Debora Ellis 'Parvana': The Effects That War Has On Children

‘Parvana illustrates the effects that war has on children.’ Discuss.

Debora Ellis’ novel, Parvana, follows the life of an eleven-year-old girl and other children living under the brutal regime of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Parvana clearly illustrates how Afghan children have dealt with terrible effects from war. The ways children are affected include their quality of life, freedom and personal identity. In addition the children’s mental and physical health are also affected due to war. The novel not only focuses on the war effects children but also how they cope with these terrible circumstances and the positive messages that come out of it.

From the early stages of the novel Ellis creates a world where children have very little freedom and

have no choices in what they do. This combined with the oppression of women means that some many children like Maryam had not been outside ‘for almost a year and a half’. Other older children, for example, Parvana and Shauzia must take on adult responsibilities like taking on a job and becoming the breadwinner for the family. For many children there is no escape from their hellish reality. Parvana herself says she ‘just want[s] to be an ordinary kid again’ and to live a ‘normal, boring life’. The children also lose the freedom to make their own decisions and those that are made are based around survival. For example, Nooria must ‘get married’ because ‘they will have lots of money to live on’. Because of the war, the children of Afghanistan lose their innocence and freedom to be a carefree child. However, the children overcome these challenges by sticking together. For example, Parvana and Shauzia go ‘bone digging’ to earn enough money for their families and Parvana ‘offers to take out Nooria’ for some time outside. It is this perseverance that shows the positive effect war has on children.
One of the key ways the children are affected by war is their poor health.

The brutality of the Taliban soldiers combined with the ‘ugly’ things the children must experience makes for not just poor mental health but also poor physical health. Parvana sees both ends of the spectrum whilst in the market, when a Taliban soldier ‘raised his arm’ and ‘brought his stick down’ on Parvana. She has also witnesses the effect the Taliban’s brutality has on other people. Parvana observed shopkeepers being ‘beaten for serving women inside their shop’. The issue of mental health was even brought into her own house with her mother’s depression and everyone ‘going around with … unshed tears’. The children are aware that these influences are taking their toll saying they ‘didn’t want to see anything ugly for a little while’ and not wanting to ‘know anymore’ about ‘blood, death [and] pain’. The adults are also affected by the loss of mental and physical health. The adults are either physically not there for the children or emotionally not there for them. Although some children (like Shauzia’s) parents’ are still with them, the lack of the emotional support is almost like they have lost a parent. As such, the children must take on more responsibilities and lose their childhood innocence. Despite all of these challenges, the children somehow don’t lose hope. They band together and prevail over the challenges they are faced with because of the

war.
Another major way war affects children is their loss of identity. Many children must work to provide for their families as their fathers are not there. This combined with the treatment of women by the Taliban means many children (especially girls) have lost their basic right to their own identity and must transform into someone else. Parvana and Shauzia must both transform into different people to earn money for their families. The children must do Parvana becomes her ‘father’s nephew Kaseem’ and Shauzia is now ‘called Shafiq’. The children not only have to give up their physical identity but also their emotional one. Parvana ‘knew it didn’t matter how she felt’ because she had lost the right to make her own decisions and that family came first. The issue of identity turns out to be a larger struggle for Parvana as she must keep who she is a secret. Even going to the bathroom was a struggle because ‘people might see her and find out she was a girl’. Eventually though, the children realised what was best for them and their families with Shauzia mentioning she ‘still want[ed] to be a boy then’. Nooria may be the hardest hit with the identity crisis having to ‘wear a burqa’. For just a tiny bit of relief from this robbery of identity she ‘would flip up her burqa to let the sun pour down on her face’. Although the loss of identity is a crucial struggle for the children, they learn to accept their new roles in their families and do what is best for their family even if it means losing themselves.
The fundamental effect war has on children is their poor quality of life. The children have experienced terrible things and must be careful to just survive. For example ‘bombs had been part of Parvana’s whole life’. She and other children knew nothing other than the war-torn country they live in. The state of the town was horrendous with not ‘a single intact building in the whole area, just piles of bricks dust and rubble.’ The children are denied some of their basic human rights such as education and the right to a carefree childhood. The children must 'Watch out for landmines' as so not to be killed on the way to the market. This act of violence has emotionally changed children as they have knowledge of terrible things that they shouldn’t know at such a young age. The children’s present is not only affected but also their future. Nooria screams 'There’s no future for me here' as she must get married to a man ‘she’d never met’ due to the oppression of women from the Taliban. Despite all of the challenges given to them by the war, the children rise up and learn to have hope and appreciate the small things in life such as the ‘embroided cloth’ the lady in the window had given Parvana.
Ultimately, the children in Parvana are touched by the war in many ways. Although they are terrible, the children somehow overcome these challenges and do not lose hope. They stay strong even when faced with a lack of freedom, lack of identity, have a poor quality of life and save low health. The inhumane treatment of the Taliban has not just changed how the children live but also how they cope with terror and overcome their challenges. Ellis based the characters in her book off of the children she met and spent time with whilst visiting Afghanistan. Ellis was so inspired by the children’s bravery and hope that she wrote this book to send the message that people can go through terror and dangerous events and come out stronger. Overall, even though the children have difficulties they seem to overcome them with hope and resilience that they never would have the strength to do if not for the war.