"I have read, understand, and am in compliance with the Academic Honesty policy.

In
particular, I have not committed any kind of plagiarism. There are no un-attributed direct or
indirect quotations or paraphrases from printed materials, websites, other students' papers, or any
other sources in my essay."
Ashley McIntosh
Professor: Dr. Allen
English 203
17 February 2013
A Mothers Choice
Pari Anjonmani has a major life-changing decision she has to make on her own.
She has two options, either to stay in America, and remain miserable, or move back to Iran, and
restore her happiness. She loves her family but is very unhappy. Pari is in a confusing situation
and has several choices and paths to find happiness. However, the hardest decision is figuring out
which choice is right. Pari leaves her family behind, but by doing so; she gains back much more,
her identity and way of life.
Home is supposed to be a place of comfort, peace, and fulfillment. She loses everything
after her marriage.When Pari gets married at eighteen she has no idea about the sacrifices she
would have to make for her new life in America. Paris religion, traditional beliefs, her way of
life, and her identity have all been taken from her overnight. Miriam, Paris oldest daughter, later
finds out an important fact about her mother. Only later did I understand what she meant: she
converted to Catholism to please my father and his family. (Rachlin 176). Pari does not feel at

home. She tries adapting to her new life for the sake of her marriage by becoming engaged in
painting flowers of her homeland in Iran. However, it is not the same as being able to smell, feel,
or admire them as she could have been able to at home. Pari just feels lonely, abandoned,
misunderstood, and unhappy as she continues to stay in America.
Motherhood does not save Pari from this difficult situation. Pari starts feeling like an
inadequate parent. Miriam finds her mother crying as they stood at the steps of the church and
later found her sitting in a chair by the window in her room smoking a cigarette, looking sad and
withdrawn. (Rachlin 176). Miriam then asks her mother, What is wrong, Mother? and she
replies, I miss my sisters, my family, this isnt the way I was raised. (Rachlin 176). If Pari is
unhappy how could she manage to maintain a household, and bring up children under the
stressful circumstances she faces? Pari fails to strike a balance between two completely different
culture and religion. She cannot raise her daughters to be praying Catholics if she has been a
Muslim all her life. The dissimilar childhoods of Pari and her husband have made it difficult for
Pari to raise her children. Pari is at her weakest point in life; she does not have enough strength
to be a providing mother and a loving wife.
Pari makes the best decision available to her under the situations she is forced to live in.
Although, her children feels hurt and motherless, Pari feels that their father could give them
more and teach them more than she could as an American parent. Leaving her family is her only
alternative. Pari makes the best decision since this is good for her children. She does not want
her children to suffer the same cultural and religious confusion she herself has suffered.
Works Cited

Rachlin, Nahid. "Search." Trans. Array A Wold Between. Persis M. Karim and
Mohammad Mehdi Khorrami. George Braziller Press, 1999. 176-195. Print.