Nafisi, an ex teacher, forms a book club in the privacy of her home in Tehran to discuss literature with seven of her best students. As I read the first chapter of “Reading Lolita in Tehran”, I can’t help but put myself in the position that Nafisi and the other woman are in. What would I do not being about to dress how I want, or show my hair, my arms, my body. Not being able to distinguish myself from anyone else, draped in a black robe and head scarf.
Every Thursday these students would meet and discuss literature that was forbidden. Once these women stepped into the book club, all of a sudden they start to become individuals. No longer a blur of black veils and unhappy faces. In part 1, Nafisi takes the time to describe each student in detail from two photographs that she had taken. One where they are fully robbed. The second where they are all standing there with no robes, and all color. She shares all these different and distinctive personalities that they unveil once they de-veil. Also describing how much they differ in their appearance. Singling out one student in particular. Nassrin, who didn’t make it to the end, but apparently was a huge influence on the group.
Word count: 217
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You really read and internalized the first part of the book. Imagining yourself in with the women that all met secretly is a lovely way of empathizing with the story. I remember the way that the author compared the lack of color with capitulating to the law of the veil and then, in contrast, brought forth the vision of removal of the veil in her home with color and individuality. I appreciate you articulating this one issue, since I think that this is the point of the whole book.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what you thought about her comparisons of modern day Iran with the book “Lolita”? Just when I thought I had the comparison locked away in my head, the author denies me this and says that modern day Iran has nothing to do with Lolita. What do you think?