Selection From Reading Lolita In Tehran Analysis

In the article "Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books" by Azar Nafisi, a sorority forms in a harmless, but powerful act. They meet in the comfort of Nafisi 's ' home to discuss literature. Their discussion was sheltered from the public because of the rules and regulations of their Iranian government. The literature was considered "illegal books" (289). Nafisi held these gatherings so the women can explore themselves more and truly have their own identity under the black robes that society forces them to wear. In correlation, Nafisi states "Imagine us the way we sometimes didn’t dare to imagine ourselves: in our most private and secret moments, in the most extraordinarily ordinary instances of life, listening to music, …show more content…
This is evident when Nafisi states "Female students were being penalized for running up the stairs when they were late for classes, for laughing in the hallways, for talking to members of the opposite sex" (283). The women in Tehran are being oppressed and had little respect in their environment. Living in this type of environment, the women has no free-will, individuality, or personality. In contrast, Nafisi home is a warm, welcoming, comforting place for the women to gather and discuss literature. In the comfort of her place Nafisi didn’t have to "go through the torturous rituals that had marked [her] days when [she] taught at the university-rituals governing what [she] was forced to wear, how [she] was expected to act, the gestures [she] had to remember to control"(283). The two types of environments of the article are expressed by both of these quotes. On the outside in Tehran women had to regulate their every action, forcing them to collectively all be the same type of women, having no uniqueness. There were strict protocols they had to follow, essentially all women in Tehran operated, and dressed the same way, having no true personality of free will. On the other hand, Nafisi’s home environment has no rules and regulations. The visitors enter expressing their individuality by taking off their robes to reveal …show more content…
Although the women only spend a few hours of the day in Nafisi 's home, they imagine and live life without any boundaries. This comfort zone is the fiction life the women dwell in for a few hours of the day. Before commencing her class Nafisi remembers a few words from a painter friend who claims "reality has become so intolerable, that all I can paint now are the colors of my dreams" (284) and then Nafisi adds, "this class was the color of my dreams it entailed an active withdrawal from a reality that had turned hostile" (285). These quotes express how Nafisi 's book-club is a way of withdrawing from the reality of living as a women in an oppressed environment. Nafisi sees the book-club as a dream that allows her to escape the chains tied on to her that halts her from expressing her real personality. In the comfort of her home, the women are able to be themselves and the undressing of their robes exemplify that. Nafisi notices that Sanaz "would toss her head and run her fingers through her hair every once in awhile, as if making sure her most prized possession was still there" (288). This observation of Sanaz exemplifies that crossing into the dream and fiction world of Nafisi 's home allowes for the women to be themselves for once. While covered in the black robe, Sanaz is not able to run her fingers through her hair and make sure her prized position is there. On the surface, it may