Essay Questions

Explain the setting and the protagonist of The Blood of Flowers?

Anita Amirrezvani’s The Blood of Flowers follows the life of Joonam, a teenage girl in the pursuit of a better life after her father's death. Set in seventeenth-century Iran, the writer uses the novel to draw insights on life in Isfahan, the city where the events in the story unfold. The writer uses the novel as a backdrop to presenting the truth about the nature of life in the city of Isfahan, particularly for the poor as well as the underprivileged. Because the events in the novel revolve around Joonam, she is the major character and protagonist of the story.

Joonam is ill-fated. Is this assertion correct? Explain.

Joonam’s ill-fate begins when a comet that falls turns her fate against her. Her father dies in the events following the crush of the comet and the reality that her arranged marriage will never be substantiated, at least not by her father’s income. Joonam has to move to the city of Isfahan to stay with her uncle, while there, the two have an altercation that results in her marrying a man who is beneath in social status, and for this, she leaves her uncle’s apprenticeship with half-baked knowledge of carpet making. Following the turn of events in Joonam’s life, it can be argued that the assertion of ill-fate is not far from the truth.

Why is Gostaham’s wife unreceptive to the idea of having to stay with Joonam and her mother?

Gostaham’s wife is greedy and avaricious. When Joonam and her mother leave for the great city with the hope that it would offer them a new lease of life, Gostaham’s wife becomes increasingly disturbed by the idea as the two staying at her house would mean sharing with them her husband’s wealth and money. Her unreceptive nature of this idea stems from her greedy character.