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Summary
Chapters 17 - 20
Chapter 17: The Dessert Capital of the Ancient World
Darius gives Mamou the Indian tea he brought from home. She asks if he likes quottab, a kind of deep-fried Iranian pastry, and he says it’s his favorite dessert. Darius laments to Mamou that his medication makes it impossible to lose weight, even when he diets. When Sohrab comes over to bring Darius his shoes, Darius introduces him to his family. Sohrab follows Darius to his room and apologizes for laughing at him. Darius says it’s fine, but Sohrab insists on apologizing, admitting that for once he was glad to not be the one being made fun of, and says he is not one of the bullies and doesn't want to be. Darius promises it’s okay, but Sohrab apologizes again, and the two agree to be friends.
Chapter 18: Sins of the Father
Darius remarks that things don’t have to be said aloud in order to be known. He knows that he and Sohrab will be lifelong friends, just as he knows his father likes Laleh more than he likes him. At dinner, Darius notices Babou picking on Stephen about the American way he eats Iranian food. Stephen blushes when Babou speaks to Shirin in Farsi, which makes Darius blush too, in empathy. When Babou asks Darius about school, Darius is forced to admit he doesn’t have many friends. Babou wonders aloud if that’s because Darius is Iranian and then asks why Shirin does not teach Darius Farsi. Mamou interrupts to discuss a road trip the family has planned for the next day, and Darius feels compelled to invite Sohrab on the trip. After Sohrab leaves, Darius looks for a computer to watch Star Trek, though he doesn't think his father will watch with him in Iran.
Babou finds the tea Darius had brought for Mamou and tells Darius he will teach him how to make tea, which embarrasses Darius because he already knows how to make it. In the kitchen, Babou and Darius stand in awkward silence waiting for the tea to brew. Stephen comes in to take his meds, and Babou is surprised to learn Stephen also takes meds for depression. Stephen asks Darius if he’s okay and then tells him to come watch Star Trek when he's finished making tea. However, Darius is upset by the discovery that Laleh is also watching Star Trek with Stephen. Though feeling replaced and like an outsider, Darius reluctantly stays and watches the episode, which is titled "Sins of the Father."
Chapter 19: The Kolinahr Discipline
Distant chanting wakes Darius as the family prepares for their trip to Persepolis. They all ride in Babou’s loud blue minivan, which Darius names the Smokemobile, to pick up Sohrab before heading to Persepolis. Babou drives aggressively, and they arrive in five hours instead of six. At Persepolis, Babou tries to haggle over the entry fee, but Shirin interrupts and pays for everyone. Mesmerized by the height of the stone pillars, Darius compares the stark, dry landscape to the planet Vulcan in Star Trek. They make their way to the palace of Darioush the Great, where the rest of the family waits. During their tour of the palace, Stephen pulls out his architect’s sketchbook, which impresses Sohrab as he, too, wants to be an architect. Babou shows Darius a large relief of a great man carved into the wall and says, "It's you." The man is Darioush the Great, who built Persepolis, and Darius thinks his parents set themselves up for disappointment by naming him after a great Persian man. Darius feels confused because Babou doesn't seem to like him, but he also says Darius is a great man. He wonders if Babou has mood swings like he does.
Chapter 20: Bette Davis Eyes
On the ride back to Yazd, Babou slows his driving while he, Mamou, and Shirin speak in Farsi. After some disagreement in Farsi that Darius does not understand, Stephen ends up driving as Mamou directs them. Sohrab explains to Darius that Babou got lost. When they arrive, Mamou walks Babou inside as Darius’s parents talk. Unsure what else to do, Darius makes tea and brings some to Babou, whom he finds sitting on the floor with Laleh. Darius notices Babou looks unhealthy. Babou says he never thought his daughter would move to America, but she did and has been successful. He also says Stephen is a good man but that he will never be Zoroastrian, and neither will Darius and Laleh because they are only half-Persian. Darius wants to tell Babou that he is still his grandson, but decides not to, and he and Babou drink their tea in silence.
Analysis
Mamou and Darius get along so well because they are very much alike. Unlike direct and masculine Ardeshir, Darius is reserved and emotional like Mamou. The difference in how Babou and Mamou approach a relationship with Darius is reflected in how they interact with Darius and tea. Babou tries to teach Darius how to make his tea the Persian way, disregarding any input Darius might have, whereas Mamou is interested in all of Darius’s details about where the tea is from and why it is special. She says he will have to make it for her one day. Sensitive, perceptive Mamou realizes right away that Darius comes alive and reveals his true self when he discusses and prepares tea. Instead of forcing her identity on Darius, she patiently waits for him to ask.
Darius gains a deeper understanding of his parents’ personalities by seeing them interact with people in Iran. Domineering Babou is prejudiced against Stephen because he’s American, or at least not Persian. He also harbors dissatisfaction with his own daughter for raising her kids in America and for not teaching Darius Farsi. He criticizes Stephen for needing depression meds and for the way he eats. Darius quickly ascertains that Babou disapproves of Stephen just as Stephen disapproves of Darius. He also notices his mother’s strength more in Iran than he had before, and notes how extraordinary this strength is given her roots. Iranians often react to Shirin as if they disapprove of her outspoken personality. Shirin tries to balance respecting her father’s need for control and standing up to him when necessary. When Babou gets lost, Mamou can only quietly comment while Shirin takes control and demands that Babou stop driving. In Iran, she’s considered too American, yet in America, she’s made fun of for her Iranian accent. Just like Darius, Shirin and Stephen must navigate societal and parental expectations.
Sohrab cements his friendship with Darius through his genuine apology, which gives them the opportunity to bond over the shared pain of being made fun of. Despite Darius’s repeated attempts to stop him from apologizing, Sohrab leaves nothing unsaid. This challenges Darius’s supposition that most things can be known or perceived without being said aloud. The problem with this supposition is that Darius doesn’t always come to the right conclusions about other people’s thoughts and feelings. Indeed, he tends to cast himself in the most negative light possible. Darius fails to notice the kind gestures his father does make, like downloading all of the Star Trek episodes so they can continue watching together in Yazd. Instead, he focuses on the fact that Laleh is infringing on his sacred time with Stephen, refusing to acknowledge that everybody’s routine has been disrupted and that everyone needs to compromise. The episode title, “Sins of the Father,” reflects how Darius feels about the perceived transgression.
The trip to the palace of Darioush the Great and the ruins of Persepolis serves as a turning point as well as a reflection on the rise and fall of great men and cultures. The drive itself emphasizes how quickly a great man can go from efficiently making a six-hour drive in four hours to ailing and getting lost on the way home. Babou strives to communicate to Darius the greatness of his history, but Darius feels intimidated rather than inspired. Darius alludes to the timelessness of this dynamic between bullies and victims when he compares Trent Bolger to Alexander the Great, whose battle against Darioush III led to the fall of the Persian Empire.
Getting lost on the way home emphasizes Babou’s cognitive decline, and his admission later to Darius, that Darius and Laleh will never be 100% Zoroastrian, is a rare moment when Babou genuinely voices his greatest fear aloud. He feels that he and his legacy are fading away. Darius wants to connect with Babou, and his grandfather gives him the perfect opportunity when he glumly tells Darius his grandkids can never be Zoroastrian. Darius even knows the words he wants to say to soothe his grandfather’s pain, that he’s still Babou’s grandson even though he’s American, but he can’t bring himself to say them. Babou and Darius have yet to bridge the divide between them in order to better understand each other.
