Ellis uses Parvana’s desire to clean up the places where she stays to symbolize her longing for a normal, settled home like the one she used to have. Parvana helped her mother keep the house clean, so cleaning along the stops of her journey connects her with a simple ritual from before the war wreaked havoc on her life. Some examples of Parvana’s cleaning include when she cleans the house in the village where she found Hassan, and when she sweeps the cave after meeting Asif. In both cases, her act of cleaning is ironic. The village has been destroyed by a bomb and left abandoned, so the freshly cleaned house serves no purpose other than to calm Parvana’s mind and give her a reason to stay a few hours longer.

In the cave, she sweeps the dirt floor, even though she knows it will not stay smooth or clean for long. Asif’s reaction of ridicule highlights the irony in Parvana’s actions. Why should she spend time cleaning a temporary dwelling, much less a cave, when she faces so much danger and hardship because of the war? For Parvana, cleaning is a ritual of normalcy that she can cling to for a sense of home.