Semester Reflection

This semester’s felt extremely long, but we’re almost done! In class we only read In Dubious Battle and Persepolis, but I had read all the books assigned during summer break. Each one had its ups and downs and they all had depressing endings. So I definitely learned that not all stories have happy endings. Persepolis along with my philosophy class opened my eyes to Muslims. Before I didn’t really have any thoughts about them besides that the women wore the veils and there were a lot in Milpitas. I feel like this semester I’ve learned so much more about Islam and their beliefs. I don’t generally agree with any religion, but I found that it’s just as good a religion as any other. Oddly I feel a little more protective of the people and the religion now that I know more about it, especially towards people who are ignorant and prejudice because of what a group of people did. I know Marjane is atheist, but her story goes to show that no matter where you live that we are all the same; I grew up in a Christian/Catholic home and became agnostic where she grew up in an Islamic community and still threw away her faith.
When the Occupy movement became larger I had already finished In Dubious Battle so it was easier to relate to these people in the movement and to see how difficult these battles can be. Looking back at the book it’s also easier to relate to why these people wanted to fight back so badly with my understanding of the Occupy movement.
When I finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian I was pretty shocked, I had no idea that American Indians were living like this. I knew they lived on reservations, but I always thought they were well off with the money the government gave them. I didn’t know that so many committed suicide, were alcoholics, or that they lived in such bad conditions. His story was very inspiring and definitely opened my eyes on these conditions.
I feel like this class and semester has really made me aware of the religious and racial communities in America and outside it too. I feel enlightened and believe I’ll hold these stories in my heart for a long time to come.
Besides the books we’ve read we’ve also learned so much about different theories. Before I was only aware of analytical theories, but I’ve learned many more this semester. In total I believe this semester was my most productive one so far and I hope the next ones here at SJCC and when I transfer are just as awarding.

Difficulty

I didn’t have too much trouble with the novel. I read In Dubious Battle before school started so I had plenty of time to read. It did take me a week or two to get through it because it wasn’t the most interesting book. Strikes nor Steinbeck are very close to the genre I enjoy reading, so it did take a lot longer to read it then something I enjoy would take me (even if it’s hundreds of pages less than many of the books I do enjoy) I have had a difficulty finding the time to write the blogs, just because I have so many other classes to take care of so the blogs fall to the back of my mind and I’ll end up forgetting about it. I think it would be a lot easier to turn in weekly at class because I actually feel like I’m turning something in, rather than posting it online. I rented the book from the library during the summer because my other books were extremely expensive and I did not have the money at the time to buy them. It was hard to get my hands on the book again because people kept renting it out, but I eventually got it a week or so after I started the essay. So that’s been a huge relief. Besides that I don’t think there has been any other difficulties with the novel.

Peer review

I got a lot out of the peer review last week and even more out of the individual conference. The people around me were able to give me some good advice for my paper and were able to point out events in the book I had forgotten and brought up things I could relate to my thesis. Ms. Knapp helped me out even more! I was a bit lost in how to incorporate all the characters with the psychological point of view. Although Mac was extremely easy to show evidence for and Jim wasn’t too hard I was having a lot of problems with London. The advice I got from everyone helped me out so much, I was able to see how the characters can relate better with my argument, I found better words to express these ideas, and was able to find better quotes with some help. I was also able to read a couple of the other essays, which had some very good points and gave me some inspiration. I believe the peer review was really helpful, but the individual conference even more so. Getting to sit one on one with the teacher to find what’s weak in the essay and what you’ve got down is so much help, especially when it has to do with a final!

Rough Rough Draft

This needs a lot more proof, probably a better explanation of Zimbardo's experiment, and some quotes, but here's the rough rough draft so far \(> o<)/:


In our life time we will play many different roles, the role of a parent, a sibling, a child. We may play big roles, like a leader or a small but important one, a follower, we may even play both. We are students and we are bosses and in each one we may have to act a certain way. In Steinbeck’s novel, In Dubious Battle, we see the characters play some of these roles, but also evolve into others. In the 1970’s there was a Stanford study done on a few men by psychologist Zimbardo. He found that people, no matter what kind of personality they had, could easily slip into a role that would change their attitudes greatly. In Steinbeck we see how a role can shape ones actions and behavior in each one of his characters and how everyone has the capacity to do good and evil things. Throughout the novel Mac has the most significance of good and bad things, he can be Jim’s good friend, but when he dies is quick to use him. London also transforms to being the man the pickers look up to a leader. Jim takes many different roles throughout the novel too and some of the more minor characters also show how role can affect ones behavior.
When Jim first meets Mac it is obvious that he has some sort of leadership role in the house. He makes sure everyone is doing what he needs to do and is also gives them assignments. Mac quickly falls into the role as Jim’s friend and mentor. He coaches Jim throughout the novel and gives Jim the confidence he desperately needs. In the first chapters Mac gets to know Jim, Jim tells him about his past and his unheard beliefs and hopes for the future. Mac is good at understanding ones character and decides to take Jim on his first strike of the season. On the way to the small town Mac is still playing the role of a friend and is able to carry on easy conversations. Jim trust Mac and follows him loyally. When the two get to London’s camp, Jim see’s London transform, He is able to think on his feet and pulls off the role of a doctor, he knows how to get peoples trust and is able to play each role needed easily. His personality also changes easily, he could be the nice guy with Jim or he could be a man of persuasion with London. He also was able to turn nasty when it came to people such as Mister Bolter. When Joy and Jim die Mac doesn’t even take a second to morn their deaths, he uses them for the cause he believes in. He lets the role of being a leader completely take over him; he loses his attachment to his friends and focuses on his task. Though this seems extremely cold, Zimbardo would argue that Mac was just playing his role, if he had just been a part of the strike he probably would have acted differently, but since he was a sort of leader he couldn’t let something like his friends death get in the way of a greater cause.
When London is first introduced he is just a well liked picker that the other pickers look up to. As soon as the strikes are ready to begin Mac quickly transforms London into the leader. London is always a bit unsure of his role, in private around his friends and family he is able to be his normal ordinary man, but as soon as it comes time he is able to fill the role of leader. London turns from being a little unsure to a strong leader who is able to convince people of what’s right and wrong. If London had not been chosen by Mac to be leader he probably wouldn’t have participated in the strike, but since he was he took up the role.
The main character Jim also has a great transformation. We begin with Jim who has little self esteem, he joins The Party because he has nowhere else to turn to and hopes to find something through working for them. Mac quickly sees that Jim has a lot of potential and begins to teach him things and gives him praise. Through the novel Jim is praised for little things that he does well and starts to build a foundation in himself that may have been able to support himself and become a leader. Jim is killed too soon to see anything like this, but at one point he does start to take action. Jim normally plays the role of a nice guy who is learning much about the world, but as soon as he gets into that short role of power, he goes a bit crazy with it.
In conclusion power and leadership can change the way one acts, powerlessness and being an underdog can also do this. With Mac leadership made him lose compassion when it was appropriate, London had to become strong even though he was sometimes unsure of himself, and power made Jim crazy. After Zimbardo’s theory Zimbardo believed that everyone was capable of good and evil and it was the role that shaped us, not us who shaped the role.

Character Response

At the beginning of In Dubious Battle we start off with Jim, a young man who is trying to find a place in the world. His childhood was not the best, when he was a teenager his sister went missing and the case soon went cold. After this his mother becomes distant and his father angry. A few years prior from where we begin the story, Jim's father had also been killed in a fight. Jim has just been released from jail after being arrested for viewing a protest. His mother has recently passed away and he is completely lost in the world. Jim feels that he will die like his father, fortunately when he was in jail this last time he met people who were in the party. Jim now believes that the party maybe his way out of this vicious cycle his parents unconsciously led him into. As soon as he gets out of jail he contacts the party informing them he wants to join. He is soon accepted and meets his party family, Mac, Dick, and Joy. He is now doing some of their unimportant work, getting a feel of what it's like to be apart of something bigger. He wants more though, and soon gets what he's asked for. Mac decides that it is fine if Jim goes along with him on the next strike and they head off to the little apple orchard town. Jim is amazed at the world outside the city he's lived in his whole life and longs to see more of it. Here Jim is really beginning to discover what he wants. When they get to the town Jim follows Mac around eager to know more about how people work and craving for the strike to begin. First they have to find where some of the pickers are camping and they soon find London and his group. They help deliver Lucy's baby and Jim is amazed at how persuasive Mac is and also how well he understands how everyone thinks. Soon the picking begins and Jim's feelings of being apart of something bigger strengthens, he is becoming more confident. Here Jim starts to understand how everyone thinks and is quickly learning from Mac's actions. Though not all of Jim's actions have seemed smart to Mac, many of them have turned out to be lucrative, such as Jim spending his time and effort on Dan. Jim also begins to understand the art of persuasion and adds in points, such as the cotton wages when they are talking to Dakin, in their conversations to strengthen their arguments. Through the rest of the story Jim learns about protesting and how easily men can get discouraged, but also riled up. He also learns how to deal with men who lose everything. At the end of the story Jim has a fire in his spirit that fuels him up, wanting to always move. He know feels that he has a purpose in life and wants to achieve it. He is a much different person then who he was at the beginning. I can easily relate to Jim's most prominent conflict, finding a place to fit into. It's hard to find what you want to do in life, and where you belong. Once I did find what you want to do it's like nothing can stop it though, which is a lot like what happened to Jim. Another issue Jim deals with was his upbringing and how his dad was an alcoholic, he could have easily followed into that cycle but he broke out of it. I too have dealt with parents who had similar problems, but if anything it kept me away from it even more. Though some of Jim's issues are easy to connect with them not all of them are.

Reader Response to In Dubious Battle

Throughout the first 150 pages of In Dubious Battle you learn much about Jim, the party, and what exactly they're fighting for. In the beginning Jim seems like a very mysterious man, you can't really tell if he's up to no good or not. We learn why he went to jail and how he grew up to be the person he is. His mother was hopeless and his father was a drunk who was always getting beat up. He had once had a sister, but she was kidnapped when they were teenagers and never seen again. From the first chapter you can really sympathize with Jim and understand why he's looking for somewhere to fit in. We also have no idea who The Party is, but Nilson seems like a nice guy so you don't presume that it's too bad. When Jim meets the other guys it really makes you wonder what The Party is, you have the leader of the house Mac, a crazy little man named Joy, and Dick who seems to be a real charmer. It's such an odd group you really wonder what it they are all striving for is. Although Mac seems like he could be a very intimidating man, he and Jim get off on a good foot and Mac tells him he is happy to have him be a part of the group. Soon Mac comes back one day and tells Jim that the two of them will be going out to farm to start picking some apples. They hope to lead a successful riot. It is then that you realize that the party wants rights for the pickers. It isn't stated what the party is, but at this point we can guess that they may be a part of a unions movement or if you know more about the history of strikes from the early 1900's, that it was the communist party. A few days later Jim and Mac head off to the town where the riot will take place. They travel by freight trains, heading out early in the morning. Jim mostly sleeps on the way there, but he is amazed at what he sees, he had never been out of town before. This is quite amazing for a man of his age! The two also learn a bit more about each other, Jim learns that Mac isn’t a prize fighter, which shocks him, but that Mac understands a lot about how a man thinks. Although much of Mac and Jim’s conversations so far in the novel are normally small talk, it gives you a lot to relate to and to understand why these people were attracted to join such a party. It also gives you time to attach to them and to sympathize for them. I think Steinbeck ha an amazing way in getting you to have a lot of feelings for a character, once you are drawn into the book. He often uses this to his advantage in many of his stories to get his point across and to touch you.

Feedback

I only got one person to read my essay because it was so long, but it gave me some insight in what I need to do. I need to add a couple more quotes and I need to add to add more similarities between Marjane's story and mine and I need to figure out a title. Hopefully the final draft will be what the teachers looking for.

Rough Draft

This still needs a lot of work with the grammar and adding in some of my opinions along with similarities to my life, but this is the basis of the paper. I think I'll be adding in some more quotes and references too, but here's the rough draft of my essay. Can't think of a title either.

In the graphic novel “Persepolis” the author Marjane Sterapi depicts her childhood through amazing drawings and dialog. Through her childhood Marjane changes significantly from a little girl who wants nothing more than to be a prophet into a rebel. At the very end of the novel Marjane’s parents decide that sending her off to Austria would probably be in Marjane’s interest. Though this may seem extremely drastic, Marjane’s parents had seen Marjane grow up and seen all the events in Marjane’s life change and form her. Looking closer into the novel there were many events that influenced Marjane to grow up this way, beginning with her childhood; her parents and family influence her, seeing what the government was like, and her experiences with the people around her definitely shaped her. When she is a bit older she sees more things that reinforces her dislike for the government but she also is a nationalist when it comes to the war, she now has more influence from her parents and friends, and it is during this time she begins to become a rebel. At the end of the story tension between her and government figures arise and she rebels more and more till her parents finally decide to send her off to Vienna, Austria.

            At a very young age Marjane knows that her parents are both against the government and put their extra time into protesting. Her father would photograph the riots, which was illegal and her mother would protest and join riots. Early on Marjane wants to jump onto the bandwagon and begin protesting, but her parents tell her she is too young. Marjane’s parents buy her many books so she is informed of what the government is like and of dictators around the world. When Marjane has ideas that are not what her parents agree with her father will correct her, Marjane believed that The Shah was chosen by God, but her father quickly tells her otherwise. He tells her how The Shah’s father overthrew her great-great-grandfather through politics and agreements with other countries.  Through this her parents shape her view towards the government.

            Society and the people around Marjane also help shape how she feels about the government. When she was very young, Marjane wanted to be a prophet. Her grandma plays along with it but her teachers find this very odd and call in her parents to discuss it. After the meeting her parents ask her what she really wants to be, getting the gist of things, Marjane lies and tells them she wants to be a doctor. She learns early on that society doesn’t accept everything. When Marjane gets a little older and has read a good number of books she realizes that her maid is not in the same social class as she is, at first she just ponders it but accepts it when her parents tell her that’s how things are. Then one day the maid asks for Marjane to write letters to the neighbor, whom she’s in love with. This goes on for a few months until her father finds out what is going on, he quickly brings a stop to their romance when he goes over to the neighbors and tells him how Mehri was not his daughter but his maid. When he gets back from doing this he scolds Marjane for writing the letters and that is when she really questions the class system, she believed everyone should be equal. When The Shah is finally steps down from king and the prisoners are released Marjane meets two family friends and her uncle; Siamak Jari, Mohsen Shakiba and her Uncle Anoosh. When they visit they tell their stories and her family treats them like heroes. She is especially fond of her uncle who had been in prison for nine years. Her family and family friends reinforce that it is heroic to rebel and be against the government.

            Marjane experiences a couple incidents that really get her questioning the government. Throughout her childhood Marjane hears many bad things about The Shah but when he is forced to leave, she is thrown into a very confusing situation. The teachers who once told her that God had chosen The Shah were now telling them otherwise, people who were once for The Shah pretended like they had always been against him and had been a part of the protest, and many of the prisoners were released. I believe this made Marjane question who and what was right because the teachers and neighbors could say that the government was great one day and the next day say it was evil. After The Shah leaves the Islamic Republic takes his place and start killing old reformist off. Eventually they catch Anoosh, Marjane gets to visit him one last time and then they kill him. This affects Marjane deeply because she was so close to him and deeply reinforces her dislike for the government. Another aspect The Republic changes are the schools, when Marjane first began school she had been in coed school, but when they take over they decided that bilingual and coed schools should be shut down, she is also forced the wear a veil, which all the kids really dislike to wear.

            As Marjane gets older the government has changed, she views events with more awareness and knowledge, and has also reached the age where she begins to rebel. The government has become stricter under The Republic of Islam. It started off with changing the lower leveled schools and forcing women to wear veils, soon after Marjane was forced to tell people she prayed during her free time and her parents had to put curtains up so the neighbors couldn’t see what they were doing. Marjane is annoyed with this but plays along. As time goes on they close down the colleges crushing Marjane’s dream to be a Chemist. People who were for The Republic also rose up in status; they took the higher leveled jobs that belonged to people who had worked hard to get degrees and work up into them. This is seen in the chapter “The Passport”, Marjane’s uncle has a heart attack and needs heart surgery, unfortunately the countries hospitals were not equipped to do this kind of surgery. His wife went to ask the hospital director to grant him a permit to go to England, so he could get surgery, only to find her former window washer. In the end the permit had taken too long to come in and Marjane’s uncle passed away.

            Marjane’s parents also see that Marjane is growing older and finally decide to take her protesting. Her mother believes she should start to defend her rights and so they take her to a dangerous rally. This is one of many ways Marjane’s parents show her that being against the government is okay. When The Republic took over they banned the drinking of alcohol, partying, and pretty much anything fun. Though many families changed their ways, Marjane’s family felt it would be unbearable to live without these things. They often held parties where they’d drink, dance, and play cards one of her uncles even had a winemaking lab. Not only do her parents tell her this is all okay, but so does the rest of her family. When Marjane’s uncle is dying her parents take her to one of their friends who is illegally making passports. They had planned to make her uncle a passport to get him to a hospital in England, but the passport maker, Khosro, was caught before finishing it. Marjane’s parents make it hard for her to be anything other than a rebellious citizen; they take her to rallies, bring her around family who also have no respect for authority, and friends who have illegal projects.

            Marjane has grown so much from the beginning of the novel and is finally starting to rebel against the country and her parents. She has also lost people important to her, such as her friend who moves to America to get away from the government and her dear Anoosh. When she loses Anoosh is when she makes her first step to rebelling; she throws out God. She had loved God immensely, but when Anoosh dies she tells God to leave and from then on God never comes back. The one thing that may have kept her from rebelling in the future is now completely gone. When Iran goes to war with Iraq the schools forced the children to mourn the dead twice a day and hit their breast. At first Marjane and her classmates take this seriously, but they soon start making fun of it (especially Marjane) and disobeying the teachers. Their parents are called in after they are all suspended, but they disregard what the teacher has to say and tell her that the schools shouldn’t be forcing the children to hit themselves. A while after this incident Marjane begins to hang out with older girls and decides to skips school with them. Marjane even states “I had already broken the rules once by going to the demonstration in ‘79” (111), which was when her parents took her to the rally; this made it seem okay to skip school too. When Marjane gets home her mom tells her off. Later she decides to rebel against her mom and smokes a cigarette, taking her first step into adulthood.

            By the end of Marjane’s time in Iran the government has become even more controlling and Marjane has come to an age where she won’t stand for it. There were organizations like the Guardians of the Revolution who enforced rules, they were pretty much cops. The war between Iraq and Iran had also gotten worse, they were throwing down more bombs than ever. Eventually Iraq bombs the district Marjane lived at, fortunately she had been out that day. When she hears that a bomb had landed near her home she rushes home, her mother is okay but when she realizes this she worries about her neighbor, Neda. When they pass by Neda’s house Marjane’s mom tries to distract her but Marjane notices a bracelet in the rubble that Neda always wore. She knows that Neda is dead. A while after the Neda incident Marjane gets into trouble and learns something horrible about the government. When the government wanted to kill a virgin girl (which was against their beliefs) they’d marry her off to a religious man, he’d rape her, and then they’d execute her that way they weren’t committing a sin. This shocked and disgusted Marjane when her parents warned her about her behavior, even though they’d been the ones who had raised her to be against the government.

            At the end of the graphic novel Marjane is rebelling more and more. Marjane wears what she wants when she wants. She is into punk rock so she is wearing fashioned clothes, one day she decides to go to a street where people sell illegal tapes of music. When she goes out she is dressed up in things that the government has banned. The Guardians of the Revolution catch her and are ready to take her to one of their headquarters but she is able to talk her way out of it. Another incident where Marjane rebels quickly snowballs out of control. Marjane’s school had a rule of no jewelry, but Marjane having no respect for authority wears it anyways. The teacher tells her to not wear her bracelet again or she’ll confiscate it, Marjane waves her off and the next day wears it again. The teacher sees that Marjane is still wearing the bracelet and asks for Marjane to hand it over, but Marjane talks back and won’t give it to her. The teacher becomes angry when Marjane is being rude and tries to take the bracelet from her and Marjane pushes the teacher off her making her fall over. The teacher, who is also the principle, expels her Marjane in an instant. Marjane is placed into another school where she again disrespects a teacher, correcting them on what they were teaching. It is after this incident Marjane’s parents finally decide that Iran is not a safe place for Marjane to live with the way they raised her.

            Even though Marjane’s parents decision may seem drastic they obviously had a good reason for doing so. Marjane had grown into a very opinionated young lady who wasn’t afraid to be herself and say what she felt in a country where it wasn’t safe to do so. This was a product of much modeling from her parents beliefs, the way they had made her feel about the government along with her seeing all the bad things the government did. Not only did her parents reinforce her dislike for the government but so did her extended family and family friends. If her parents had not spoke their opinions in front of her so often and had moved when things had started to turn bad Marjane would not have grown up to be so disrespectful and rebellious .

Week 4 Prompt #4

Near the end of the book Marjane’s neighborhood is bombed and a girl near her age, Neda, who she use to talk to is killed. After Neda’s death Marjane becomes fearless, she disobeys her teachers and gets expelled for pushing the principle off of her. Her parents go through the trouble of finding her a new school and when she gets there she corrects the teacher on some of Iran’s history. Her parents realize that it is unlikely that Marjane’s behavior will change, and Iran is not a good environment for the rebelling teen, so they decide to send her to Paris. Marjane is torn by the situation but gets to say good bye to her friends and on her last night she sleeps with her grandma, who gives her advice. At the end of the book Marjane’s parents are seeing her off at the airport. Marjane knows that she will never live with her parents again.

The end of the novel definitely leaves you wanting more. The story has lead you through Marjane’s life as a little girl wanting to be a prophet who lives through a period of time in her country where the government isn’t stable and this has led her to become rebellious. She loses many people in her life, some she’s loved dearly and have been killed while others were friends who had moved to get away from the government. Through unintentional influences from her parents and the people who surround her she becomes rebellious against the government and many authority figures, such as the teachers.

Seeing everything that has happened so far in the book, I think Marjane will be a little bit more against the religious reforms and the government in Iran, but she also won’t be as much a part of it as she was when she lived there. Everything that will be happening in Iran she’ll know about, but she will no longer be in it, so I think she may perceive it a bit differently then she would if she had been living there. I also think the move will be good for her; she will be staying with her mom’s good friend where there won’t be as many issues as Iran had. In a sense she is going to have more freedom then she had in Iran, though we don’t know what kind of person Marjane’s mother’s friend will be. She will be able to listen to anything she wants, wear whatever she wants and not be forced to wear a veil, the schools will also probably have a different feel to them. The people she is around will also probably be different, if they are from Paris they will probably have a different way of thinking and this might be very good for Marjane. If worse comes to worse Marjane may end up hating who she’s living with and rebel against her rules and her beliefs, but I doubt it. I believe Marjane will move to Paris, miss her family and country dearly, but will enjoy the people she meets. I think she’ll enjoy the schools more over there and may become more involved with politics.

Week 3 Prompt #4

After the revolution in Iran, as many as 3000 war prisoners were released. Some of these men included some of Marjane's parent’s friends. One of them happened to be was her friend Laly's father, whom she’d told Laly was dead. Marjane hears their magnificent prison stories and soon becomes a bit jealous of Laly, for having a father who got to go to prison for standing up for his country and beliefs. A few weeks later she meets her uncle Anoosh, who had been imprisoned for nine-years, which was much longer the Laly's father, giving Marjane much pride. Anoosh tells Marjane many of his stories; how he got into politics, moving to Moscow, about how he got married and had children, and how he missed his country so much that he determinedly wore a disguise at all times to come back and live in Iran, but is eventually caught. When he is sent to prison his Russian wife gets a divorce with him, leaving him devastated and deeply hurt. Marjane loves hearing all of her uncle’s stories and is deeply fond of him. She often listens or eves drops on her fathers and Anoosh's conversations and debates about the governments actions. Anoosh is living with Marjane’s family for a while, until they start hearing stories that one after another many of the old prisoners are found dead or have escaped the country. One day Anoosh doesn't pick Marjane up from school and she instantly knows something is wrong. At first the maid tells her that Anoosh has gone back to Moscow to visit his wife, but Marjane knows that he hates his wife, which only confirms her fears that he is dead. Her father eventually tells her that Anoosh is in prison and can only have one visitor, which he has chosen to be Marjane. Marjane is proud yet nervous to be his only visitor, she has never been to a prison. When she gets there they talk and Anoosh tells her how much he loves her. A few days later Anoosh is executed and Marjane is crushed, she has lost yet another one of her favorite people to this war with the government. At this point she pushes God out of her life, soon after her house is bombed.

Anoosh seems to have been very important to the plot because he was someone Marjane extremely loved and was killed by the government. He reinforces and deepens Marjane’s dislike for the ever so changing government of that time. His death is also the last of many tests towards Marjane’s belief in God. After he dies Marjane completely pushes God out of her life and when she wants and needs him back he is gone. I think as the stories goes on Marjane will stop believing in God completely and she’ll displace her feelings of losing Anoosh and frustration with the government onto other people. I also think more bombings and raids will occur as time goes on and that life will become even worse in Iran. Eventually I think her family will decide to move somewhere else till Iran settles down enough to live there peacefully.

Week 2 Prompt #2

In the chapter The Jewels (pgs 87-93), Iraq bombs Abadan, Iran. Marjane's mom is worried because one of her best friends lives there. When they get home her mom tries to call her friend, but no one is answering the phone, this makes Marjane's mom even more worrisome. A few days later her mom’s friend, Mali, shows up at their door in the middle of the night with her husband and two boys. After a while Marjane starts to get annoyed with the boys because they are very bratty and a bit stuck up, they are used to getting everything they want and living in a huge house. Marjane's father also isn't very fond of Mali's husband because he is extremely materialistic. Even though the boys were pretty hard to deal with, Marjane felt that Mali's mother was the worst of the family to deal with because she complains often and is judgmental. In the end Mali has to sell the only thing she had left, her jewelry, so that her family could start over again. This part of the story I can relate to the best out of the chapters we read this week because at times in my early childhood my parents had friends stay with us or we’d stay with them. Though it was normally just the mom and her children, I remember not enjoying theirs or ours stay. Because I didn’t have siblings around my age or was never put around children I didn’t get along with, I always had problems with the children I had to deal with when we were in these situations. Sometimes our parents could also get into fights with each other or with the spouse, it wasn’t always the best situation for any of us. It was always a relief when we'd find a new home or the family staying with us would find a new place to go.

As far as why Marjane decided to add this story into the book, I think it really impacts the story because it shows the violence and how frightening the state of the country was in at the time, and she wanted to share that with the reader. The big cities are getting bombed, people that Marjane's family may know may be hurt or dead, and they are extremely worried. It shows how families who survived these bombings had to relocate and stay with friends till they could afford to find a new home (I’m sure there were many who had no food, nowhere to go, and had to stay on the streets). Sometimes families like Mali's lost everything they had worked so hard for; they lost their huge home, the boys lost all their toys, and their father lost all the money he had earned. She shows the difficulties many of her people had to endure because of the government and war. At the end of the chapter Mali’s mother tells them how women in Abadan had started prostituting to make money. She looks at them in disgust, but I think it shows that in a country where a women’s body is very precious to them they wouldn’t start doing something like that for no reason, these women had to go that far to survive.

I think Marjane and my reactions towards the situation were quiet similar, we both were annoyed by the situation, but dealt with it because we knew there wasn't anything we could really do about it. Our parents had to help out our family and family friends when they needed us most.

My Mother Never...

My mother has never been one to crush people’s dreams. She's pretty good at talking the talk but not walking the walk... So far from everyone's blogs I've read, everyone has pretty decent or amazing moms. I can't really think of anything good to say about mine, besides that she's always encouraged people to do what they want to do with their lives and to not give up.

My mom was a party animal as a kid and into her twenties, fortunately she had me in her thirties (unlike my brother who she had in her early twenties). My father was still into the lifestyle when I came around and my mom always liked to have her girlfriends over doing God knows what. I was a pretty oblivious child though, they pretty much threw me onto the computer and video games and I was hooked (or outside with my friends). My mom was always extremely lenient on me, she never made me do something I didn't want to do, even if it was for my own good. She always had me with her everywhere she went, she even had a job where I could hang out (On their computers...). Even though I was with her I always shut her out of my life, I don't know why but I've never liked her. Now that I'm older I feel bad that I was so mean to her, but she's always annoyed me and I've always thought she was daft.

My father ended up cleaning up when I was about eleven and realized how toxic his and my mom's relationship was. A few months later he ended up meeting my older sister, who he hadn't seen since she was a baby, then about six months later he moved in with her and her family. My mom was pretty depressed about the break up (Even though she'd been trying to leave him for years!) and went back to substances she hadn't touched since I was born. When I finished fifth grade she forces me to go with my father for the "summer" and I was left to learn what it's like to share, be around people you don't necessarily like, and all the other good things she had sheltered me from (I should add in that we we're constantly fighting and looking back on it, it was the best thing for me. I was really upset about it at the time though). When the summer ended I was still on good terms with my sister’s mom, so I decided I wanted to stay for a while longer. My mom was hurt by this and probably got deeper into drugs, so it went from only seeing her once every two weeks, from only talking to her every three. I think at one point when I was around fifteen I didn't hear from her for three months.

So yeah...I didn't really start talking to her again till I was seventeen almost eighteen (I did see her and talk to her from when I was 11-17 but it was very sporadic and rare) . She cleaned up and moved in with my brother to be a full time babysitter for my nephew and it was around that time she told me she wanted to start seeing me regularly. I had also grown up a lot and could now handle her. So here I am at twenty, for the last 2 years I've gone over to my family’s house once a week to eat dinner and talk. When I call my mom she is almost always there for me and even she's amazed at how much better our relationship has become. As a kid I was always shutting her out of my life, I never wanted to be close to her, even as a toddler, but now I'd say she's one of the closest people in my life. I still can't stand her at times though, I'm okay for six or seven hours if I'm in a good mood and in a bad mood she really pushes my buttons. But she is always there when I need her and she encourages me to be the best I can be, which I can say is much more encouraging then my father.

I Am

Hello! I'm Ashley I'm a rather short but opinionated child.
I grew up in San Jose and have always had a ton of pets.
I really enjoy hanging out with my friends, drawing, gaming, reading and watching anime.
At the moment I go to San Jose Community College and hope to transfer to UCSC by Fall '13.
I know for sure that I'd like to major in Marine Bio...but I also want to double major but I'm unsure what that second subject would be.
I have a super sweet tooth and munch on candy constantly...sour candy is my favorite : 3.
I always have a couple of pets, right now my favorite are my chinchillas.

I went to Oak Grove for my first two years of high school but at the end of my sophomore year my dad wanted to move in with his then girlfriend, so we up and left San Jose to go to Morgan Hill. All the new friends I had made there ended up graduating that year, so I decided to get my proficiency and then took a year off of school. Last summer I started taking classes at San Jose CC and tried out a couple computer language classes that year. By the end of spring semester I decided I didn't really want to program. This year I'm finishing up my iGETC and next semester I'll start up on biology classes and see if this is what I really want to do. Like I've said before I really enjoy animals, especially sea creatures, so I think I would enjoy Marine Bio...hopefully it all works out, I just want a job where I'm happy to be there.

I enjoy doodling and have been drawing for quite a few years. Originally I was going to go to The Arts Institute but after a bit of thinking I decided to go to community college first. I took a couple of arts classes and decided that animation was probably not for me. I get wrist cramps after an hour or so of writing, typing, and drawing and I don't want that to get any worse, I'm also not confident enough to go spend thirty to forty thousand dollars a year at an art school...soo for now drawing will just be a hobby.

As far as my personality I'm very opinionated but open minded, I like conspiracy's and things that can't be exactly proven. I'm rather shy unless I can be a know it all...then I'll just talk and talk. I do have a temper...if I know you, if not I'll just keep quiet. I like to take care of people and to be helpful but I'm also very blunt. Sometimes I say things too harshly and I'm very sarcastic.

I really like horoscopes! I don't read or believe in daily horoscopes, but I love knowing peoples signs and natal charts (It's a chart based on the day, year, and time you were born & that what determines everything). I also praise myself on being able to determine peoples sign correctly with just a little bit of observation. As for myself I am definitely an Aries to the T ^^;.

Soo I think that's about everything if I can think of anything else I'll probably edit this.
-Ashii