Parvana__Women_in_Afghanistan

Parvana’s Journey by Deborah Ellis Year 9 Wide Reading Reflection Statement Parvana’s Journey by Deborah Ellis is an outstanding novel in which the hideous reality of war is shown by narrating the story of a thirteen year old girl named Parvana who finds herself stuck in the middle of war-torn country, Afghanistan, whilst on the continuous search for her family. This book explores many concepts of the emotional, physical and spiritual impacts war brought upon the once beautiful country. With the use of my visual representation I have addressed my main scope of the story which is the women and young girls suffering the atrocities of the Taliban. My visual representation is a collage of images of women and young girls from all over Afghanistan. The saying goes, ‘that a picture tells a thousand words’, and that is quite accurate when put into contrast with what I have come up with. The images obtain the power of silently showing what war has done to them, their families and their country. It is because of the extremist nature of the Taliban whom are one of the most violently anti-female establishment in which women are forced into a literal house arrest, cannot attend school after the age of eight, must keep their faces covered … just to name a few. Through the use of the colours on the flag, a controversial point is also brought up since the red in the flag represents the blood of freedom fighters. The fact here is that women who are such a vital element to the survival of mankind aren’t even allowed to voice their own points but are instead degraded and treated like street dogs. The black strip of images on the left of the flag represents the darkness and the torment the women live through each and every day. The white circle in the middle initially stands for the sacred mosque where the congregation stands, however I view this as the sacredness and purity of women that still exists throughout the land. Guru Nanak Dev Ji, founder of Sikhism, once said, “From woman, a man is born; within woman, man is conceived; to woman he is engaged and married. Woman becomes his friend; through woman, the future generations come. From her, kings are born. From woman, woman is born; without woman, there would be no one at all.” This saying yet again stresses the aspect of life where women-not just of one race, but many- are questioned with, used and then simply thrown away. Reading this book I have become aware of the struggles women and children have to face in other parts of the world as well as obtain insight and empathy of the thinking processes of other cultures.