Protective father
Firoozeh distinguishes herself from the beginning as an independent young girl who is not afraid to face the unknown. Unfortunately, at times, she gets lost and then her parents try to find her. From these interactions, it becomes clear that Firoozeh is loved by her father and that she is her father’s favorite child. These interactions also portray Kazem as being a protective father, a man who is not afraid that his manliness will be affected by his love for his children. Because of this, he has no problems in expressing his affection for his children and making them understand that he loves them.
Like an alien running around the neighborhood
Firoozeh mentions an instance where her family was visited by one of her uncles, a man named Nematollah. Firoozeh’s uncle stayed with the family for a couple of months and during that time he gained a lot of weight because he became addicted to junk food. As a result, before returning to Iran, Nematollah tried to lose the weight by exercising and drinking diet pills. Firoozeh describes in this chapter the special suit her uncle bought to exercise and notes that the suit made her uncle seem like an alien. The description is important because it is implied that the description can be used in a more general sense. In a way, when Firoozeh describes her uncle, she describes every Iranian person in America who, in a way, is perceived as being an alien by the American society.
The place where people keep their camels in garages
Firoozeh describes what she experienced when she went to school and how the children had different ideas about Iran and about the life people had in Iran. Many children believed that in Iran, people did not have cars and that, instead, they had camels they held in their garages. This image if Iran is hilarious to Firoozeh who knows that Iran is not that different from the life a normal person would have in America. However, though their descriptions, the children portray Iran as a faraway land where everything is different from the life they had in America.
Bumper stickers
Before returning to Iran, Firoozeh notes that her mother was not happy to go. Despite not understanding the language and despite having difficulties integrating in the new society, Firoozeh’s mother liked America. However, Firoozeh notes that the world was not as kind as her mother made them to be and just before returning to Iran, Firoozeh was able to see how the world changed their perception about them. Firoozeh describes many cars which had bumper stickers on which there were written messages aimed at the Iranians in the country, telling them to go home. The stickers thus are a visual representation of the way in which the Iranians were perceived and shows just how hostile the American society became towards Iranians and towards foreigners in general.
