#6 In Their Shoes

Being able to write a good quality story is hard enough on its own, but being able to write a good story while making the reader feel empathy for your characters is even harder. Some ways to write with empathy are to include many adjectives, add a lot of detail, and write in a way that your readers are able to relate to what is happening. This is an example from The Breadwinner: "One of the soldiers raised his rifle and whacked her on the head. She collapsed on the floor. The soldier hit her a few more times. Maryam and Ali screamed with every blow to their mother’s back." You feel empathy for these characters because this writing puts a clear picture in your mind. By using many adjectives, it seems like you’re living in someone else's shoes while reading this book. This is a way to make your reader feel empathy by using adjectives and using detail to make the reader have a clear picture in their mind. This makes them feel empathy for your characters.


One of the other ways that they make you feel empathy is by writing the passage in a way so that you can personally relate to the characters. An example of this is taken from The Breadwinner: "Then, late one afternoon, Parvana came home from work to find two men gently helping her father up the steps to the apartment. He was alive. At least part of the nightmare was over." As well as the other passage, this one uses adjectives and adverbs to help you visualize what is happening. The difference though is that this one is written so that you can relate to what Parvana is feeling. Most people can relate to this because it is like if your father has been away in another country for a while, and then when he comes home you are super excited to see him. Being able to relate to what the characters are going through helps a lot because the same or a similar thing has happened to you before. With this, you are able to feel empathy for the characters more than if had no idea what they are doing is like. Writing with empathy is a great way to make people to enjoy your stories even more.

#5 My Life As Parvana

My life would be very hard. Seconds would feel like hours, hours would feel like days, and the days would feel endless. I'd go out every morning trying to sell cigarettes, dried fruits and nuts. Later in the day I'd come home around lunch and get a cup of tea to fill me up. I'd have to go out and sell again after my trip home. All the while wondering if my family was safe, or if the Taliban were going to go to my one-roomed-house and take the rest of my family. Living as a girl in Afghanistan with no Father, and barely making it through the days on the money I would be making would be horrible. If I were Parvana I would be the only one able to go out and make money for my family. Without me working my family would starve. No one else can work because they are women, so they have to wear burqas. Burqas prevent women from walking very easily, and they only provide a small range of vision. Like many other men in Afghanistan Parvana's father was taken away to prison. Life would be a really hard to live like Parvana.





This morning I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to get up and get some tea ready for my family. After having a cup of tea I headed out to go to the market and sell my goods that I was able to purchase. I sell cigarettes and a mixture of dried fruit and nuts. I follow the crowd, wherever they go I follow. The market is busy with men out buying food for their families, some women sitting on the ground begging for money, and tea boys running around to sell tea to the people in the market. It makes it hard for me that there are many other boys out here trying to sell their goods. I normally wouldn't be doing this but ever since my father was taken to prison I have been the one who has to work. Women are not aloud outside without a male escorting them around, so my family cut my hair and dressed me up as a boy. I am now responsible for all the income for my family. Why did the Taliban have to take my father? Why can't they let a person get an education from outside of the country? Don't they know how hard they are making the lives for us Afghans? Life is hard but I will keep fighting until we have taken down the Taliban. I won't give up.