Sattareh brings her own opinions to the memoir, with no attempt to be objective or impartial. She recounts an idyllic view of her childhood in Iran and describes her father in glowing terms, using the word domineering as a compliment. She presents her life with 8 mothers and 35 siblings as completely normal.
Satti retains her prejudices in other ways as well. She regards long-time and trusted servants as members of the family and assumes that the pittance they are paid is enough to ensure unending devotion. Because they earn enough to keep their families from starving, she assumes that they love her and will care for her as if she were a member of their own family. When her father provides a hut to an elderly servant with a terminal illness, Satti sees that as a sign of his great generosity and not as a sign of a corrupt feudal system where the wealthy exploit the poor. She never wonders why this man who has worked hard all his life does not deserve even the tiniest plot of land to call his own, but must beg her father for charity. After the Ayatollah Khomeini takes power, Satti is shocked to discover that her students and some of her servants harbor resentments simply because she is wealthy, and no matter how hard they work, they will always be poor under her system of government.
Satti also shows partiality in her view of property rights. When the Iranian government nationalized the oil industry, Satti saw it as only fair, because most of the Iranians were so poor. She did not stop to think that in effect, the government was stealing oilfields and refineries from their rightful owners, the American and British oil companies. this action seems completely justified to Satti. Yet, when her gardener takes her house from her a decade or two later, Satti is shocked. She thinks this is an unlawful theft of private property. In fact, the two are very similar. In both cases, one could argue that the moral imperative overcomes property rights.
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