Reading Lolita in Tehran: Under the Chador
What do you think reading Lolita means in Tehran? We can easily figure out that reading Lolita in Tehran means something a lot different from reading Lolita in America. In such an open culture where drugs and sex are considered just fun, Lolita may be an interesting but not a shocking novel. However, in an Islamic country where all women need to wear veils or chadors that cover their whole body and men dominate women, Lolita is a shocking new world that Iranians have never experienced. The experience of a new world is always exciting and fun, but there are many risks. The conservative government does not allow students to study with such books, but a professor really wanted to show the world to girls who aspire to come out of their chadors to take a big step toward the new world. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a written description of the courageous and dangerous journey that these women took. Living in an open culture, we should recognize this freedom as a great privilege.
Azar Nafisi, a former professor at Tehran University, decides to open a class for her students to communicate outside the boundaries of the university. Every Thursday morning, about ten girls filled with the desire to learn about the new world and view things in their own way gathered at her house. During class, they took off their chadors and expressed thoughts and experiences that they had hidden behind their veils. When we see women with chadors or veils, it is hard to recognize them as individuals, since we are not really seeing their faces, just the black clothes. However, each girl we get to meet in this book is intelligent, smart and full of astonishing thoughts. Under the chador, all the individual girls with different talents live as if they are all similar to each other.
The way the girls observe Lolita is very interesting. Lolita is a novel about the love between a man and a girl. These readers might get confused if the emotion of the man is love. He does some disgusting things to make the girl remain with him. While reading these books, the girls argue and talk about Lolita’s emotions, harshly criticizing Humbert’s actions. While reading this book, I could not feel that these women were the conservative, Islamic women covered by full-length veils. They sarcastically joked about how depressing their marriages were, how a conservative family drove one girl crazy and her passion and dreams about the future. Their conversation, vividly described in this book, changed my perception of Islamic women. They are the same as we are. They dream of meeting a sweet love, going to university, getting a good job, having girl talk, just walking around the streets in miniskirts and cussing in front of parents and friends who are annoying. However, they are not in a position where they can do what they want to do. That is the difference.
The last and most interesting thing is the desire to learn. In Tehran, students have lots of regulations, and professors are not allowed to teach whatever they want. The government takes cares of what to teach or not. These kinds of classes are unable to quench the thirst for learning. The students are eager to learn the things that they are not supposed to. They are ready to risk their lives to learn something new. Personally, learning was not a big deal in my life. I always had to learn something, and it was always offered to me. In short, learning is always something taken for granted, never a risk. However, learning means lying to parents and maybe even going against the law for these women. I never thought about the privilege that I received in my life because no one stopped me from reading a book. The right to learn, which seemed to be so obvious, was not that obvious and normal for these girls. It was a danger and risk, but they still didn’t give up learning.
Reading Lolita in Tehran takes off the chador from Islamic girls that we didn’t really know about. The love of the professor and the passion of the students make a beautiful class. Even though they met only once a week, they may not speak great English and their classroom is really bad, Reading Lolita is the most beautiful class in which women can be viewed as individual personalities. I saw the tears, anger, and passion hidden under the peaceful and blank black chador.
What do you think reading Lolita means in Tehran? We can easily figure out that reading Lolita in Tehran means something a lot different from reading Lolita in America. In such an open culture where drugs and sex are considered just fun, Lolita may be an interesting but not a shocking novel. However, in an Islamic country where all women need to wear veils or chadors that cover their whole body and men dominate women, Lolita is a shocking new world that Iranians have never experienced. The experience of a new world is always exciting and fun, but there are many risks. The conservative government does not allow students to study with such books, but a professor really wanted to show the world to girls who aspire to come out of their chadors to take a big step toward the new world. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a written description of the courageous and dangerous journey that these women took. Living in an open culture, we should recognize this freedom as a great privilege.
Azar Nafisi, a former professor at Tehran University, decides to open a class for her students to communicate outside the boundaries of the university. Every Thursday morning, about ten girls filled with the desire to learn about the new world and view things in their own way gathered at her house. During class, they took off their chadors and expressed thoughts and experiences that they had hidden behind their veils. When we see women with chadors or veils, it is hard to recognize them as individuals, since we are not really seeing their faces, just the black clothes. However, each girl we get to meet in this book is intelligent, smart and full of astonishing thoughts. Under the chador, all the individual girls with different talents live as if they are all similar to each other.
The way the girls observe Lolita is very interesting. Lolita is a novel about the love between a man and a girl. These readers might get confused if the emotion of the man is love. He does some disgusting things to make the girl remain with him. While reading these books, the girls argue and talk about Lolita’s emotions, harshly criticizing Humbert’s actions. While reading this book, I could not feel that these women were the conservative, Islamic women covered by full-length veils. They sarcastically joked about how depressing their marriages were, how a conservative family drove one girl crazy and her passion and dreams about the future. Their conversation, vividly described in this book, changed my perception of Islamic women. They are the same as we are. They dream of meeting a sweet love, going to university, getting a good job, having girl talk, just walking around the streets in miniskirts and cussing in front of parents and friends who are annoying. However, they are not in a position where they can do what they want to do. That is the difference.
The last and most interesting thing is the desire to learn. In Tehran, students have lots of regulations, and professors are not allowed to teach whatever they want. The government takes cares of what to teach or not. These kinds of classes are unable to quench the thirst for learning. The students are eager to learn the things that they are not supposed to. They are ready to risk their lives to learn something new. Personally, learning was not a big deal in my life. I always had to learn something, and it was always offered to me. In short, learning is always something taken for granted, never a risk. However, learning means lying to parents and maybe even going against the law for these women. I never thought about the privilege that I received in my life because no one stopped me from reading a book. The right to learn, which seemed to be so obvious, was not that obvious and normal for these girls. It was a danger and risk, but they still didn’t give up learning.
Reading Lolita in Tehran takes off the chador from Islamic girls that we didn’t really know about. The love of the professor and the passion of the students make a beautiful class. Even though they met only once a week, they may not speak great English and their classroom is really bad, Reading Lolita is the most beautiful class in which women can be viewed as individual personalities. I saw the tears, anger, and passion hidden under the peaceful and blank black chador.
