The Septembers Of Shiraz

Farnaz visits Isaac’s aged parents. Their home is a somber and gloomy place: His mother spends her days playing solitaire to predict the future, hoping for a sign that the Shah will return, while Isaac’s father sits silently, in bad health and longing for a prohibited alcoholic drink. Farnaz eventually tells them of Isaac’s arrest and asks them to look after Shirin for a few days while she sorts out possibly incriminating documents and books at home. Farnaz is expecting a visit from the Revolutionary Guard. Isaac’s mother refuses the request, citing her husband’s illness. Farnaz leaves, aware that the fear of losing her loving son Isaac will be a great worry to his mother, a woman whose life is already a torment. As Farnaz walks along the street, she sees bloody handprints on the walls, “the stamp of revolutionaries displaying their sacrifice and their willingness to die” (109).

Parviz walks over the Brooklyn Bridge, appreciating its beauty and strength and the knowledge and willpower of the designers and builders. He compares himself to them and knows he falls short. He has been invited to the Mendelsons’ for Hanukkah, so he buys expensive French chocolates as a gift, but when he meets Rachel at their door, she tells him that the chocolates are not kosher. He listens to the Hanukkah party going on above him from his bed, and wonders what this festival means to him as a secular Jew. Feeling lonely and alienated, he wonders about his father’s thoughts as he was arrested.

In Tehran, Shirin is also thinking about people and how they disappear. She finds her mother sorting through papers in her father’s office. Together they tear up bank statements, greetings cards, and photographs. Photos of her father’s friend Kourosh, whose nickname was Mr. Politics, remind her of his assassination and his wife’s death in a fire. Farnaz starts smoking, which Shirin associates with her nerves—her mother would always smoke when her light mood after a day singing with the pianist Vartan receded. Farnaz starts to cry, saying, “I’m not sure what’s right anymore, Shirin-jan” (120).

In prison, it is time for the weekly shower. There, Isaac bumps into the pianist Vartan. The two naked men greet each other politely, but Isaac feels agitated by the encounter and his old resentment for the man returns. Then he notices two guards treating the boy Ramin roughly, as a punishment for not waking up fast enough. Back in the cell, Isaac and Ramin discuss the Shah’s regime; Isaac says the current government is much more dangerous. Isaac is taken to Mohsen again. Isaac is acutely aware of Mohsen’s recent capriciousness: He released one prisoner but shot another. Mohsen’s questions accuse Javad, Isaac’s brother, of smuggling vodka into Iran. Isaac denies this, which enrages the interrogator, who lets Isaac go back to his cell. Ramin’s smelly feet remind Isaac of Javad as a boy. Isaac and Ramin discuss their lack of religious belief, which Ramin declares to the guard who comes to punish him for not praying. This infuriates the guard, but impresses Isaac, who bemoans his own lack of conviction and life of compromise.

One day in December, two Revolutionary Guards come to search Farnaz’s house. Farnaz watches as they go through clothes, taking Isaac’s gold cufflinks and his beloved American military cap, claiming that these are evidence. She demands to know the charges against Isaac but receives only a veiled threat in reply. She asks to look for Shirin but is denied. The men collect a vast amount of books and photographs, which cause her to dwell on happier times with Isaac. Shirin reappears with mud on her shoes. The men rip open the furniture and take down possessions from shelves. To Farnaz, these are objects of joy and comfort, which the men do not understand. As night falls, the men ask Farnaz to leash the dog so that they can search the garden. Realizing that Shirin may have been hiding something in the garden earlier, Farnaz dissuades them from the search, and they leave. She and Shirin huddle in bed together, which reminds Farnaz of hiding under the stairs while Iraqi bombs fell on Tehran, Isaac distracting them with puppet shows.

In Mendelson’s shop, Parviz finds peace in steaming the hats, and asks his boss if he has any regrets. Mr. Mendelson’s replies demonstrate his acceptance of God’s will and his simple contentment. Rachel arrives, having forgotten her coat at the flower shop where she works. Parviz offers to get it for her, and she agrees, making him very happy. Thus Parviz meets Rachel’s boss, Mr. Broukhim, an Iranian doctor whose wife left him penniless and homeless, but who has survived with the help of the Jewish community. Parviz excitedly takes the coat to Rachel at her home. Her initial reaction is warm but turns cold when Parviz claims that the work of Jewish emissaries abroad is “Exporting Judaism” (146). Parviz rues his words.

At Leila’s birthday party, the girls are playing musical cushions. The snow makes Shirin reminisce about the warmth and coziness of her own home in winter when her father was around. She goes down to the basement, takes three more files, and hides them in Leila’s closet. The game ends and Shirin wonders if the fact that the winning girl’s father is the head of a prison has influenced her victory. She starts to worry about the hidden files being discovered, and, feeling nauseous, asks to go home early. Elaheh, the prison director’s daughter, tells everyone that Shirin is often sick at school lately. Shirin often visits the nurse’s office with stomach pains that are relieved by the nurse’s kindness. At home, Shirin sees her Uncle Javad’s name on one of the files and throws up. She decides not to worry her mother with the information and buries the files in the garden.

Isaac and the other prisoners, including Vartan, sit outside, discussing the past under the Shah. Isaac is contemplative, ruminating on death; he wonders whether he will be given a religious burial or just dumped in a mass grave. The conversation turns to music. When Vartan glances at Isaac when love is mentioned, Isaac grows angry. A more lenient guard, Hossein, warns the men that executions are increasing and that, if interrogated, they should repent. A prisoner tells Isaac and Vartan that they are worth less than Muslims. At this, Isaac wonders if in fact he should feel kinship with Vartan, a fellow Jew.

Farnaz visits Isaac’s office and finds men emptying all of its contents into vehicles. Morteza, Habibeh’s son, tells her they are taking the stones and equipment to a safer place for protection. He claims, “We think they may want to seize them” (158). When Farnaz asks how he knows this, he warns her to trust him and bars her from entering. She calls Keyvan, and while waiting, thinks about how she had been impressed by Isaac’s authority and confidence when she first met him. Keyvan arrives. When Morteza warns him off, Farnaz sprays hairspray in Morteza’s eyes and she and Keyvan enter. Everything, including furniture, is being loaded for removal. An employee she recognizes, Farhad, tells her that Morteza has accused Isaac of their exploitation. Morteza claims that this is retribution for the injustice and corruption people like him have suffered, and says God is with them. The interaction becomes heated and Morteza calls Farnaz a “dirty Jew!” (163). She and Keyvan leave.

At home, Farnaz wonders if she should dismiss Habibeh. She recalls her father telling her the long and tumultuous history of the Jews in Iran. Eventually, her parents emigrated to Israel, but Farnaz stayed, believing, until now, that this country is her safe and rightful home.

In Mr. Broukhim’s shop, Rachel teaches Parviz about different flowers. He buys daisies for her and leaves them on the stoop where she will find them. The next day, he waits anxiously in the hat shop for her arrival, but her father tells Parviz that she is sick and will not be coming to the shop that day. Parviz realizes the flowers are another mistake.