Azar Nafisi

limits the options and closes people’s mind to discover what they really want. The purpose of education is to help people learn critical thinking. Once the hegemony appears, the ability of critical thinking is deprived in some degree. Nevertheless, Nafisi as a female teacher realizes that the current school environment always lets her feel helpless and she says, “Teaching in the Islamic Republic, like any other

Both Reading Lolita in the Tehran by Azar Nafisi and The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg are works of nonfiction documenting the lives of women in the turbulent political environments in the Middle East. Being a woman, particularly an educated one, during the 80’s and 90’s in Iran meant a drastic limitation of personal freedoms and expressions through self image and art, a concept demonstrated through how Nafisi recalls her experience as a literature professor at the University of Tehran

the edge of perception, or withdraw at the very instant of personal truth for fear of hurting, or being inappropriately present” (42). Others argue that having empathy for others can be better for you and for the world, in the memoir by author Azar Nafisi “Mysterious Connections that Link Us Together”, says “Through imagination and our desire for rappart we transcend our limitations, freshen our eyes, and are able to look at ourselves and the world through a new and alternative lens” (44). Balancing

say that she identifies with Janie? Novelist Alice Walker identifies with Janie because we all hope to be able to make a journey like Janie and be able to return and tell our story. 5. According to author Azar Nafisi, what is the “weapon women have always had”? The weapon that author Azar Nafisi talks about that women have always had is they are able to talk to each other with trust and have them talk about it to others. 6. What else did Hurston do besides write novels?

anyone, whether it brings in the intellectuals or the ones who prefer to fantasize. Azar Nafisi, the author of Reading Lolita In Tehran, hooks the audience, page after page, filled with fascinating details of her and her loved ones life experiences of the perplexities that make up the society all together. Throughout the book, each chapter presents a new message as it introduces a new novel with each one. Nafisi introduces novels in order to create a different, separate life within the reader, creating

Azar Nafisi uses the power of western literature to illustrate to her seven women students the importance of connecting books to fictional imagination. She wanted to challenge her students to discuss "the relation between fiction and reality." (Pg 6) Women in Tehran, when the Iranian revolution began, had little or no freedoms out of their houses. Nafisi took an enormous risk by inviting these seven women into her house to discuss literature. If caught she and or her students could face jail time

vulnerable lifestyle. However, when the cadets arrive they are integrated into a group dynamic, which alters their own personal identities. The effects of the environment and group dynamic on one’s identity is portrayed in Azar Nafisi’s “Selections From Reading Lolita in Tehran.” Nafisi describes the time frame when her students secretly came to her

has been a struggle for freedom. Utterly showing that freedom in all forms, must be worked for in some way, the well known texts, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, “I Have A Dream Speech” by Martin Luther King, and Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, press one cannot just stand by, waiting for what

In the memoir Things I’ve Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi, Azar effortlessly describes her life growing up in Iran while providing readers with significant information about the region she is from. Azar faced many difficulties in her life such as family issues, marriage issues, and the discrimination due to her gender. Through all these issues, Azar portrays many difficulties females living in Iran and the rest of the Middle East have faced as well. She also discusses various political aspects of

pressures. When Nafisi writes, “Lolita belongs to a category of victims who have no defense and are never given a chance to articulate their own story. As such, she