Quote 25
I thought my father was dead. That they had shot him. (4.23)
Living under the regime, Marji gets scared simply when her father is late coming home from work. In Iran, he might not be late because of work, or because of a traffic jam—he might be late because he's dead, shot in the streets by soldiers. That's scarier than rush-hour traffic in Boston.
Quote 26
Since the night of September 9, 1994, I only saw [Grandma] again once, during the Iranian New Year in March 1995. She died January 4, 1996… Freedom had a price. (38.88)
Death is irreversible. Marjane will always live (well, until she dies) with the fact that she left Iran for her own freedom, and that means she barely got to see her grandmother again. What's that? Oh, we have a speck of dirt in our eye. That's all, we swear. *sniffle*
Quote 27
After the death of Neda Baba-Levy, my life took a new turn. In 1984, I was fourteen and a rebel. Nothing scared me anymore. (19.1)
Now that Marji has practically looked death in the face, she's realized that she has to live her life to its fullest. She harnesses her grief into energy used to speak her mind and stand up for what she believes in. After all, she's kind of survived being killed in a way. That's a liberating feeling, because what else could be scarier than that?