Feed Back

The peer comments and feed back, on my rough draft, showed a weak conclusion. I will need to rewrite it with more analysis and a summing up of points at the end. A stronger conclusion to leave something with the reader to think about. And no Jim, this is not about a feel good or say something positive analysis paper however, I appreciate your comments.

Rough Draft

Charles Pollack

Professor Knapp

Eng1B

10/20/2011

                       

                        Marjane Satrapi’s life in Iran, at a time of chaos, indelibly marked her way of thinking and her beliefs. Her faith was shattered because of the real life situations she witnessed. The loss of loved ones, the cost of war and the Islamic fanaticism in the story contain both irony and paradoxical situations. I will list a few paradoxes, ironies and ambiguity statements in my New Criticism analysis.

                        For instance, she claims at the age of six years old she was “…born with religion” (Satrapi 6). Yet at no point, she writes about what religion she follows. The beginning of the book begins with the Islamic Revolution and the wearing of the Veil. She then states, “…really did not like to wear the veil, especially...we didn’t understand why” (3). Obviously, she was not following Islam. Satrapi goes on to explain that she is very religious, but her family is modern and avant-garde. I believe she uses another paradox here because Satrapi’s parents had given her books with Communist themes and Marxist writings to enlighten her. In essence, what is her religion in this story?  Who or what does she worship? At one point, she believes in the existence of God but then her values and personal system of beliefs disappear so that she rejects religion altogether.

                        Another interesting paradox is her claim to be a prophet. She claims, “At the age of six… I was the last prophet” (6). The text also shows four people kneeling down and

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worshipping her with a crown of light around her head. This particular use of the word, prophet, indicates Satrapi claims to interpret or transmit the commands of a deity.

                        I believe she thought that this kind of prophet, as someone with power, the power to heal and the power to change situations. Satrapi states several times about the negative situations in her family’s life. She wanted to change the segregation of classes. The maid is an example of social class distinction; she ate in another room, separated.        Another example is her grandmothers aching knees. Satrapi wanted to heal the pain. However, she quotes a prophet, Zarathustra, “…behave well, speak well, [and] act well” (7). In this use of the word prophet, the definition takes on a different meaning, “… as some who advocates a cause or idea” (Encarta Dictionary). There is ambiguity in these meanings. Is she using the religious aspect of prophet or the advocacy of a just cause? Either way it is a paradox.

                        A situation that is clear ambiguity is her defeatist tendency. She tells her teacher and classmates, about what she will be when she grows up, “I’ll be a prophet” (8). She then acquiesces, to her Father’s questioning, “I will be a doctor” (9). Then she goes on to say she is, “…guilty towards God” and states aloud she “… I will be a prophet” (9). She flip-flops in-between what she sees and what she imagines. She is beginning to see the world as it really is therefore she is losing her faith. She states this in saying, “My faith was not unshakable” (10). Clearly, a defeatist attitude is stated.

                        The final paradox and irony comes when she compares God to Marx and when she tells God to get out of her life. She has books about dialectic materialism, a comic book, by Karl Marx.

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Where does the comparison come from? Her faith, or her belief in a religion, is attributed to what source?  She has a book about Marx, but no book or pictures of God other than what she believes are a resemblance to Marx. She has dialogs with God and telling God to change topics. Satrapi wants something more concrete then a belief or an imagination. Her world needs stability in a chaotic time.

                        Finally, her faith is shattered beyond repair with the death of her Uncle Anoosh. In the tragedy of sorrow and heartache, she blames God. The only comforting thing she has known and the only thing that was her faith, she lets go of God. She states, “And so I was lost, without any bearings…” (11). It is at this point, where she becomes secular. The rest of the book is without faith or a belief system. That is a paradox.

Works Cited

Satrapi, Marjane, Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. Print.

           Soukhanov, Anne H. Microsoft Encarta Dictionary. New York, NY: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2002. Print.

Idea Post

Charles Pollack

10/9/2011

Eng 1B

Week Five- Prompt #1

      As I read my blog posts for an idea post, I started to come up with a theme based on religion. I believe I will be exploring the New Criticism theory in my analysis.

      Supporting my argument would be the Islamic Revolution versus western ideals. How Marjane uses both of these ideals using irony and as a paradox throughout the novel. Words spelled the same, but Marjane uses the words to mean different ideas. I would write about how she uses them and the different meanings. Satrapi’s writes about similarities, God and Marx, and her faith in each of them. Then later she has no faith in either or in the fundamentalist regime.

Freewrite metacognitive

Charles Pollack

10/8/2011

Eng 1B

Week Four- Prompt #1

     My metacognitive experience with this novel started when I first picked it up. Looking at the front cover, the picture and designs reminded me of something from India or the Far East. I read the inside flap about it being, “Best Comix of the Year”.  I was amused, when I thumbed through the pages, that all pages had dialog and pictures. Turning to the back of the book, I read the first review by the New York Times Book Review, “Delectable…Dances with Drama and insouciant wit.”  I had no idea what insouciant meant. I began a list of words, which I would gather throughout the reading of the novel, to define. How prophetic this word, insouciant, would be to me. The definition, from an online English Dictionary, means, “not worrying about possible problems”.  I felt ready to do all tasks associated with this book. Intrigued is how I felt; then I began reading.

     To begin with, the history of Iran was a pleasure to read. One of my joys is to read and study history. I begin to feel a connection at once. I was able to visualize Iran from the past to modern times. It put things in an orderly fashion. Such as drawing a timeline from point A to point B. There is a flow of occurrences, through out the book that has orderly direction and explanations. After PPA, I read the first 50 pages. At first, I began to analyze what the author was trying to convey. The context of some words and the way they are presented and pictured along with the dialog, was at times confusing.

     For example, Marjane has a picture, of her as a prophet, with people kneeling at her feet. The next blocks of pictures show figures of past prophets. Then she goes on about helping people. The confusion is how she uses prophet.  To me there are two distinct definitions. One hears from a deity, the other is an advocate.

     I offer another example, the distinction or perhaps the similitude of God and Marx. For me, I heard of Marx, who or what he stands for, I do not know. Therefore, I did some researching on Marx and dialectic materialism.  I am compelled to understand some words, places and things that I have no comprehension when reading text.
      In other words, I have to grasp the meaning of what I am reading. Reading can be complex and confusing at times.Taking the time to understand before going forward is how I learn. At times, I find that I do more researching than reading the book. Once I have this understanding about a book, I shelved  the information in a storage space in my head. I can retrieve this information when needed.

       I enjoyed reading Persepolis. However, at times, it became unbelievable. Perhaps I base the unbelievable aspects, based upon my own childhood. I often reflected back when I was 10 years old when reading Persepolis. Of course, Marjane and I come from two different worlds. However, we were once 10 years old and have that in common. I look forward to the next assignment.

Theme- Faith- based religion

Charles Pollack

9/25/2011

Eng 1B

Week Three- Prompt #1

         I am picking the theme of faith-based religion.  The Islamic Revolution is a fundamentalist movement based on religion. Impacted at the very beginning of the story, Marjane confesses confusion and demonstrates the modern and the religious aspect of family doctrine and the fundamentalist doctrine.  The picture shows half of her in the avant-garde and the other half of her shows the veil (6).  Marjane goes on to say she is religious since birth and her belief that she is a prophet.  At this point in the story the word prophet, I beleive, is somebody who claims to interpret or transmit the commands of a deity.  The pictures of several prophets, images that seem to suggest Mohammad and Jesus Christ among others, emphasize this point (6). Her belief in God and the goodness of Him reveals this to her in this form of faith before the Revolution, which takes place in the next 4 years of her life at the age of ten.

        Religion has affected Marjane’s family. Her mother and father are idealists; they are against the fundamentalist doctrine. Her mother opposes the fundamentalist doctrine by demonstrating (5). The father has a Cadillac, a symbol of capitalism (6). They hide evidence of thier idealism, from the fundamentalist regime, by hanging up black curtains. This keeps the prying eyes, of the fundamentalist regime, from looking into their world (105). 

      Another idea of Marjane, I believe, is how she juxtaposes the religious aspect of the word prophet, to mean, "somebody who advocates a cause or idea"(online English Dictionary). She uses this example in the following statements, “…our maid did not eat with us.”, and “…my father had a Cadillac.” and “…grandmother’s knees always ached” (6). She writes, in her Holy book, rules that advocate just causes.  At this point of the story, her belief in religion or the word prophet, has more to do with the meaning of doing good for others, then the actual interpretation or transmittal of commands from God. She then goes on to have discussions with God seeking justification to begin her calling as a prophet (8).

         The opening chapter is an example of symbolism, The Veil. This symbol conveys internal and external statements. The religious aspect was to keep the hair covered from men's eyes (74). This is a religious external statement. I believe the internal statement is the representation of the veil itself in Marjane’s life. While she is in the public view, she must conform to the religious standard. In her home, she can take this veil off and her life is very non-conformist. She becomes like her parents, the symbolic idealist. Actually a rebellion in itself. 

 The theme of religion throughout this book is complex. It is not so much religion itself but, by the symbolism of living two different lives in and out of the fundamentalist view. She acknowledges God in her life, and then denounces Him. She reads Marxist views in the comic titled, Dialectic Materialism (12) and again Marjane’s views are conflicted by the reality of the world she lives in. It is a conflict of faith.

          I believe that the religious theme is central to the character through out the book. From the beginning of the Islamic fundamentalists, the Marxist views of her family to having to leave the country because of the religious conflicts between the two ideals.

Character Description

Charles Pollack

9/18/2011

Eng 1B

At the very beginning, we come to understand Marjane’s internal convictions and the parent’s life style. Marjane writes, “…I WAS VERY RELIGIOUS…WE WERE VERY MODERN AND AVANT-GARDE”(6). Marjane reemphasizes her conviction with this statement, “I WAS BORN WITH RELIGION”(6). At this point of the story, the word religion is juxtaposed between her belief concerning the existence and nature of a deity which includes the involvement in human life and the other side is, strongly–held beliefs, values and attitudes that she lives by. In one picture people are kneeling down toward what appears to be worshipping a deity, “…I WAS THE LAST PROPHET…” (6), the very next two pictures shows what appears to be Jesus Christ, Mohammad and several other prophets. The last three passages represent the other side of a prophet of somebody who advocates a cause or idea by stating, “I WANTED TO BE A PROPHET…BECAUSE OUR MAID DID NOT EAT WITH US.”, “BECAUSE MY FATHER HAD A CADILLAC.”, “…ABOVE ALL… MY GRANDMOTHER’S KNEES ALWAYS ACHED” (6). Marjane demonstrates the prophet advocate by concluding the passage, “DON’T WORRY, SOON YOU WON’T HAVE ANY MORE PAIN. YOU’LL SEE” (emphasis added) (6). 

The passages quoted above, helped me to understand her thinking and her beliefs that started at an early age. She is sponge-like in absorbing information and perceptions about her culture and of people around her. The New York Times Book Review, on the back cover of the book, mentions “…insouciant wit.” Textually, insouciant can describe Marjane’s way of thinking. One example she describes, her Holy book with rules. She demonstrates by writing these rules, “…THESE THREE RULES: BEHAVE WELL, SPEAK WELL, ACT WELL” (7). Then she writes these rules, “…SIX: EVERY-BODY SHOULD HAVE A CAR…SEVEN: ALL MAIDS SHOULD EAT AT THE TABLE…EIGHT: NO OLD PERSON SHOULD SUFFER” (7). She is beginning at this point to be more of an idealist, like her parents.

When asked about what she will be when she grows up, Marjane declares, to  her classmates and her teacher, “I’LL BE A PROPHET”(8). However, to her parents she flatly states, “I WANT TO BE A DOCTOR”(9). I believe the reality or the conflict she internalizes, goes back to the start of the Revolution. Wearing the Veil, changing schools, and the demonstrations was her external conflict.The contradiction came after a journalist took a photograph of her mother demonstrating. She states, “I WAS REALLY PROUD OF HER”(5). Then the photo appeared in an Iranian magazine, “… MY MOTHER WAS REALLY SCARED” (5). Her mother than changed her appearance. She believed her mother had the right to demonstrate but when exposed to the reality of the situation, it was not OK!

Clearly, she was confused at this point. She writes, “MY FAITH WAS NOT UNSHAKABLE” (10). She begins to externalize the situation by her own demonstrations. By becoming a revolutionary, she can be involved in concrete actions. She explains, ‘THE YEAR OF THE REVOLUTION I HAD TO TAKE ACTION…” (10).

Persepolis

Week one

Prompt #3

Persepolis

Page 12- In this passage Marjane writes  “…comic book entitled “Dialectic Materialism”. The philosophy of this concept is Marxism. For this 10 year old to understand the world around her and develop critical thinking and philosophical ideas was hard for me to comprehend. The cultural changes in her country, ”The Revolution” , changed her way of thinking. She was given the opportunity to be enlightened by reading books about social events from around the world. The difficulty, for me, is understanding the meanings or my lack of knowledge of Marxism. I need to broaden that statement by saying my knowledge is limited only by my lack of knowledge. Marjane was brought up with ideals, philosophy, and religion. Researching Dialectic Materialism and Marxism, I gained insight or more knowledge about what Marjane was reading. I understand dialectic materialism in it’s simplest form- Dialectical materialism, to use the words of the Russian Marxist Plekhanov, is more than an outlook, it is a "philosophy of action." The way others view world  and society is extraordinary. I do have more questions than answers. Marjanes’ country is in turmoil and her parents are demonstrating in sometimes violent outcomes. Is her parents influencing her? What about her faith in God? At one point she states, “My faith was not unshakable” (10). Yet Marxism does allow religion.The Bible states, The New King James Version in the Book of Hebrews Chapter 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. Perhaps “seeing” the effects of the Revolution in her country might have shaken her faith. She even started to compare, between the two, God and Karl Marx. Obviously she embraced her parents’ action of demonstrating. I  question her action about demonstrating. Seems to me she changed from being a passive prophet to active participant in the Revolution.