The way this novel is “different” is that the people in this story go through just so much that some of us haven’t ever even been exposed to it this being the bombings, the violent demonstrations, being forced to conform, having no freedoms, and even being separated from their families. This novel comes from many different viewpoints and many different perspectives, but what I have learned is the universal of all people is we need community, we need people to go through the hard times with us, us as humans aren’t lonely creatures we need a sense of both belonging and unity.
We as people of the United States of America have so much privilege and so much freedom than any other place in the world and I think we sometimes take that for granted more often than not. In the novel, we can see that the country of Iran has almost nothing that we do. In the time and place of the novel, there is constant bombings, demonstrations with people getting killed, separations of families, and much more nothing like we have, and I don’t think anyone of us could imagine or want to imagine any of the things the people of Iran in the time of the Novel went through. In the novel, we can see, on page 80 that Marji and her family both are oblivious to what is happening in the world while they were on vacation. It only isn’t till page 80 that they get their first real experience of the current situation, in the novel When Marji’s dad turns on the radio it exclaims, “ Iraqi Migs have bombed Tehran.”This is the first instance that we can see the effects of the war that is going on, in the beginning, Marji isn’t that too worried about the effects and more worried about being rebellious and thinking illogically. This can relate to my main point by showing the difference between bombings in America and how there has never been a “modern-day” war in the country. On page (142) It was just after one of the most recent bombings and it was on Marji’s street luckily it didn’t hit her house but it did destroy her friends’ house, it states “When we walked past the Bubo-Levis house, which was completely destroyed, I could tell, I could tell that she was discreetly pulling me away. Something told me that the Babo-Levvs were home, something caught my attention” It then goes on to say,” I saw a turquoise bracelet. It was Medas her aunt had given it to her for her fourteenth birthday…the bracelet was still attached to …I don’t know what, No scream in the world could have relieved my suffering and my anger. This was one of Marji’s biggest loss in the book as it were her friend who was also her neighbor, she had to bear such a close loss at such a young age, as a child you shouldn’t have to worry about the death of close friends and family constantly, although all is happening during the Iranian revolution, a rough and trialing time.
In the novel, we can see our main character (Marji) never wanting to be alone, she wants friends and wants to go to parties and want to go to demonstrations, she wants to be included! Some more examples would be in the novel when due to the time and place Marji’s family had secret parties in which they invited friends and family to help cope with the bombings and hard times because there was nothing else to do. (page 108) “ in spite of all the dangers, the parties went on “without them, it wouldn’t be psychologically bearable,” some said “ without parties, we might as well just bury ourselves now, added the others. My uncle invited us to his house to celebrate the birth of my cousin. Everyone was there even grandma was dancing” This just goes on to show how good being together in hard times can completely change everyone’s mood even though there was a violent revolution going on, partying really helped to loosen everyone up and enjoy the company together. Earlier in the book, the shah was exiled on (page 46) it says “ The day he left the country had the biggest celebration of its entire history.”So many people came together to celebrate the same thing and they all had a sense of unity and belonging together as one body. This evidence shows that when something good occurred people wanted to be (together) this shows that we as individuals always need somebody else and we are never lonely…ever there will always be one or many.
There are so many differences throughout cultures around the world, and with that comes many different troubles, such as; lack of freedoms, cultural conformity, violence, and wars. Bu the thing that brings us together is us as humans we are all one being, one creature, and one animal as one. We all belong together. The reason I think that my ideas are important is that in today’s society many people get left out or treated unequally just due to background, race, and culture, but that’s not what we want at all. We need to have people feel as if they belong always because we are together on this planet and it is only us.
Waves of Thought 🌊