The entire family is distraught after his arrest, but Parvana often thinks of Father and of Malali as she navigates the market undercover as a boy and takes over Father’s reading and writing business. He also thinks that it’s their responsibility as educated Afghans to remain in the country and rebuild it into something better, so he and Mother often fight about whether to leave Afghanistan or stay. He doesn’t believe in taking away women’s agency, so he encourages Mother to work despite the Taliban’s ban on women working. He tells his daughters her story to inspire them to be brave and to figure out ways to resist oppression. One of his favorites is the story of Malali, a young Afghan girl who led Afghan troops to victory against the British. His focus was on Afghan history, so he often tells the family stories from history in the evenings. He’s highly educated and earned his degrees abroad, so the Taliban target and ultimately arrest him. Though the novel never explains what Father did before Kabul fell to the Taliban, he now earns money writing and reading letters for the many illiterate people in the market. Because he sold his prosthesis, he relies on a walking stick to travel short distances and Parvana to help him travel longer distances. During the bombing in Kabul, Parvana’s father lost one of his legs and suffered internal damage that Parvana doesn’t entirely understand, so he is often tired.
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