Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita In Tehran

Superior Essays
According to the World Bank, women make up 49.7 percent of the population in Tehran. That means they make up almost half of the population. However, they are not treated fairly or with respect even though they make up such a large percent of their population. Azar Nafisi in her memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, displays the unfair treatment of women in Iran and argues that they need to change. She also discusses education and literature’s importance throughout the novel, so that people will view it with more importance because literature is not viewed with equality. Some literature is viewed with more importance than others.
Throughout the memoir, Nafisi displays how the government targeted unfairness towards the women. For example, “In our
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She does this because, in Iran, women are not treated with the level of respect or dignity that they deserve. They are also not valued as equally as men are. Azar also discusses the importance of books and education because everyone does not appreciate the privilege they have for the books and education they have. Yet some readers may challenge the view that books are meaningful, impactful, or something worth saving. While it is true that some may not find reading fun, it does not necessarily mean that books don’t bear some significance. Through Nafisi’s classes and students, you can see the importance of books. In the novel, their right to read whatever they want to read was slowly taken away from them. Today, many take their access to books for granted by not reading them. In the same way, some women take for granted their rights that they have in America. For example, the right to dress however they want is not the same in every country. Azar Nafisi reestablishes the importance of books and literature and the need for change in women’s rights in Iran by showing what is limited for women there and displaying what books did for her and her

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