Mahdokht Kashkuli Analysis

This piece begins with an introduction to the author, Mahdokht Kashkuli. It brings up that although she was a child bride, it did not prevent her from getting the education she wanted. She ended up with a Bachelor degree, two master’s degrees, and a doctorate. After introducing the author, it gives the reader a quick glance of Iran’s past. That is when the story begins. According to the introduction, this particular “short story explores the heartbreaking consequences of a family’s poverty in contemporary Iran” (294). The story begins with a young boy, who we come to find named, Reza, remembering that just a few days before he had overheard his mother and father arguing. But they weren’t arguing about your everyday things, they were arguing about sending one of their children to an orphanage, so that they would have “one less mouth to feed” (295). According to the parents, Reza was the most misbehaved of all of their children, so it made most sense to send him away. Once Reza realized that his parents were planning on sending him away, he went back to bed, crying. The next morning, Reza ran outside with his eyes still puffy from crying the night before. He asked his brother about what orphanages were, and he did not like the answer, he did not want to go to a place where they put poor kids. The

The quote “What does it take to be rich? My father has gold teeth, my mother has gold teeth, and my brother has a fountain pen” (269). I love this because it describes what it is like when you are a child in a poor family. Until you are around others who have more than you, you do not realize that what you have isn’t a lot. You think, “Wow, gold teeth, we must have a lot of money to afford those.” And then once you begin to interact with those around you that may be from different affluent backgrounds, is when you begin to realize that things are not as they