term paper

Monica Steinbrecher
Paul Gleason
EN 303
30 November 2008
Satrapi, TLC, Rushdie, and Begolo
Persepolis is such an engaging, informative text that it quickly became my favorite novel of the semester. I was really drawn to Marjane and after a few short pages began to relate to her and her surroundings. My apprehension of reading a graphic novel was quickly overturned when I realized how easy it was to lose myself in the text. Even though the illustrations are simple, they add so much more to the story than just words. Keeping that in mind, I thought watching the movie would be just as exciting, if not more. The pictures would be animated and it would come with sound. Much to my disappointment, the movie left out some important parts of the storyline from the novel and the animations were choppy, staying true to its comic form. I was not impressed with the movie and found I really preferred the novel.
The ten page selection I chose is not a consecutive chunk, but rather two separate selections very close to each other chronologically. One selection is from the chapter “The vegetable” when Marjane attempts suicide but then really rejuvenates herself into a complete transformation. The other, larger, selection is from the chapter “the Makeup” when she escapes an arrest by getting a man arrested instead.
“The Vegetable” selection really stuck out to me for two reasons. One, I could personally relate to Marjane’s depression and two, many young women can probably relate to her transformation. Aside from the suicide attempt, the depression I dealt with years ago almost identically mirrors Marjane’s. Like Marjane, I moped around the house, watched television, laid in bed all day and lost any and all motivation and desire to do anything. Like Mrs. Satrapi, my mom did everything in her power to get me to hang out with my friends and seek professional help. One difference between my episode and Marjane’s is the influence our mother’s had on our actions. Mrs. Satrapi convinced her daughter to see a therapist after a very short amount of time, and she obliged. She sought out a therapist and was prescribed an anti depressant. However, the pills were abused and she used them to try to commit suicide. Needless to say, the help Marjane was seeking did her no good. My mother, on the other hand, couldn’t manage to convince me to talk to a therapist for three years. I refused to be put on medication, though I qualified for it, according to the doctor.
I really appreciated seeing Marjane fully recover from her depression, especially that it was healthy. I definitely related to this section and think many women as a whole can as well. Many women, especially adolescents, find their body unattractive in some way or another. Marjane was unhappy with most aspects of her appearance, but rather than complain and feel sorry for herself, she did something about it. By changing herself on the outside, she felt better about herself on the inside. She made positive changes in her appearance in a healthy and rational way, which is a good influence for women readers. Marjane didn’t have plastic surgery, go on a crazy diet, develop an eating disorder, or take any other permanent action. Hair removal, new clothes, new hair and a healthy exercise program are all temporary, controlled, and rational changes to feel better about your appearance.
“The Makeup” chapter really stuck out to me, not because I could personally relate to it, but because I was so surprised by it. This was such a change in character for Marjane and I think I was just as disappointed and appalled at her as her grandmother was. This chapter definitely made me realize how much “every man for himself” really prevailed during this difficult time for all Iranians.
I understand that Marjane falsely accused a man in order to defend herself and I can see how she thought it was funny. It’s hard to really care about the outcome of someone else when you have no idea who they are. This chapter also gave more insight to how much more everyone was becoming oppressed. Not only were women not allowed to wear makeup in public, but unmarried couples were also prohibited from being seen together. I understand what it’s like to be rebellious so I can see why she wore the makeup in public and wanted to see her boyfriend. Even though I completely understand where she is coming from in her original actions and then trying to cover it up, I think it was entirely her choice and fault. She chose to wear that makeup in public, even after having a previous run-in with the police for fashion and appearance violations. She knew perfectly well the consequences for wearing makeup, but decided to wear it anyway. Even though I really like Marjane and really hoped she would be okay, I was disappointed she didn’t take responsibility of her actions. She deserved to be the one punished, not the man on the steps.
I was so surprised by Marjane’s actions in this chapter because she had completely gone against all of her beliefs. Ordinarily, she was so honest. In fact, she was brutally honest and never gave offending someone a second thought. She was bold, an activist and proud of her family members who had given up their lives defending innocents. That day, she was a shame to her family and had completely given into the Revolution, rather than protesting against it. Ordinarily, she was a strong, independent woman who never compromised her beliefs. That day, she was weak, sacrificed her strongest values and played the “poor woman who needs protection” (287).
My favorite part of these two selections is that they are about difficult moments in Marjane’s life and show her at her lowest. It took a great amount of courage to include the hard times and especially times that she may not be proud of herself. Everyone has difficult times in their lives to deal with and maybe even some times they are ashamed of. These two selections make Marjane seem real and not just a character, as well as relatable to other readers.
TLC’s song “Unpretty” similarly deals with the issue of changing your appearance, but from a different angle. In Marjane’s case, changing her looks was a positive, empowering act. She felt that in order to feel better about herself, she should start with the outside and work her way in. By feeling more confident about her appearance, she learned to accept herself. Her new looks and new love for aerobics gave her motivation to do something positive with her life and became the first steps to getting herself out of depression. In “Unpretty,” the singer changing her appearance is what throws her into depression. The singer is presumably in an emotionally abusive relationship with someone who is constantly weighing her down and constantly picking apart her looks. She has acknowledged how unhappy this significant other is making her and tries to get out of the relationship so she can work on helping herself get healthy again. The message (and chorus) of this song is that no matter how many changes you go through to make yourself pretty, you will never think you’re pretty enough until you’re happy with yourself on the inside. The singer in this song is also terribly hard on herself, blames herself rather than the person who pushed her over the edge and wants to take drastic changes. Marjane, however, was never hard on herself, but knew it was her own responsibility to take the initiative for change.
Both the text and the song show the unfortunate consequences of being unhappy with not only your appearance, but yourself as a whole. Both women make big changes to their looks and lifestyles, but in completely opposite directions. Marjane took steps to become happy again after her depression, but the singer had grown depressed because of changes she previously made. Both women were at one point very unhealthy and needed to get back on track. This was much more quickly obtained by Marjane while the singer still had a lot of work to do. Another similarity between the song and the book is both women changed their hair and wore more and new makeup. However, the singer also looked toward plastic surgery for a nose job, while Marjane looked to exercise in the aerobics class.
When writing about his piece “The Satanic Verses,” Salman Rushdie writes, “How is freedom gained? It is taken: never given…What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist” (394). The Iranians, especially the Iranian women were denied freedom after freedom during the Revolution. It’s difficult to understand the value of freedom until it is taken away. Even though she was only a child, Marjane didn’t realize she had the freedom to dress and style herself as she pleased until that right was taken away. Until women were forced to wear the veil everywhere, young women had no idea what freedom meant because they were never denied it. The Iranian women were never given any freedom during this time, but rather, everything was taken from them. They were prohibited from wearing any makeup, form fitting clothes and revealing any hair. Instead, they were required to be covered head to toe and wear a veil, which had rigid specifications for the wearers.
Marjane was fully aware of her personal lack of freedom and rights, but never really took it seriously. However, the day she decided to go out in public fully made up, it was not her own freedom that was jeopardized. While trying to save herself, she took away that man’s freedom. Even though she was let off easy, she was not given freedom. Had she not made a false accusation, her freedom would have been taken away and she would have been the one to land in jail, not the innocent man.
I agree with Rushdie when he stated that freedom cannot be given, but taken away. Freedom is not a tangible or measurable experience. In order for it to be taken away, it has to be available initially, but no one can physically give someone a freedom. No one can reward you for having a right to something. But someone can physically take something away from you, or punish you for disobeying them.
The article “Veiled Politics” mirrors very similarly the experiences in Perseopolis of wearing the veil. The veil was definitely to cover the woman and hide any sexuality she carries. Hair must be hidden because it is sexually stimulating for men. The article also added that hands weren’t allowed to be revealed, something that wasn’t in Persepolis. The covering of hands might not have been enforced at the time of the stories in the novel. The article also states how unveiled women in public were at high risk of danger because strands of hair would make men think and act irrationally. Marjane was caught numerous times in public wearing her veil the wrong way, with hair showing. The day she got the man arrested, her hair was showing because she was looking to impress her boyfriend. According to “Veiled Politics,” her appearance should have caused the bystander to be irrational and perhaps even make the inappropriate comments to Marjane that she accused him of. Ironically enough, her hair didn’t cause him to be irrational, but only herself to be. Soon after the veil was mandatory, a stamp was issued for the first time of a woman completely veiled, covering her entire body.
The twentieth century was very back and forth for Iranian women. Over the course of many years, the veil was required, prohibited and required again. Not only were women expected to wear it to appear pure, but to keep their husband and family’s honor, as well as to remain void of Western influences. When women were required to wear the veil, a bare head could result in arrest or fines by police. Unfortunately, in unpatrolled areas, radical men decided to take the law into their own hands. Bare-headed women ran the risk of being attacked and beaten in these dangerous areas.
Persepolis was my favorite book this semester. While reading it, I was so drawn to the storyline and Marjane. Some parts of this book really surprised me and stood out even after finishing the novel, other parts taught me a great deal about Iranian culture and the Islamic Revolution and other parts I was able to relate to on a personal level. After completing the novel, I realized how much else I was able to relate the novel to. I was able to bring in a pop song in to Marjane’s struggle and a literary theorist and author to Marjane’s selfishness. Since it was a memoir of a real person during real events, it was very easy to bring in a source relating to the war. Marjane Satrapi’s journey really stood out to me above all the other characters in all the other books I read over the course of this semester.












Works Cited
Begolo, Zephie. “Veiled Politics.” History Today. 58.9 (Sep 2008): 42-44 Academic Search Elite. Cardinal Stritch University Library, Milwaukee, WI 1 December 2008. http://0-web.ebscohost.com.topcat.switchinc.org/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=109&sid=55ad6175-f826-41c4-a867-968ef6296494%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=afh&AN=34283093
Rushdie, Salman. “In God we Trust” Imaginary Homelands. London: Penguin Books, 1981-1991. 376-397.
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. Paris: L’Association 2003.
TLC. “Unpretty.” FanMail

Comparisons

I really didn't like Persepolis the movie; I much more preferred the book. I think the movie felt too condensed, as if it was given a set time limit and as much information as possible had to be crammed into that time allotment. There were a lot of things from the book that were missing from the movie. For instance, when Marji's four years spent in Austria were barely covered. The movie depicted all of her moves within one scene, making it appear as if all moves took place within a very short amount of time. The book talked about her stay at each house, her experiences there and the reasons for her leaving. It also talked about her mom's visit, which I think is way too important to leave out. Her mother's visit was important for Marji and was something she looked forward to. They spent so much time together and this was the first time they were really able to talk and catch up. I think this visit also gave Marji hope to keep going in Austria once she had gotten back into such a good mood. This was also the first time she had seen any family in years. The movie also excluded most of her drug problem, which was a hugely negative influence on her life. It was how she started her relationship with Marcus but also the reason why it ended. Overall, I was not very impressed with the movie and will just stick with the novel.

So far Beasts of No Nation really parrallels an information session I attended earlier this week. It was a documentary called The Invisible Children. It's about the child soldiers of Uganda and night commuters. These are children who travel and hide at night so as not be kidnapped by the rebel soldiers. Children as young as 5-7 are being kidnapped and turned into soldiers. Both the documentary and the novel are focused on war against the government but as far as I've gotten in the novel, neither one of them really have a clear reason for why they are at war. They just fight and that's all they know - death.

Persepolis

I really love Persepolis; this is my favorite book so far this semester. I was really apprehensive of reading a graphic novel. I have been assigned them before in other classes and thought it was really dumb and boring. With this novel, the story line was so much like any other novel. I would get the same understanding if it was straight text. Sometimes I feel like graphic novels are too choppy and just captions. I was also apprehensive of reading this novel because I think pictures distract from the text. The veils would be one thing that wouldn't really have as much of an impact for me without the pictures. The illustrations of the women's faces and hair covered by the veil really hits at how oppressed they were. It also gave me a better understanding as to how they are worn and how the look. It was funny though, to see the scene of the kids playing with the veils on the playground. Persepolis is a really quick read, which is nice. It just goes by so fast, you never realize how much you've read in one sitting. The plot of this story has completely reeled me in. It's so heartfelt and you can really relate and feel for these characters because it is about Marjane Satrapi's life. It makes the text real. Also, I'm learning so much reading this. I never knew anything about the Iranian revolution or the war between Iran and Iraq. I heard of the war and heard of taking the American Embassy hostage, but that's as far as it went. I love learning about this and even though it's about such an emotional and difficult topic, it's so interesting. It's great to see it from the point of view of an adolescent/young adult who actually lived through and experienced everything firsthand as opposed to learning about it from a textbook or a newscast.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

When we discussed the labyrinth in class, I didn't even know what a labyrinth was. Until I started thinking of what to write my blog about, I wasn't even sure I knew how to connect One Hundred Years of Solitude to a labyrinth. Both are long, confusing and require your full attention. In a labyrinth, if you try to get through it as fast as you can without knowing where you're going you may end up either frustrated, lost or taking twice as long as if you would take your time. If you try to skim the book to finish a reading, you will miss introductions or deaths of characters or important plot elements. Just like a labyrinth, you'll end up confused, frustrated and needing to reread the story. Labyrinths appear very loopy, as if it's crossing its own path. This book loops through time and repeats character's actions and the same events happen over and over.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

When finishing The God of Small Things, we talked about the few occurances of incest. One Hundred Years of Solitude has way more incest and with many more characters. Does the book say where the story takes place? Is the incest acceptable because of the culture? It's not really considered wrong and there are no legal reprocussions of this. Also, I don't know if this would be considered some form of pedophilia, but Aureliano wanted to marry Remedios before she even hit puberty. He waited for her to grow up and ignored her older sisters. Granted, he never took advantage of her before they married (so no crime by our standards) but why would he even be romantically looking at a girl so young?
Death is such a huge part of this novel because it occurs so often. So many characters die, but it's also not a huge part because it's barely acknowledged. there are pages and pages of character's lives or parts of their lives but only a sentence or two about their death. There also isn't much about the people dealing with the death of loved ones. What significance is this? Is death not a topic of importance for these characters and in this town? Is Garcia Marquez making a statement about the importance of death in reality? Should death not be glorified because we should celebrate somone's life instead? Or perhaps is it just that the deaths aren't important to the story, but need to be mentioned in order to move forward with the plot?

The God of Small Things

In class we talked about racism and incest and whether Roy was critiquing such things or leaving a moral of the story to be "it's bad." I definitely think the book was trying to leave a message. It may be easy to say on paper that we know something is wrong but sometimes that is kind of fuzzy. Someone may think racism is wrong but don't realize things that they do are racist or that they are racist. They would never think their actions are wrong, but idea of hate is wrong. If racism or other forms of discrimination didn't still exist and wasn't still a problem, it wouldn't even be a factor in the plot or story. By showing how specific experiences effect the victim, readers may realize to be aware of their own actions. Like we said in class, putting a face to a wrong doing makes it relatable. There will also always be Baby Kochamma's in this world and showing her actions from someone else's or an outsider's perspective really shows how much good intentions (or seemingly good intentions) can truely destroy someone. There will always be manipulative people in the world, always be liars, always be someone dissaproving of something or someone in your life, always have someone trying to make you something you're not. Again, it's easy to say to treat others with respect and it's easy to say to stay out of others' business, but until you can see how your actions effect someone else, it's hard to realize you're doing wrong.

midterm analysis

Monica Steinbrecher
Paul Gleason
EN 303
8 October 2008
Throughout the course of this semester so far, I have completed six blog entries. Over the weeks, the entries have improved and also changed styles. All three stages of reading development have been touched on in at least one entry.
The first few weeks were very centered upon first and second stage. I try to really keep “I” out of as much writing as I can, but the entries that were “I” based were mostly asking questions. My entry on September 9th about the first section of Murakami was completely “I” format. I had never really encountered a book anywhere near this before and this blog entry basically expression my confusion throughout the book and a general dislike for it. While I think I am generally beyond such formats for my writing, with so much confusion I would never have been able to relate the information to other texts or social aspects. The entry that was completely in stage two was about Haroun and relating it to the Wizard of Oz. We did the comparisons in class and thinking of all the ways that the two texts were similar was not only really interesting but helped out my understanding a lot.
I’m not sure where some of my other entries fall. They aren’t really relating the text to other texts, nor are they relating them to social ideas. A few entries I focused on a specific idea or two and really went into detail about it/them, for example, the Murakami entry focusing on eating and drinking. These entries are improved from opinion and “I” based entries. However, they aren’t quite up to a level three stage.
The two most recent entries fall into the stage three category, especially the Indiana Jones entry. The Indiana Jones entry was about Willie’s obnoxious personality, but really how that related to Lucas’s view of women and how non-Americans would view her. This is probably my most sophisticated entry and an example to base future entries. The most recent entry about The God of Small Things is kind of in between a stage two and a stage three entry. I was able to relate terms from the handout to the novel. However, I was also able to back it up from the text and the presentation on the Caste system. For example, I found several different instances of subordinate positions throughout the text and among all the characters.
There are a few things I could do to improve my entries to keep them at a stage three entry. For one, keep in mind the entries I feel I did really well on and use them as a model for future reading. In the Indiana Jones entry I picked out something specific in the movie and discussed it in detail, but also found a way to bring in world notions to it (sexism). If I can continue to do so, I think my entries will be quickly improving. Talking about a specific notion or item in the text in detail is really important to find the significance of certain things. For example, the subordinate positions in Roy’s novel. A way to improve this entry would be to discuss subordinate positions of today in reality. For example, women in the radical Islamic nations. People still think that some countries are superior or inferior to others. People all over are embarrassed when they don’t think their lives or possessions live up to someone else’s.
Whenever I have to read something but don’t have to write about it (for other classes or for pleasure) I have a completely different mindset to reading. I’m completely all over the board with stages and reactions. Usually I’m pretty “I” centered, but occasionally something will strike me. I’m in three Women’s Studies classes right now and find that so much of the material overlaps. I also find myself relating the material in one class to situations and material in another class. Sometimes a certain notion will really get me to thinking about social issues or a contemporary problem in the media. Once I can relate whatever I’m reading about to something else I could really go with it. Unfortunately, unless I’m writing about the book or have some other assignment with it, I rarely bring other texts or outside issues to it.
Overall, my blog entries have taken many different angles and maintained a place in each stage. I think they have improved in the last few weeks, but there is always room for more improvement. I hope to accomplish a goal of keeping all my entries in the third level.