Summery of chapter 2

As soon as Parvana was in the house, her sister asked her to go get water. Even though she was the only one in the house who could go and get water, Parvana complained as she made her trips. When she returned, her mother and Nooria asked Parvana to help with the cleaning. Her mother had put Parvana’s good shalwar kameez in the pile of things to be sold. Parvana was at first upset with her mother, but she lost her anger when she saw her mother put Hossain’s clothes back in the cupboard. Hossain was her parent’s oldest child. He had been killed by a land mine.

After supper Parvana’s father told the family stories from history. He told the story of Malali, a young Afghan girl said to have motivated the troops when they were fighting the British in 1880. The family was laughing when four Taliban soldiers barged into the room. Two of them grabbed Parvana’s father. The other two searched the apartment. They hit Parvana’s mother on the head with a rifle when she tried to stop them from taking her husband. Parvana wrapped herself around her father’s waist. Before she was dragged off him and he was taken away, he called her Malali and asked that she take care of the family. Meanwhile the other two soldiers were still searching the house. Knowing she had to keep them from finding her father’s books, Parvana threw herself toward the soldiers, knocking them down. She screamed at them to get out of her house. They beat Parvana with their sticks before leaving.