Maus And Persepolis

Why do you think Vladek is such a conservative when he faces money?

In my opinion Vladek does not like spending money because of the hard times he faced.. When he was arested he had to make it with the little that he had.   The outcome of all the suffering he faced shaped him in a different matter that originally he used to be.  He had to shape his beleifs through a lot of pain, and hardwork thats why he is so harsh with his family. For example, when he states he needs to fix the celling.  He does not ask for help, or hire someone. He believes that he can get his hands on work and fix it, with the need of no money. This just like many men in war are changed because of their experience in war.

Lit. Analysis - Victor B

     The book Maus by Art Spiegelman has many themes incorporated to it. In my opinion, the two themes that are best demonstrated are the will human beings have to gain power and discrimination people have against race. First of all, Spiegelman demonstrated how only the Nazis had the entire control in their society. Especially, the ones that didn't have the characteristics that the Nazis considered to be part of the ''perfect'' race. These people suffered the most horrific types of consequences, they were persecuted and most of them ended up dying in concentration camps. This aspect of the book is very related to the other theme explored in the book. This book plays with the idea that Jews are less than other humans. Jews are represented as mice and the Germans are represented as cats. However, this representation has a difference than to what actually happened in real life. Not all mice are bad, but in real life they believed all Jews were bad that is why they tried to eliminate them. All in all, this book gives an example of something that should never happen again.

Persepolis Lit. Analisis-Lucas

The book Persepolis has many themes incorporated into it. First of all, one present theme is feminism. Actually, it would be better defined as "anti-feminism". In the book, women are not allowed to wear what they want, and instead have to wear a veil. The protagonist, Marjane, fights against this, as she wants to wear whatever she wants, but has to suffer the consequences. For example, on page 131, her parents come back from a trip from Turkey, and they bring her many gifts. For example, Nike tennis shoes, a white jacket, a Michael Jackson sticker and more. After that, she goes off to the street wearing these things, and is detained by two female "Guardians of the Revolution". After, Marjane has to lie several times to be free of arrest from these women, and in the end is successful. This piece of evidence show how the women in the text have no freedom, and in this case it is about dressing.

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Another passage that supports this theme of "Anti-Feminism" is after page 78, where children of different genders must split up and go to different schools. Marjane is not happy about this, as she has many friends that are boys, from her old school. Yet, she has to deal with it, at these is nothing she can really do about it. This piece of evidence from the book shows how the government thinks men are superior to women, so they must attend a different school as them.

Finally, on chapter one there is another piece of evidence that shows acts against women. And this is the introduction of the veil. The men's excuse of why they need to wear the veil is that they say "women who show their hair exited the men". This doesn't make much sense because the men portrayed as "powerful" in the book most have beards, and doesn't that excite women? This situation shows extreme inequality to women, as they are being treated differently as men. In addition, they are being repressed, and are not allowed to wear what they like, unlike men, who can.

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Moving on, another present theme in Persepolis is growing up. In the begging of the novel, Marjane is a sweet little girl who loves to play and is enjoying her life. She also has many dreams with a god, and she believes that he comes visit him every night. The plot continues, and Marjane changes, in some ways. She matures, becomes bigger, more responsible, and more. Yet, she still has some traits as she did when she was young. One of them is having no fear in doing what she likes. For example, on page 8, she tells her teacher, and her classmates that she wants to be a prophet when she grows up. Everyone laughs, but she doesn't care, and pursues this dream a bit more. When she is fourteen, she continues to fight for what she likes. Even though it is illegal, she hangs poster from the "west" in her room, and she loves them, no matter what. Also, on page 143, even though her principal disapproves it, Marjane continuously wears a bracelet to school, until one day she is expelled for revolting against the principal.

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On the other hand, through Marjane's childhood, many problems faced her country, and even her family. In the reader's opinion, this kind of sped-up her growth. Not physically, but mentally. It's like she was on the clouds, and she fell down on the ground. She had to face reality in such a way, that it is unbearable to not be affected drastically by it. This goes back to the veil, because when she is a little kid, she is free and is able to play around with boys. But, after the veil, she is forced to change all that to the opposite, and this really affects her, even thought at times she rebels against these things. This situation reminds the reader about another book about a revolution, Ties that Bind, Ties that Break, by Lensey Namioka. In this book is about a little girl, Ailin, from China, and her life has to change drastically as well. When Ailin is young, she loves playing, running around, and doing all of that. But, when she around six, she has to bind her feet. She hates it, because she feels as her freedom is being taken away from her. After long fights, she is able to escape the cruelty of feet binding, but is disrespected by society in wicked ways.

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Both of these books show a change from childhood, where they face a shock of cultural revolutions, and are forced to conform or face the consequences. All things considered, it is clear how Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, has both themes of anti-feminism and growing up.

Persepolis - Literary Analysis - Juan Carlos

1. What theme or themes does the author explore in the novel?  Which passages in the text connect to theme?

Politics

Persepolis PDF

The book Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, occurs in the beginning of years of political and religious turmoil in Iran. According to Chapter 1,  in 1979 a revolution took place. It was later called the "Islamic Revolution" .  In Chapter 1, it also mentions that in 1980 all bilinguals schools had to close down because they are symbols of capitalism and then that lead to the Cultural Revolution. 

Persepolis PDF

According to page 3, in 1980 it became obligatory to wear the veil at school. That same page also mentions how they didn't really like the veil, especially since they didn't understand why they had to wear it. On page 5, it mentions that everywhere in the streets there were demonstrations for and against the veil. In conclusion, this book explores the idea of how politics can have positive and negative effects on people. Whether it is closing down bilingual schools or obligating women to wear the veil, politics will certainly change their country and create new laws. But what we have to remember is that there will be some that agree with the government while there will be some who will protest against it. 

Femeninity

Image Citation

In Iran women have strict dress code. In Iran and women are told what to wear. Telling women what they should or not wear is contributing to the fact that women are having limited rights. They are told how to act, what to think, and how to raise a family. A passage that supports this theme of femininity is  page 78, where children of different genders must split up and go to different schools. Marjane is not happy about this, as she has many friends that are boys, from her old school. In conclusion, it is clear that this book shows how in many places, there is inequality between men and women.

Blog 3 and 4

Illustrator and Connector

Illustrator



I think this picture expresses how lonely the holoucaust was for the Jewish community, as the book expresses in a more secret way the holoucaust was not only frightning, but lonely, This Picture expresses that more than any picture I could find, I think that this picture expresses both loneliness and pain in the same picture which is very rare.


Connector

I think that I would like to make a connection to an event in the past, the communist china, Although the violence and targets are nothing similair the death and injustice are, over 52 million people died in the chinese communism and their was a lot f injustice against people wh had a rich backgorund, just like theirwas injustice against the jewish community in the second world war. 

Blog #4 - Victor B

Persepolis

Pg. 62

Risk Taker Research

     Persepolis is an autobiographical comic book about the author Marjane Satrapi. This happens in her childhood during the Islamic Revolution. Persepolis is a reference to the ancient capital of the Persian Empire. This book was originally written in French and then translated to English. The author of this comic book is also an illustrator and film director. She is an Iranian-born French, whose parents were highly educated members of the urbanized part of the Iranian society. Her parents were politically active and supported Marxism. One reason that led her to write this book was the exposure she had to the growing brutalities of the various regimes in her country. She witnessed family members and friends being persecuted, arrested, and even murdered. The most important person in her life was her uncle who acted like a hero to her. All of these experiences she had when younger led to this very well written comic book.

Persepolis Blog Post #5 Illustrates artist

I drew this images to symbolize the Processes that Marjane goes through throughout the novel Persepolis. Hear tears are supposed to symbolize the times were she feels left out and decides to do things anyway, with consequences. The first time we see this happen is when Marjane decides to go to one of the protest, After her parents said not to. Marjane quickly left thought after seeing tat the people were getting slaughtered, only to find her parents running at her very displeased. And thats what the tears symbolize it means that every time her parents say not to do something and se does it something bad will always happen. The missiles are to resembles the consequences for example when Marjane snuck out with her maid they both got slapped by Marjanes mom and almost got killed at the protest.