The Dowry

My chapter is "The Dowry" Chapter 19.

At the start of the chapter, Marji explains how, by the time she was fourteen, she was a rebel and basically disregarded almost all authority and had very little fear for consequences. She wore a bracelet to school, which was apparently forbidden, and was given a warning (probably one she’s used to hearing) about wearing jewelry and jeans. The next day, she is still wearing the bracelet, and when told to show her wrist, she refuses. She gets into a skirmish with the principal, that ends with her hitting the principal and then being expelled.

She luckily has an aunt who had connections with bureaucrats in the education system, she was able to find another school. However, she hadn’t stopped speaking her mind- she told off the religion teacher after being told that there were no political prisoners when, in reality, they had about 297,000 more prisoners than under the Shah’s regime. When her parents find out, she gets two different responses- praise from her father, and an almost frenzied, panicked response from her mother. This is where she learns about what happens to girls who are arrested and ordered executed- “A guardian of the revolution marries her, takes her virginity, and then kills her.”- and realizes just how serious her predicament, her situation, her life is.

Later, her parents have a talk with her. They want to send her to Austria. Marji is interested, and quite pleased with the idea, until she starts getting the feeling that this is going to be the last time she’ll ever see her parents for awhile. She’s not even sure if she’ll see them again. And then, at the airport, as her luggage is checked and approved through, and she says goodbye to her parents, she turns around one more time to see them.

And thinks that it may have been better not to.

I don’t really quite understand the last scene. Is her mother dead? Was she shot just moments ago- but if so, where is the wound and the blood? Did she have a medical condition she was hiding from her daughter? Did she faint? Or was the last scene purely metaphorical, or an omen of what was to come later? I am not sure. The last chapter had very little in it that was funny or even humorous- a very sober ending.