Have students identify the setting (time and place) of The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis and explain how it impacts the events of the novel
Testo Storyboard
THE BREADWINNER: SETTING
Around 1997
TIME
Kabul, Afghanistan
PLACE
The Breadwinner was written in 2000 and takes place soon after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan after the decades long wars against the Soviet Union and the civil war that followed. Parvana narrates that her mother and sister have not left the house in about a year and a half. After the Taliban took control in 1996, they forbid women to leave the house unattended. Parvana and her family have been living under Taliban rule for about a year and a half and therefore the time period is about 1997 or the late 1990s.
The book takes place in Kabul which is the capital of Afghanistan. Parvana's family lives in a one room apartment. She and her father go to the market to try and sell what little they own so they can buy food. Kabul has been devastated by the war and most people are living in poverty. At one point, Parvana's mother and siblings go to Mazar-e Sharif which is a city to the north that has not yet fallen under Taliban control.