Guess Who's Coming for Dinner

This short story entails a family man named Larry, who finds himself in a controversial situation. Larry comes from an Irish background and thinks his family is perfect until a certain situation comes upon him. His daughter Stephanie wants to date/bring home a black man and he doesn't necessarily approve. Larry's family frowns upon the idea that he isn't accepting of Stephanie's new crush and call him a "bigot". Larry doesn't approve of the interracial relationship but claims he isn't a racist. He goes on too prove why is this and makes a couple of interesting points. This isn't the complete story but it sparks a question. Is it racist if Larry doesn't approve of the interracial relationship his daughter is having? This is not something that only happens in the book but in real life as well. For an example ever since I was young my dad always said I would marry a beautiful arabic woman. Obviously now that I am older he mind who I married as long as I was in love. My dad might not see eye to eye at first, but my happiness would make up for all his doubts. What also must be accounted for is the old, conservative mentality. Maybe where Larry was brought up it interracial relationships werent common. The saying goes "People fear the unknown". Maybe now Larry's daughters will educate him more and his perspective black people will change. I guess this still doesnt answer the question, but maybe you guys can. Is Larry a racist? yes/no?

A Wife's Story

Like many of the other works we have read, A Wife's Story has the themes of gender, culture, and the American dream. Panna Bhatt is an Indian women who recently moved to Manhattan to get her degree in special education. She slowly adjusts to life in the states, but is still appalled at some aspects of American life.  She goes to see a play by Mannet, and is offended by the generalizations made about Indian culture and life during the play. She also comments afterwards on how she is not used to simple things like hugging a man or holding his hand in public; it would be frowned upon in India.
Eventually, her husband comes to visit her. He is amazed at American culture, goods, and people. After much shopping and sightseeing, her husband asks her to return to India with him. He does not like the way Panna is being treated by men in New York. Although, he ends up returning to India without her.
Which theme (gender, culture, or the idea of the American dream) is most prominent and important in this story and why?

Persepolis 247- End

This section of the novel begins with Marjane returning back to Iran. At this point so much has gone wrong in her life and she is actually relieved to go home. Marjane is extremely shocked about how much Iran has changed from what she was used to and she had to readjust yet again to a new life. All of these changes and stories that she hears from other people lead her into one of the darkest times of her life. Marjane become extremely depressed up to the point where she did not do anything. As time went on Marji began to recover and got into a school and became an aerobics instructor. Later on Marji met Reza, her future husband, and from there they had a good life until she realized she no longer loved him. Towards the end of the novel Marji is happy to be leaving Iran. That is not the life she is used after living in Austria and experiencing freedom. In this part of the novel the reader can see that Marji is really trying hard to make a good life for herself and actually find herself. She goes to France to pursue her dreams and finally put her education to good use Marjane is also more aware of all that her parents went through for her to live a better life and so she is finally taking the initiative to do what her parents want for her. No matter where Marji goes, she will always have a part of herself in Iran and that is something that will never change.

Persepolis P.197-246

In this section of the book, we continue to see Marjane loose her innocence when she starts staying in a communal apartment with eight homosexual men. Her mother surprises her by calling to say she is coming to visit. Marjane spends time with her mother and, because her apartment is only hers for a short  amount of time, she finds a new place to stay, a room in the house of Frau Dr. Heller. She continues to get involved in drugs after she finds out her current boyfriend is gay. After she finds this out she confides in her physics teacher to process her thoughts. 
     She meets a new boy named Markus and forms a relationship with him, however, no one  is in approval about this relationship. Marjane gets Markus involved in drugs as well, and gains the title Drug dealer.  She feels upset and ashamed that her actions of rebellion have gone this far. Why do you think that she is constantly rebelling? How has her loss of innosance played a role in her rebellion?
      As this section continues we learn that her life is a struggle, being away from her parents with lack of money. Alot of people in her knew area seem to not like her because of her name as a drug dealer(her principal). Later on she finds out that her current boyfriend is cheating on her and is very hurt by this. Her struggles continues with no money and no place to stay because Dr. Heller and Marjane get into a fight. She lives on the street for two months and gets very sick. She later learns that her parents have been trying to contact her for the past two months that she has been living on the street. Her life in this new area has gone downhill. She returns to Iran with her parents at the end of this section. How has being away from her parents in a new place changed Marjane as a person, and a kid? Do you think that everything she is going through and has been through as a child has made her a stronger person, or affected her negatively?

Persepolis 73-134

In Persepolis, the war has just started and it's already causing chaos in the population. The protest demonstrations soon got out of hand when things got physical. Men were beating protesters with bats over fundamentalism. Even though Marjane and her parents took a vacation from the madness of Iran to Spain, things worsened. Ever since the U.S. embassy was occupied, the country has lost control. Women were fighting over simple groceries, gas shortages made it impossible to even take a simple drive to a restaurant for dinner, and now they have involved the kids in the war. The boys were brainwashed by the government with the keys they recieved. As Shabab said, they were "convinced that the afterlife is even better than disneyland ." But the image on page 102 doesn't look the part. How do you think the war has affected Iran's society?

Can we also recognize how awesome Marjane's dad is in this panel:

Persepolis pg.134-197

Like most people, Marji just wants to fit-in but she also doesn't want to forget where she has come from. In these pages, Marji changes a great deal. From a naive child to a rebellious pre-teen into a confused and lost teenager. Marji has suffered the loss of a friend, being kicked out of school twice and thrown into a new culture. Though, her father was proud of her rebellious nature, her mother wasn't. To protect her, Marij's parents decided to send her to Austria to live with Zozo. At first, Marji is okay with the idea of being independent; however, Marji feels trapped because of the promise she made with her parents and her grandmother's advice from before she left for Austria. Throughout her time in Austria, Marji was relocated to a boarding school run by nuns and isolated. She had no friends and was the butt of everyone's joke, but she had good grades. As time passes, Marji makes 4 new friends and becomes close with the family of her roommate. She slowly begins to assimilate into the new culture and accept her new life in Austria, when she is thrown into a loop by the stereotypical comment made by one of the nuns, that gets Marji kicked out of school. Marji finds asylum with Julie. Julie is one of Marji's new friends, who is a little older and more mature.

I felt that when she first started living with Julie, she hadn't fully forgotten of her past life. An example is how, Marji notices the small aspects of this culture and compared them to the ones of her own. Marji, in a sense,  loses her innocence when living with Julie. In the remaining pages, Marji physically matures into a teenage but is mentally trapped in the mindset of her younger self. She tries to forget who she is and she longs to erase her past, since she felt guilty of not keeping her parents that she made with her parents. I thought that Marji felt guilty because she wanted to forget who she was but at the same stay true to herself, her family and her culture. Her problem was that she didn't know how. And so, she let the words of her grandmother physically tie her down and mentally block her from understanding the true meaning of what her grandmother meant. It took her feeling small and belittled to stand up for herself and keep her dignity intact. It was in this moment Marji realized who she really was and that it was time to take pride in it.

I can completely relate to the situation that Marji experiences in these pages. I, too, moved from my home country of Haiti at a very young age. I was placed into a new culture and expected to assimilate but I loved my culture, since it was all I knew, and didn't want to forget where I came from. I remember having once pretended that I wasn't Haitian to fit in, I said I was English. Many people believed me because they already thought I had an English accent and so I went with it. I also didn't take to kindly to things that were said about the people of the Haitian culture. It took, my Junior year History teacher's stupid and alleged comment about Haitians being so poor that they were forced and reduced to eating mud pies made with butter and salt. As a means of survival. And that our official religion was Voodoo. His ignorance caused me to get suspended. it was in this moment that I realized that I had to take a stand and set the record straight. And now I can proudly say that I am Haitian.

Persepolis pt.1

Persepolis is a graphic novel about a young Iranian girl named Marjane. Marjane lives in Iran during the Iranian War in 1970. There are many themes throughout the first part, such as coming of age, identity, rebellion, family, and faith. The Veil is about how Marjane's identity was concealed by her veil from the War. The Bicycle is about Marjane's perspectives on revolution. The Water Cell is about Marjane learning about her Grandfather. Persepolis is about Marjane learning more about the War that is going on. The Letter is about Marjane and her Nanny/Maid becoming "sisters." Mehri fell in love with a neighbor, but could not pursue her love for him because of the social class she was born into. The Party is about the celebration of the end of the Shah's reign. The Heroes is about Marjane's family's friends being liberated from prison and talking about their torture. Moscow is about Marjane idolizing her uncle and thinking of him as a hero. The Sheep is about the former prisoners being executed, along with Marjane's idol, Anoosh. The first part ends with the start of the war, a bomb.

Persepolis is a story told by illustrations. I think the way this book is told has a great impact on the story.
Why do you think Marjane Satrapi chose to tell this story as a graphic novel and how does it impact the story? 

Persepolis

Throughout the graphic novel of Persepolis, there seems to be false information circling about. In other words propaganda, the author Marjane Satrapi specifically says in the book, "God did not choose the king... He did so! It's written on the first page of our school book." In Iran they were forced to believed that their leader the shah was chosen by God and therefore anything he says has to be follwed. So far this seems to be the central theme of the novel realizing that all the information learned in schools might be forced upon the students, so that when they get older they don't question the rule of the shah. Throught the reading it is present that the author does not quite believe her religion is treating its followers , but however still follows as a result of the shah. This novel proves how we can be decieved and be blind follwers to those we call our leaders.

Group Discussion Leading

You have a date assigned to you (and your group) for Group Discussion Leading of Persepolis. We'll be spending the next few weeks on Satrapi's novel. At the beginning of each class, the group assigned to that day will start our discussion off with questions.

Each member of the group should have 2 or 3 questions. You should talk about the theme or idea you are introducing first, then ask the question. Remember this is discussion leading, so if no one responds in the class, you should be able to lead the class to the point!

For the question, you should have a page number that you can refer to in the text. You can also incorporate outside research if you want including websites, critical articles or nothing at all and just your brains! You are also welcome to incorporate other peers' comments from the blog.

Each member should lead the class for about 5-7 minutes, I would say. Remember it's just discussion . . . lead us to what's most fun and interesting for you in the text!

Make sure you communicate with your group members, so that you do not work on the exact passage, etc.

The House on Mango Street

Throughout this novel we can see Esperanza’s struggle with her ethnicity, gender, and sexuality which all ties into her ultimate search for identity. In the second half of the book Esperanza talks about her friends, Minerva and Sally and she realizes through them what she doesn’t want to be. Minerva is only a little bit older than Esperanza but she already has two children and a husband who always leaves. Sally is not even in the eighth grade yet when she gets married and lives in a house with her husband. Although Esperanza dreams of moving out of Mango Street and into a new house, she doesn’t want it to be a “man’s house”. She wants a house of her own and unlike Sally, she will make sure she’s free to do whatever she wants without fear of angering a man. Esperanza clearly values her independence but when she gets sexually assaulted, she loses a piece of it. She is confused about her sexuality and doesn’t know how to react when she gets raped so she blames Sally and all the magazines and books for lying to her about the experience. We can also see Esperanza’s internal struggle when she calls herself the “ugly daughter”. She knows she’s not like other girls in the neighborhood because boys don’t pay attention to her. Although she feels unattractive and unwanted, she creates her own “quiet war” which involves acting in an unrestricted and carefree manner.

The House on Mango Street

Throughout the book one major theme is self-definition.  Esperanza is a young girl who is trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be.  She is surrounded with women who feel trapped and are abused whether it is from their father or husband.  Hearing all of these stories about these women makes Esperanza realize she does not want that for herself.  In this novel, we see Esperanza going through many phases of life and experimenting with different things as she is starting to mature.  With Esperanza being sexually assaulted and watching the lives of the older women in her neighborhood, she wants to do whatever it takes to leave Mango Street. At the end of the novel, it is interesting to see how much she has matured.  Esperanza realizes that her dream home is not a flat or an apartment, but in fact a house of her own.  Esperanza wants to feel independent and not have to end up trapped like many of the women in her neighborhood are.  My favorite part of the novel was the very end. Esperanza says that she will someday leave Mango Street, but she knows that she must come back for the rest of the women who can’t get out.

               

The House on Mango Street

The House on Mango Street is about a little girl named Esperanza who dreams about having the American Dream. When she was young all she did was move from place to place, always talking about her family's dream of getting a new house. Since she was constantly moving, she didn't really know what the definition of "home" was, and she knew that she didn't want the home she used to have previously. She wanted the house in America, the stereotypical cute little neighborhood house, and she kept promising her mother about the house they were going to get. It represented hope for her, but Esperanza's dreams of getting the American Dream failed her. She thought everything she wanted and dreamed of was in America, but all she did was move with no improvement to her dream. Because she dreamed the American Dream, she learns about who she doesn't want to be and becomes more independent. She is very keen to gender roles, and with the observation she makes she finds her identity and matures throughout the book.

The House On Mango Street

The House On Mango Street is a book written through the perspective of a little girl. Her family is not very well off, but they dream to someday be in a gorgeous house. They move from Loomis, a building where the landlord refused to fix broken water pipes, however The House On Mango Street is not a big upgrade. It is located in a bad neighborhood and is very small. Esperanza is aware of her circumstances and at times is ashamed of them. As the story goes on we get to see many scenarios from the standpoint of a little girl in the ghetto. She gives brief descriptions of the people around her. However, when it comes to describing herself we find out that she does not want to be confined to a boring life in the house, like the grandmother whom she is named after. The book is interesting and the excerpts being short make them easy to read, while simultaneously have the reader wanting more.