The sun on your face
The sun on your face, a girl in Afghanistan (original title: The Breadwinner ) is a 2001 novel by Deborah Ellis .
Summary
The narrative mainly follows the story of the eleven-year-old girl Parvana. She lives with her family of six in the Afghan capital Kabul . Her parents are very educated people, they were even a wealthy and respectable family, her father was a history teacher until he was hit by a bomb at school and lost his foot. He had studied in England, her mother worked as a journalist but was fired. The strict rules of the Taliban changed Parvana's life very much. The Taliban ordered that all girls and women should stay in their homes. The girls were banned from going to school. The women were only allowed to leave the house with a male companion and had to wear burqas .
The men were forced to wear long beards. Parvana accompanies her father to the market every day, where he reads and writes letters to people who cannot write and read. One evening the father is kidnapped and the family members are beaten.
Now there is no longer a man who can accompany the mother or the girls in public. To survive, Parvana dresses up as a boy and continues her father's work. At the market, she unexpectedly meets her former school friend Shauzia, who is also disguised as a boy and works as a tea boy. Mrs. Weera is a good friend of her mother and would like to found a women's organization. To make things easier for them, she moves to Parvana. Parvana and Shauzia want to earn more and dream of a private vendor's tray . To get money, they even dig for bones in the cemetery and sell them. After all, they buy a tray, but they are no happier. Shauzia then plans to flee Afghanistan, first to Pakistan and then to France. A few days later, the marriage of Parvana's big sister Nooria is planned. The whole family, except Parvana, goes to the wedding. She will work. The wedding will take place in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif , the city that has not yet been captured by the Taliban. There are no regulations there; Parvana's sister wants to study there and become a teacher.
A few weeks later, Parvana finds a girl crying in an abandoned house and takes her home. The girl's name is Homa and she has fled Mazar-e-Sharif. The Taliban have taken the city and shot many people in their houses and apartments; so did Homa's parents. One day Parvana's father comes back home; he is very sick. Mrs. Weera takes care of him and Parvana works harder to buy expensive medicine for the father. She wants to go to Mazar with her father to look for the rest of the family. Two days later, Parvana and her father get on a truck that is supposed to take them to Mazar. At the last moment Shauzia comes to say goodbye. They don't want to say goodbye to each other and they decide to meet on the first day of spring in 20 years - in Paris on the Eiffel Tower.
Further information
The author, a writer and psychotherapist from Toronto , spent several months in Afghan refugee camps to learn about the living conditions of women and girls under a misogynist regime. All proceeds from the book will go to Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, where they will be used to educate girls.
"The Sun in the Face" received various literary awards and was nominated for awards.
In April 2003 a sequel was published: "Fear in the Heart - An Escape from Afghanistan"
Film adaptation
On November 17, 2017, the novel under the title " Der Brotverdiener " (original title: " The Breadwinner" ), directed by Nora Twomey , was adapted as a film. The film has major differences to the novel, but served as the primary template.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Der Brotverdiener IMDB article, Retrieved June 14, 2018
