Chapters 1 & 2

I’m going to take you on a life changing journey with me. You are about to meet a family with nine children. They live in a modest home in a small city. Reza is the fifth child in the family and a gifted wrestler.

Unless directed otherwise by your instructor, address the journal topic in four steps.
Step 1: Choose a journal topic and write the topic as the heading of your paper.
Step 2: Write continuously for 5 minutes.
Step 3: Reread your journal and underline or highlight the best ideas.
Step 4: Write a question that comes to mind at the bottom of your journal.

1. The challenges and advantages to being in a family with nine children.
2. The 1970s.
3. Life changing moments.
4. Response to the prologue

Unless otherwise directed by your instructor, answer each question in a complete sentence using specific details from the story.

1. 1. Cite specific details that establish the setting (time and place) of the story.
   2. Discuss the lessons Abbas is teaching Reza.
   3. When Reza falls off the roof, it seems no one in the family is surprised. What does this tell you about Reza?
   4. Reza sees the American boxers as “true pahlavan.” Given the discussion between Farid and Reza, how would you define a true pahlavan?
   5. Create a chart with three columns. Fold your paper in half the long ways and then in half again. Label the first column “Name” the second “Relationship to Reza” (ie, brother), then combine the last two columns and label “Relationship with Reza.” Complete the chart using all the characters from the first chapter. *

1. Sketch an outline of the interior of the Abedi’s home. Label the rooms and furniture.

Unless otherwise directed by your instructor, address the selected text for the dialectical journal by completing the three steps. Step 1: Copy the selected text onto the right side on your paper. Step 2: Respond to the selected text by making notes as to the meaning, historical/cultural references, insights into character, or any other relevant connections. Step 3: Select three sections of text from the chapter to copy on the right side (with page number citing) and respond on the left side.

Selected Text:

1. “ ‘Instinct is your fiercest weapon!” Abbas said as he held Reza’s shoulders and gave them a tug with each word. “Each movement, each twitch, each flicker must feed into a warrior.” (p).
2. “She paraded toward the door, when Abbas stopped. “Soraya where’s your roosari?” Her shoulders dropped. “I left my headscarf at home Baba.” “Then you shouldn’t have left the house. Reza, why did you bring your sister here this morning with her hair uncovered?”
3. “Reza pounded his fist into his hand, mimicking the action he has seen Abbas use many times when making a point. “But a goat can’t fight back. It has no chance. It’s just always a goat. American warriors, if they are true pahlavan…they fight back.’”

A flashback is an interruption of the chronological sequence of an event of earlier occurrence. A flashback is a narrative technique wherein a writer presents past events during current events, in order to provide background for the current narration. This technique allows the writer to provide the reader with insight into a character’s motivation and or background to a conflict. This can be accomplished by various methods including narration, dream sequences, and memories.

Discuss the flashback that occurs in chapter one in terms of the background and the insights it provides as to characters’ conflict(s).

Keep a diary from the viewpoint of one of the following characters: Reza, Hassan, Soraya, Abbas, Mostafa, Ardeshir (beg. In chap 2) or Nimtaj. After reading each chapter, write a half to full page entry in the diary. If the character does not appear in the chapter, consider what the character would be doing at that point in the story and write an appropriate entry.

Against the dramatic landscape of world altering events, Reza’s heroric journey unfolds.