Group work

Hill, Amanda
Bethune David,
Barrera Maria
Butron, Mariah

English 1B

Ms. Knapp

September 22, 2001

Group One T.E.A.

            As a group we came to the conclusion that the biggest adjustment we had to make when reading the graphic novel Persepolis, as oppose to a traditional novel, is the lack of imagination needed to interpret the work. We found some of the heavier subject matter to be taken more lightly when they were accompanied by cartoon style illustrations.

We have four main examples for this.

     First, Marjane depicts a torture scene in which her parents friends were victims of the prisons. Ahmadi is seen being brutally tortured. He is whipped, burned by an iron, and ultimately cut into pieces as punishment for his crime (51-52). if this were a traditional novel, the torture scene would have been open to the individual's own interpretation. 

      The second example we have is when Marjane and her family learn about the fate of the young boys who have the plastic gold keys around their necks. these keys grant the boys passage into paradise (102). this scene in the book requires very little dialog and if it were in a traditional novel it my lose its impact on the reader. 

     Another example would be when Marjane describes her grandfather. She gives the reader a very specific image of him on an elephant, looking very powerful. the reader is given such specific information about this person, any of their own interpretations would not have been accurate.

Finally, Marjane illustrates the massacre which occurred in a theater. 400 people lost their lives because of the shah (15). Again, we see the authors interpretation of the event. This is going to be inherent in any graphic novel as opposed to the traditional novel. 

Reading Habits

I credit myself as a workaholic. This semester I am taking 18 units. On top of this I am working 30 hours a week. When it comes down to it, I have very little free time to do anything besides get from one place to the next. This makes it difficult to read. Growing up, I was an avid reader. Even at a young age I enjoyed reading challenging novels, such as Rebbecca by Daphne du Maurie, which i read when i was 11. But reading does take up a considerable amount of time. I have a pile of books at home i want to read, but simply dont have the time to do so. I am thankful that the workload for this English class is limited to the occasional blog and some reading. Its not nearly as hectic as English 1C was. But then again I did take 1C during winter intersession.

Just so you can have an idea of my daily life, here is my schedule for this semester

monday and wednesdays: school from 7:40-2 with a 1 hour break in between classes. This is followed by work at 3

tuesdays and thursdays: school from 9-3 with work at 4

fridays: school from 9-12 with work at 4

saturdays: school from 9-3

As far as the reading for this class goes, i find time on the weekends. There is about a three-hour gap between English 1B and work. This is where I finish up my weekly reading for Persepolis. I am very happy that Persepolis is a graphic novel, or else finding time for it would be more complicated. Most of the remaining free time goes to my 5 other classes. Yeah i know, i chose this therefore i deserve the suffering. lol no worries though. 

In my ideal world, Sundays would be reserved for sleeping and sleeping alone. But alas, this is not the case. Any work I need to catch up on before the week starts up again, is done on Sunday. Like this blog for instance =]

I honestly don’t know how I find the time to do it all. I wish there were more hours in the day

Prompt 3 choice 2

I found that the only scene I relate to in this book is on pages 70 and 71. Here, Marji is so upset at the loss of her uncle, she losses faith in god to a certain extent. “Shut up, you! Get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again!” (70).

I was raised under a pagan faith. It’s comparable to Native American worshippers who held the earth as sacred. Pagans also believe in a goddess. Now this made sense to me because it was women who created life, not men.  I’d like to point out that both of my parents were raised catholic yet converted. They decided that this pagan faith suited them more.

I was about 11 when my grandpa Jimmy died of cancer.  His death was followed by my grandpa Wills death only a month later. At this point I had sat and pondered about death, the afterlife, and if there really was an after life. I never was religious, but I had an idea about what happened after death. My mother explained to me that our lives are like a drop of water and when we die we return to the ocean. The circle of life comes to mind. “We are all a part of the great circle of life.” Says Mufasa from Disney’s The Lion King. But the remorse brought upon our family from these deaths caused me to loss what little faith I had. I didn’t want to think about the pagan gods and goddesses, I didn’t want to think about if there was a Christian heaven, none of that mattered because it didn’t exist to me.

I still don’t believe in God. This isn’t due to a death in the family or any unfortunate circumstances. Its just the more I learn about our world and how it works, there is less and less need for a god to exist. If you are religious I don’t mean to offend your faith. Faith is a beautiful thing to have. It’s just not my thing.

Now, I think the author placed this scene in her book to really emphasize how impacting the death of her uncle was to her. Before this happened, she wanted to be a prophet for God. She had established a personal relationship with him. This is evident because she depicts herself holding conversations with him in her room. There is a huge contrast between her wanting to be a prophet and her telling God to shut up and get out of her life. The scene impacts the novel because it shows a change in her attitude. She is only a young girl, yet has to deal with very adult situations.

My two reactions were vastly different. When I bring my own reaction and background into the text, it distracts me from what the author was telling me about herself. I think it is important for a reader to think about a work objectively before putting his or her own emotions into it. 

Persepolis, page 37

After reading the first 53 pages of Persepolis, The Letter, starting on page 33 stood out the most to me. In this section, Marjane goes into detail about the family maid. The maid is only ten years Marjane’s senior. The maids name is Mahri and when she was eight she was sent away from her family to work for Marjane’s parents. Naturally, the two girls took to each other and it was commonplace for Mahri to refer to Marjane as her own sister. What stood out about this was the difference in social class. Though Mahri thought of Marjane as a younger sibling, Marjane was still of a higher, or respectable class.

It was shocking to note that Mahri was illiterate despite being older. At the age of sixteen, she took a liking to a neighborhood boy. Due to her inability to write, she asked Marjane to read and write letters to the boy as a favor. Unfortunately news of her affection was passed along to Marjanes father. Because of the social situation he decided he must confront the boy about Mahri. He then revealed that she was a mere maid and not his daughter. The boy lost interest for her.

Now, when I think of social classes my mind wonders back to high school history lectures about ancient monarchies. These strict social classes divided the country into different worlds of people. Its not something I associate with modern day, especially because I grew up in America. In America one has the opportunity to rise above the class they were born into, at least in theory. Though I am aware that this is incredibly hard to do despite our “equal rights” I have seen it done. Reading about Mahri was just a reality check. Mahri’s situation is not something that would have happened in modern day America, and for that I am thankful.

“but is it her fault that she was born where she was born???” (37)

It was evident to young Marjane that social classes shouldn’t be a life sentence because one cannot control the conditions in which they were brought into this world.

I guess the reason why I was so interested in this particular issue was because it is hard for me to understand the mindset behind set social classes. it really only benefits the few set of families on top. It guarantees their own kin wealth. For the entire population, however, it’s only restricting. Like Mahir, the bottom classes would stay uneducated workers. That’s an entire set of people who cannot reach their intellectual potential, so they cant contribute to positive development. Its all very limiting.

I believe a person worth should not be defined by where they came from. I know its cliché but people should be measured by what they do with their lives.

Both Mahir and Marane decided to go protest. They were met with opposition by Marjanes mother. This illustrated how difficult change is to achieve. When your society supports the status quo, and when society is made up of your neighbors, leaders, and own family, the status quo will remain the same. It is an unfair cycle that is reality for many. 

I Am

First of all, I've never blogged before. This experience is comparable the first time I was introduced to MySpace in middle school. Then again when facebook became popular during my high school years. It’s new, confusing, and i don’t want to do it. But like the previous social networking sites mentioned above, i will probably find myself enjoying the process and become addicted to it. With that said, i will tell you a little about who i am

My name is Mariah. I blew out my 19th candle on the seventh of July, 2011. My favorite color is purple. I am half Native American and half Portuguese. I live with my mom, dad, and 17-year-old brother. By house is currently overrun with cats. 4 to be exact, though two of those animals refuse to go into the house. a fun fact about the kitties is how they came into my family’s possession. it all started with my little brothers cat,

Princess. (my brother named her) she was taken to the human society in order to be properly spade. three months passed after said surgery when we noticed her belly becoming distended. fearing for her life, my parents took her back to the hospital. the vets performed an ultrasound and discovered, not tumors, but 8 baby kitties inside. Needless to say, we were not very pleased with the Humane Society. after Princess' delivery, we managed to find homes five of the cats. My brother and i refused to part with the remaining three. Yeah, when i grow up, im going to be that one old lady with all the cats.

On another note, I am an accomplished martial artist. I earned my first degree black belt in tae kwon do at age 13. I tested for second degree at 15, and last year i graduated to third degree. I have been teaching martial arts for four years. Currently, I work at the Ernie Reyes West Coast school in Santa Clara. I love what i do despite the low pay. The kids are amazing and my coworkers inspire me. I mean really? What can be better than teaching kids how to kick butt? Beats flipping burgers any day. as far as the actual athletic aspect goes, one might assume that i have good balance. i cant skate, roller blade, inline blade, or ride a bike with skinny wheels. It’s pathetic. the picture below is my third degree graduating class. they are my second family =]

In my spare time i draw. I didnt know i had an ability to do so during my younger days. it wasnt until i was forced into an art contest my freshman year of high school that I discovered drawing came completely naturally to me. I ended up winning said contest and selling the piece for a small sum of money. I have been drawing ever sense. 

My senior year of high school I actually taught an art 1 class, despite never having taken a formal art class myself. It was a great experience that I am happy to put onto my resume. My favorite things to draw are people. Im fascinated with the human body and how it moves. I also enjoy custom painting shoes. I made my first pair this year as a birthday gift for my friend. Shes into the show Dr. Who. So I came up with a simple design and I am very happy to report that it came out rather nice

At this point, I have run out of things to say. 

Thank you for reading my blog!