Why does General Taheri disapprove of Soraya's choice to become a teacher?

• A. He wants Soraya to marry soon.
• B. He thinks teaching is unimportant.
• C. He would prefer Soraya to work somewhere else.
• D. He believes women should not work for money, especially in that role.

Answer: (D)

In this moment, the push in the story comes from a clash between traditional gender roles and a woman’s autonomy. General Taheri holds a traditional view that a woman’s place is within the home and, ideally, supported by a husband rather than earning her own income. Soraya choosing to become a teacher means she is financially independent and publicly engaged in a paid profession, which he sees as inappropriate for a woman in their culture. That is the heart of his disapproval: the idea that women should not work for money, especially in a role like teaching.

This isn’t simply a quibble about the job itself; it reflects how his cultural expectations govern a woman’s agency and status. A and B miss the specificity of his concern—he isn’t arguing that teaching is unimportant or that she should do something else; he’s reacting to the prospect of a woman earning money and taking on a professional public role. C would imply a preference about the workplace, which doesn’t capture his deeper objection to women being financially independent in that context.