Interview with Nahid Rachlin

Q: What was the seed of this novel?

I was fascinated by the idea of an Iranian multi-ethnic family. The main characters are Nora and Jahan, sister and adopted brother, who are in their teens when the story begins. Nora takes after her American-born mother and Jahan after his Iranian father. I wanted to develop how each of them copes differently when the family immigrates to America. Nora, blonde, speaking good English, finds acceptance much more easily than Jahan, who looks Middle-Eastern and speaks with an accent. And Cyrus and Moira, the parents, must also adapt to a disruptive change in their lives.

Q: Though your story takes place in the early 1980s, it feels like it could be current. What do you think this says about the situation for Iranians living in the U.S. today? How have things changed (or have they)?

Since the hostage crisis, Iranians in America have been targets of hostility, and that hasn't changed; today the situation feels more precarious than ever. Even if they’ve been here for years, Iranians live in apprehension, are often discriminated against, and remain caught between the two cultures. Some are ashamed to call themselves Iranians; instead they call themselves Persians, hoping to borrow a positive aura from this ancient name.

Q: Can you talk about Jahan, the process you understand him going through as he neglects his college studies and turns to religion and makes his choice to return to Iran?

Jahan was a privileged individual in Iran – first, because his father was educated and his family had money; second, because he is a boy. Though he was adopted he felt completely accepted in Iran. He strongly identified with his father. He looked Iranian. But when he came to America things were very different for him. The hostage crisis exacerbated the prejudice he already faced. Students taunted and avoided him, he sensed enmity from teachers, and everything began to go wrong. His parents weren’t much help; his mother was struggling to get back into the culture that she had left behind and his father had his own problems – improving his English and trying to pass the medical exams. Above all, his intense relationship with the sister he loved began to disintegrate; with her fair looks and unaccented English, she blended into American culture.

In the Muslim community Jahan found new friends, who were also alienated and adrift. He hadn’t been brought up in any religion but, in America, he began to be obsessed with his Iranian roots. It was hard for him to become a man, to see a role for himself in the future. He hated the injustice of his treatment and also the war against Iran being waged by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. He wanted to take action, to do something meaningful.

Q: What is it about Islam that attracts Jahan and his friends? What is the sudden appeal that religion has for its people who haven’t been religious before? We see that happening frequently now. What is civil culture not providing?

That’s a complicated question. Some people seek religion because they hope for a better afterlife, “paradise” as opposed to the deprivation of their lives on earth; others look to religion as an ethical guide. For Jahan the appeal is the connection with the Muslim boys from other countries. Cast adrift in this culture, they are all seeking something spiritual, something beyond themselves, to hang onto. And in their pain and confusion, they are also seeing in Islam a code of behavior that seems clear and simple.

Q: The young daughter, Nora, embodies the other choice, the turn toward the new as opposed to reaching back toward the old. Can you talk about how your own experiences might have informed or shaped Nora's character?

Growing up in Iran, then under the Shah's regime, I experienced the limitations and restrictions imposed on young girls and women. Perhaps the strength of these feelings was accentuated by the fact that I was brought up (and spoiled) by my aunt as an only child. At the age of nine I was suddenly taken from my aunt, taken back to my parents, who were strangers to me. There I had to compete for their affections with six siblings. Meanwhile, I was being exposed through American movies and books to another way of life. As my older brothers were being sent to the U.S. to study, I could see this as a path to my own liberation. In the novel, Nora anticipates a miraculous freedom, as I did. Like me, she is partially disappointed – the streets are not really paved with gold. But still, like me, she is able to construct a life for herself here.

Q: What were your biggest disappointments?

It was more difficult to make close friends in the U.S. than it was in Iran. In the small Midwestern woman’s college my parents sent me to, I experienced prejudice, perhaps to a lesser degree than what developed during the hostage crisis, but it was still strong. Some of my feelings of being an outsider also had to do with our different value systems. For example, forbidden to date boys, Iranian girls become very close to each other. In this college, my peers would cancel plans with their girl friends as soon as a boy asked them out. This was hard for me to get used to.

Q: The incestuous attachment between Nora and Jahan is arresting. How did you come to make incest a principal motif? Can you talk about this?

I chose incest as a motif in order to symbolize Nora’s lack of freedom in her environment in Iran. In the neo-colonial oil refinery town full of foreigners, Nora is aware of the freedom American and European girls have. As she grows into adolescence, she rebels against all the restrictions. She and Jahan have always been very close, but then when they accidentally find out he was adopted and they are not related by blood, she begins to feel a strong physical attraction to him. They are constantly thrown together. She isn't allowed to go out with other boys and Jahan is right there. Once their sexual relationship begins, their proximity and privacy at home make it difficult for them to stop.

Q: The suppression of truth in a family and its repercussions is a powerful theme.

Yes. Nora and Jahan’s incestuous relationship is abetted by their parents’ emotional neglect. Within the family, feelings are not acknowledged, and communication is seriously impaired. The secrets prevent a normal life.

Q: In spite of her strong will and desire to be free, Nora finds it difficult breaking away from the men in her life. Can you comment on that struggle?

Nora is torn by her complicated emotions and conflicting loyalties. Cyrus, her father, was a patriarchal figure typical in Iran. Though he had gone his own way by marrying an American woman rather than an Iranian one arranged by his family, he still tried to be a traditional Iranian father, in control of his children, particularly his daughter. Since that was their relationship in Iran, it was hard for them to break away from it in America.

She and Jahan were lovers as well as best friends from childhood. Beginning to experience a more liberated life, she tries to break away from their mutual attachment and dependency. But she finds it hard to abandon him, particularly because he cannot find his own path toward liberation. When she grows dissatisfied with her American boyfriend Carlo Rossi, she doesn’t want to let go of him in fear that she might fall back on her interdependency with Jahan. So, really one of the major themes of the book is Nora’s struggle to be her own woman. It’s certainly more complex for her than it is for most American girls.

Q: When Nora returns to visit Iran after the war, she knows it will be difficult to get into the country. She observes the stricter dress codes and other changes. Have you found it hard to go back on visits?

Going to Iran is always anxiety provoking. It isn’t just the rules one has to follow, it’s the arbitrary nature of what is enforced and what isn’t at any particular time and who is in control and what to watch out for. That was true to some degree under the Shah’s regime and continues in various degrees today. You never know what can get you into trouble, get you detained for weeks, months.

Q: A common view in this country is that Iranian women all cower behind veils and have no lives at all except as virtual slaves to their husbands. In your novel, you show a broader view of women’s lives in Iran.

Iran isn’t as restrictive of women as Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. In Iran women have made advances. The last time I visited Iran, about four years ago, I found that many women who had been in arranged marriages had left their husbands. Many more were attending universities, and others had professions. Though there are strong forces to keep them down and various restrictions make the work environment difficult, many women have risen above that and hold responsible jobs and professions. But there is still a vast gap between men and women, both in law and general mores.

Q: As you read the newspapers, you must have some fear that the U.S. will invade Iran.

Of course I am very concerned about America’s policy toward Iran, and apprehensive. Though I myself don't intend to live in Iran, I would be horrified if this country were to attack Iran. I have many relatives and friends there. The death and destruction caused by such a war would be a terrible catastrophe — unthinkable.