Part 2: Chapters 9 - 14 Summary

One sunny Sunday in 1979, a group of students scaled the walls of the American embassy in Tehran and took the occupants hostage. Several days later, Khomeini's son issued a statement of support for the hostage-takers. The relatively liberal prime minister resigned. The hands of the extremists were strengthened as the myth of The Great Satan was reinforced. Anyone who would take a more moderate approach toward relations with the United States was ostracized and threatened.

An anti-American hysteria took hold of Iran. America assumed mythic proportions in the minds of Iranians as the lair of Satan. Even those who wished America's demise were nevertheless obsessed by America.

Nafisi is caught between the America of her memory and the myth taking shape before her. Nafisi notes that the intense focus on America would eventually turn the hostage takers into hostages...