boy in order to earn money for the family. She then becomes the family's breadwinner, wearing her dead brother Hossain's clothes.

An animated film adaptation is planned for 2017, co-produced by Cartoon Saloon (''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells'', ''WesternAnimation/SongOfTheSea'') and Aircraft Pictures Canada.

At the start of the book, Parvana is living in a one-room apartment with her family that consists of her father, her mother Fatana, older sister Nooria, younger sister Maryam, and baby brother Ali in Kabul, Afghanistan. She had an older brother named Hossain but he was killed stepping on a land mine during the war. Her father is the only one who has the right to work in the family but he has a very hard time doing so because of a leg that was injured in a bombing. He also suffers from a severe cough, which developed after the school he was teaching in was bombed. Parvana accompanies her father to the Marketplace where he works each day, reading and writing letters as due to the war and Taliban control, many people are illiterate, and need assistance reading and writing.

One day, Parvana's father returns home, being led by two kind men who found him released from jail, but unable to get home due to the loss of his leg. The women and Parvana nurse him back to health, and the novel ends with Parvana and her father escaping Afghanistan, hidden in the back of a truck. They will search for their family in refugee camps. Shauzia, who had been planning to run away from her difficult family so that she would not have to marry and could start a new life, tells Parvana that she will be leaving with some shepherds. They plan to meet in France twenty years later, at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

''TheBreadwinner'' is a children's novel by Deborah Ellis. The title refers to the role of the protagonist, 11-year-old Parvana, who is forced by circumstances to be the breadwinner for her family in a war-torn Taliban-era in Afghanistan.