Chapter 21 & 22

The defecting wrestlers encounter difficulties with asylum.  Reza’s family find themselves in danger. 

1. Choose a question from a previous journal  and write to it.

1. Describe the scene at the airport when Reza’s family awaits his return. 
2. Why does Ardeshir feel they’ve been set up?
3. What is the situation for the wrestlers in Venezuela?
4. Discuss the details that create the tone in the prison scene. 
5. Analyze Hassan’s reaction to the news.

Imagine you are Nimtaj, Soraya or Pari.  Write a poem of 10-20 lines describing your visit to see Hassan.

1. Mostafa gave his father a rare grin and patted his back. “Reza made us proud today Haj’ Abbas.  He comes home a ghahreman.”  Abbas, who wore his best suit and seemed to look six feet tall that day, suppressed a smile and continued to rock back and forth on his heels.  Mostafa watched the movement of the Sepah, seeming to make note of faces and rank.  He had gathered his family to the left of the other waiting families; the left was nearest the exit. 
2. The Venezuelan official approached the cell and shook hands with the wrestlers.  He radiated genuine joy as he presented their six-month Visas.  They were dropped off at their apartment the Iranian Ambassador had arranged for them.  Free men.
3. Soraya reached for the phone and Hassan picked up his end.  The news that they had come to share suddenly seemed frightening.  What if he hears it as his death sentence?  What if he curses and hates his brother?  Soraya found she could not speak and Nimtaj held the phone.

Suspense makes the reader uncertain or tense about the outcome of events by making the reader ask “What will happen next?”  Suspense is greatest when it focuses attention on a sympathetic character.

Chapters thirteen and fourteen contain several suspenseful scenes.   In one to two paragraphs, choose two scenes and describe the diction, imagery and tone that creates the suspense.

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