Nafisi's apartment

This is the setting for much of the book. It functions as an oasis of free thought and speech in a desert of repression. After her resignation from the University of Tehran, Nafisi forms a study group composed of her best students who meet in Nafisi's apartment every Thursday.

The University of Tehran

One of the most important university campuses in Iran. This is the principal scene of battles between extremist Islamist and secular elements of the revolution. Nafisi teaches here. Academic freedom is slowly eliminated as the regime takes over the campus from secular forces. Students who are members of extremist groups "advise" Nafisi that the works she is teaching are decadent and immoral and that she should teach "revolutionary" works.

The veil

The head and face covering cloth imposed on women by the regime. The veil comes to symbolize all that Nafisi opposes in...