Blue Eyes

Blue eyes are used throughout the novel to symbolize the family’s homogeneity and belief in its own superiority. In general, Kimiâ’s ancestors have gone to great lengths to find and mate with other blue-eyed people. The fact that Kimiâ does not have blue eyes is a mark of her outsiderness and of her alienation from the rest of the family.

Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov

The reference to Dostoevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov, is a symbol of the novel’s own cultural debts and of self-aware understanding of itself as a work of literature. LIke the Brothers Karamazov, Disoriental is about the strained and fractured relationships among a set of brothers. This reference also echoes Sara’s own reading habits, which gravitate towards Russian classics from the 19th century.

Kimiâ's Bag

The bag that Kimiâ packs for her trip from Iran to...