The Power of Art

Throughout the novel, Darznik explores how art has power both to save individuals from difficult times in their lives and to create connections between disparate peoples. When Forough is unhappily married to Parviz, she realizes that "writing" was "the thing that saved [her]" and "allowed [her] to live" (200), because writing gave her a way to express and discover her authentic self. During this marriage, Forough confesses that "the idea of writing consumed [her]" (139), for it was the one way Forough could hold onto her sense of self. In effect, writing enables Forough to resist capitulating to the roles of femininity society and her marriage attempt to thrust upon her. By writing her poetry, Forough maintains her sense of self.

Forough also uses her poetry to help her cope with the loss of her son after Parviz divorces her. In her collection of poetry...