How does Marjis grandmother initially respond to questions about the past?

Grandmother represents the past that Marjane carries with her. In a literal sense, Marjane’s grandmother is a part of Persia’s past, since her husband was a part of Persian royalty. In a more figurative sense, however, her grandmother represents a Persian heritage that has sustained her through the novel. Her homeland is also her mother and grandmother, in this sense. As Marjane tearfully leaves her home country, she does not take the violent, fundamentalist reality of Iran with her. Instead, she takes the holy, maternal land of Persia from which she was born.