Part I: Section 19 Summary

For hours, the house's new inhabitants and their guests talk and laugh. Soraya speaks incessantly of their former life in Iran. Nadi even brings out the family photo albums. Behrani notices the look on his daughter's face when first she saw the bungalow-and thinks that the new furniture, champagne, and flowers probably relieved her of "appearing from a lower station in life." He wants to both reassure her and scold her for grandstanding (all her talk about telephone calls from Reza Shah Pahlavi himself). He also worries about his son, because there had not been time to discuss Kathy before their guests arrived.

Part I: Section 19 Analysis

Although Behrani had looked forward to seeing his daughter again, his daughter flaunts his old position and in so doing belittles his current situation. He also notices Kathy as she and Lester...