Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi & Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women

What is morality? Who gets to define it? How does wearing “the veil” compare/inform such things as whether or not to require school uniforms to be worn?

We discussed Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks which takes quotes from the Koran and then discusses how people are interpreting the Koran and how women are impacted. We also brought in our understanding of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi.

In 9 Parts, we made an interesting connection between female and male circumcision as it related to literacy. Circumcision of girls is not in the Koran, but it is so culturally ingrained that people think it *is* in the Koran.

We looked at the question, “Why did Mohammed support polygamy?” When the Koran said the following:
1 – Husbands must treat their wives completely equally and with justice
2 – Husbands must not have more than 4 wives
3 – One can not treat more than one woman with justice

#3 is an “out” of #1, a loophole to help people transition from multiple wives to one wife, which appears to be what the Koran is *really* saying – you can really only take care of one wife.

In "Lolita," we confirmed that you didn’t need to have read all (or any) of the books she discusses with her classes in the novel in order to understand the story. This story takes place just as the Taliban is taking power and the viel becomes an instrument of oppression. It is amazing (yet again) how quickly people fall in to supporting patriarchy: husbands toward wives, brothers toward sisters, etc. Here are some thoughts and quotes:
• Islam was used as an instrument of oppression
• The novels provided a link between the open spaces in the stories and the closed ones we were confined to
• Why try criminals? They are not innocent until proven guilty, they are already guilty.
• Women who don’t wear the veil are prostitutes and agents of satin (you call that morality?)
• Women’s integrity is being compromised by veil, but it is not the veil, it is the freedom to choose to wear it or not
• She felt like an alcoholic drowning her sorrow in books
• The anxiety for her children was more than anything else
• The power of the veil coming off and becoming empowered happened when the women met to discuss books in private in her home

Other books and authors we brought into our discussion:

Where the Heart Is - Billie Letts (a pregnant woman makes her home in the Wal-Mart)

The Sparrow – Mary Doria Russell (In 2019, humanity hears singing from a distant planet and the Jesuits organize a scientific expedition. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it leads them to question the meaning of being "human.")

Blindness - Jose Saramago (In this community of blind people there is still one set of functioning eyes: the doctor's wife) We thought about maybe including this book if/when we do a “healing” theme.

Toni Morrison – this author led to a discussion of the personal experiences we bring to reading books. I’ll use myself as an example, each time I struggle with a story, though I find the writing beautiful and/or the stories compelling, quite often I find the timeline of events confusing or the number of characters too great. I have come to realize (with some group member's help) that I will have a hard time getting everything out of some stories without help from all of you – and so it is that we each have our own quirks which will continue to be how we view certain stories.