Summary

Song of a Captive Bird is the story of Iranian poet and political activist Forough Farrokhzad, narrated by Forough through a first-person, retrospective narration. Forough opens her account of her life at “the end of [her] girlhood” (7), recounting the time her mother took her and her sister to a virgin-testing clinic. Forough fights against the virgin-testers, and as a result, the virgin-testers break Forough’s hymen. As a result, the virgin-testers know that Forough is still a virgin. However, because Forough’s hymen is now broken and has already bled, Forough will not be able to prove her virginity on the night of her wedding. Forough says “that day was the end of my girlhood and the true beginning of my life” (14).

Forough’s narration then flashes back to the days of her girlhood, telling of her...