الهام رجب دری

Pirzad's novel A Day Before before Easter, delves into the evolving identity of Iranian Armenians, highlighting their diasporic and transnational identities, despite acknowledging historical roots. Based on the ideas of “hybridity” and “translation sites” as the framework, this study explores at how translation sites as symbolic spaces influenced the development of multiple and hybrid identities of Armenian and Muslim characters as well as the possibility of linguistic and cultural interactions between them. Three distinct translation sites, the church, the school, and the graveyard, were identified in this study. These sites revealed how the characters' identities were developed based on their interactions with Muslim Iranians, affecting their language, religion, and society. The school functioned as zones of connection and communication between Muslims and Armenians where some Armenians display hybrid, multiplied identities while the church functioned as a site of “counter-translation,” where Armenians maintained a solidified and diasporic identity, enclosed by their religious and ethnic boundaries. The study suggests that identity conflicts at the translation sites in the story created a space for negotiation, fostering reconciliation and the blending of national and Armenian heritages among the characters.