Summary

Forough opens the next section by disclosing that Parviz “never really chose to be with [her]” after the wedding night (111). She and Parviz settle into a strained marriage far away from Tehran in Parviz’s hometown, Ahwaz. Forough begins committing small acts of rebellion, like wandering through town by herself or wearing short skirts. These acts bother both Parviz and his mother, who lives with the newly married couple, but Forough does them anyway. Forough reveals that her sexual relationship with Parviz is also strained, for every time they have sex, Parviz refuses to look at her. Forough says that “this looking away” was “his worst betrayal” (115).

Forough describes her relationship with Parviz’s mother. She says that Khanoom Shapour is very conservative religiously and politically: rituals that Forough’s father considered “backward” in Tehran, Khanoom Shapour and the residents of Ahwaz...