Chapters 16 through 18 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 16: It's All Relatives

Family relationships are complicated in Iran. While there is one name for cousin in America, there are at least eight different names that describe the relationship of a cousin in Persian. Firoozeh's aunt Sedigeh was her ameh which meant her father's sister. She was particularly close to her ameh who had only sons and thought of Firoozeh as a daughter. Kazem is close to Sedigeh's children, considering them like his own. Kazem often talked about how unjust it was that his sister Sedigeh was not allowed to continue her education. To Kazem, she was the smartest one in the family. His feelings about his sister was one reason he told Firoozeh she would get a degree no matter if she used it or not. Education was of paramount importance in the family and almost every...