Persian Girls Summary

Comparing “I am Nujood. age 10 and divorced” by Nujood Ali and “Persian Girls by Nahid Rachlin

These two novels trace the lives of women oppressed by their patriarchal societies, and their longing, courage and eventual struggles to regain control of their lives, freedom and happiness. Both are memoirs and, set in largely Islamic contexts with Nahid in Iran, and Nujood in Yemen.

In Persian Girls, Nahid is taken away from her adoptive mother and stripped of her blissful Iranian childhood, to be taken back to her birth-family. She finds solace in her older sister Pari and together, both girls refuse traditional Muslim convention, and dream of careers in literature and on the stage. Although Nahid fulfills her aspirations in America, Pari’s
Though employing differing techniques the two texts convey similar messages in different styles, and shed light on the similar plight of the two heroines, and the culturally engraved mindsets that their family regard them with, thereby giving rise to many parallel themes between the two
This is especially emphasized in Aba(father)’s response to Nujood’s pleas for a divorce when he states “If you divorce your husband, my brothers and cousins will kill me! Sharaf, honor come first. Honor! Do you understand?” Nujood is pained by his words and unable to comprehend what the exact meaning of Honor is. Nahid’s father echoes similar ideas in an underplayed form when his face “clouds with concern”, not for his daughter Pari, but “family honor”. He questions “Imagine how we will all be stigmatized if you get a