Conclusion
When examining Salar Abdoh, his novel Opium, Iran, and everything in between with a fine tooth comb, it is clear that several different aspects make up Abdoh’s and Iran’s identity as a whole. Religion and politics, having quite a significant role in Iran to the point where they coexist, gives Iran most of its identity because most Iranian people practice the Islamic faith. Since politics offers little in terms of sociological support or solutions, the people of Iran often turn to their religion for one sole thing; hope. The promise of a better life after death gives Iranians hope of evading their current situation. As for Abdoh, religion floats in and out of his life and is sometimes important and other times not as much. As for Iran’s past and historiography, it is true that most comes from Persian and Islamic lore, but this is critical for maintaining individuality because Iranians and Muslims are able to hold on to a chunk of their past that has not been altered by governments or foreign nations. This is also important to Iran’s psychological state and philosophical standpoint; having a perhaps not true, but distinguished story of their past allows for something for Iranians to hold on to, something positive to show case to the rest of the world. Perhaps this is all identity is, the story people tell about their past. It is no wonder why America and Iran differ, both stem from different stories. As Abdoh puts it; “Yet to go back and forth between such societies is to be an outsider to both. Neither really Iranian nor really American, yet carry passports for both countries” (question 7).
Read more about this topic: Salar Abdoh
Famous quotes containing the word conclusion:
“No one can write a best seller by trying to. He must write with complete sincerity; the clichés that make you laugh, the hackneyed characters, the well-worn situations, the commonplace story that excites your derision, seem neither hackneyed, well worn nor commonplace to him.... The conclusion is obvious: you cannot write anything that will convince unless you are yourself convinced. The best seller sells because he writes with his heart’s blood.”
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1966)
“The conclusion suggested by these arguments might be called the paradox of theorizing. It asserts that if the terms and the general principles of a scientific theory serve their purpose, i. e., if they establish the definite connections among observable phenomena, then they can be dispensed with since any chain of laws and interpretive statements establishing such a connection should then be replaceable by a law which directly links observational antecedents to observational consequents.”
—C.G. (Carl Gustav)
“We must not leap to the fatalistic conclusion that we are stuck with the conceptual scheme that we grew up in. We can change it, bit by bit, plank by plank, though meanwhile there is nothing to carry us along but the evolving conceptual scheme itself. The philosopher’s task was well compared by Neurath to that of a mariner who must rebuild his ship on the open sea.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)