why are Marjane's parents sending her to Austria? How does Marjane know her parents will not be joining her? (The Dowry)
Marjane's parents tell her that they are sending her to Austria because it has become too dangerous for her in Iran. She is unsure of this at first, but her parents assure her that one of the best French schools in Europe is in Austria. Her mother tells her, “You’re fourteen and I know how I brought you up. Above all, I trust your education.” They remind her that, when she had been younger, they had sent her to summer camp in France. That had been “real independence,” Marji remembers. Her parents tell her that they feel it is “better for you to be far away and happy than close by and miserable.”
Marjane’s parents tell her that they will come see her in six months, but she knows that “they’d come to visit but we’d never live together again.” She understands that her parents will never leave their home, and that she can never go back without losing her life.
