Memory

The author employs a patchwork narrative structure in order to enact the ways in which Daniel’s memories shape his identity, reality, and story. Daniel begins his account with the line, “All Persians are liars and lying is a sin” (1). Yet Daniel goes on to explain that he is considered a liar because no one believes the stories he tells about his life prior to living in Edmond, Oklahoma. All of Daniel’s stories are his memories from his life in Iran, England, Dubai, and Italy. They are, therefore, the sum of Daniel’s reality. When his father tells him “You are forgetting already. You’re forgetting your own family. And your history,” Daniel becomes afraid that his memories of his old life will slip away (17). He thus clings to these stories from his past as a way to protect and retain who he was before...