“In this contemporary adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie,middle-aged single mother Farideh (Fatemeh Motamed-Aria) works in a food processing plant and moonlights as a telemarketer. Her shy daughter Yalda is of a marriageable age but her the brace on her leg complicate the possibility of meeting eligible young men. Farideh enrolls her daughter in various improvement courses, but Yalda’s intense timidity and physical impediments keep her from attending classes. Her brother Ehsan finds himself stifled at his job in a local warehouse, and spends his free time writing poetry, reading film magazines, and going to the movies. He mostly dreams of becoming an established writer and leaving his family obligations behind. But Ehsan’s colleague proves to be of great interest to Yalda and her mother as an eligible bachelor, and Farideh suggests her son invite him for dinner. Fatemeh Motamed-Aria won the Best Actress Prize at the 2011 World Film Festival in Montreal.”—New York Times
Monday, December 26, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
what I learned this semester
I learned many things in the English 1B class.I learned to read every thing critically.It is the most
important effect of this class.I also learned a lot of vocabulary.Each time that I wanted to write,
I had look many words up in my dictionary.another thing that I learned in this class is that how to
write an essay and how I can write a quote. I learned that as long as I introduce the quote and
explain why it matters, I can write quotes, but without introducing and analyzing quotes should
not be written.And the last and most important thing that I learned in this class is that when you, as a writer, get a feel about writing ,it comes out , perfectly naturally, and you don't think you should write, but think you need to write. As Mac says"Speech has a kind of a feel about it. I get the feel, and it comes out, perfectly naturally. I don’t try to do it. I don’t think it could help doing it (In Dubious Battle,148)".Writing ,as an art, without feeling is not writing, it is just doing homework.
important effect of this class.I also learned a lot of vocabulary.Each time that I wanted to write,
I had look many words up in my dictionary.another thing that I learned in this class is that how to
write an essay and how I can write a quote. I learned that as long as I introduce the quote and
explain why it matters, I can write quotes, but without introducing and analyzing quotes should
not be written.And the last and most important thing that I learned in this class is that when you, as a writer, get a feel about writing ,it comes out , perfectly naturally, and you don't think you should write, but think you need to write. As Mac says"Speech has a kind of a feel about it. I get the feel, and it comes out, perfectly naturally. I don’t try to do it. I don’t think it could help doing it (In Dubious Battle,148)".Writing ,as an art, without feeling is not writing, it is just doing homework.
Peer review
Pear review
Afer reviewing my paper by my peer, I found that my paragraphs were too long , and I understood that I can change each of those long paragraph to some seperate paragraphs with different topic sentence.
Afer reviewing my paper by my peer, I found that my paragraphs were too long , and I understood that I can change each of those long paragraph to some seperate paragraphs with different topic sentence.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Creation Of A Perfect Character in In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck
Zohreh Shojaee
Stacey Knapp
Eng 1B
Dec 12, 2011
Creation of a Perfect Character In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck
Sun light (White light) is a compound of all the rainbow colors and when the prism separates all of its colors we see many different colors, which are totally different from the white light. They have different wavelengths and different effects. ‘In Dubious Battle’ by John Steinbeck, is a wonderful epic novel. This novel is about a small strike in an orchard valley. Before writing this novel, Steinbeck had worked as a reporter, he spent a long time traveling to some area in Central California where agricultural industry had the best number of employment for workers. Steinbeck claimed that ‘In Dubious Battle’ was more than a reporting some events in the process of a strike, but he had wanted to underpin a philosophical work. His greatest master-piece in this novel is his “exploration of human behavior” (An Introduction to Marxist Criticism), which has crystallized in Jim Nolan .The main characters in the novel are Mac, Doc Burton and Jim, who are fighting for the same goal, and their hearts beat for the same people. They all are seeking a permanent peace for human and fighting for a constructive change in the whole world. All three of them believe in a man as a part of nature and the fact that how powerful a man in the group is. But, they express themselves in the different ways. Steinbeck has created three characters with three different prevailed dimensions. Mac has practical dimension; Doc Burton has the theorist dimension; and Jim has a sensitive dimension with his great potential to have all dimensions equally. He believes that human behavior needs to have all of these three dimensions. So during the novel we see how these three characters were affected by each other to create a perfect character as one powerful human. To build such a perfect character to represent the human being, Steinbeck needs to choose one of these three men to accommodate all of these qualities. His choice is Jim Nolan. Steinbeck’s novel shows that as much as the unification of these three characters creates a much powerful character than the individual, the men do in a collective.
Mac has all three qualities; however, above all he is a practical man. He has a dream for which he is fighting. He is fighting for equality and happiness in a peaceful place, which is the essential desire of human nature. Mac believes in man as a part of a nature and the enormous power in men as a group. “It is a big animal. It’s different from the men in it. And it’s stronger than all the men put together. It doesn’t want the same things men want- it’s like Doc said- and we don’t know what it’ll do” (Steinbeck, 323). He gradually observes what Doc Burton says about the cells in the body and agrees with him. “The animal don’t want the barricade. I don’t know what it wants. Trouble is, guys that study people always think it’s men, and it isn’t men. It’s a different kind of animal. It’s as different from men as dogs are” (323). He doesn’t know why men in the group are totally different from men as individual. He has done plenty of group works practically. But Doc Burton knows theoretically, but has not seen it practically, and now he wants to see. Mac has provided a chance for Doc Burton to see what he wants to see. This is the process of the unification of Doc and Mac as practical and theoretical dimension.
Despite his cold and rough appearance, Mac's heart is full of love; love of the people whom he is fighting for. In many cultures, young boys’ crying is disapproved by their parents. They are told that crying indicates weakness and has been allocated for women and not for men. Mac doesn’t divulge his feeling to the people and why he is fighting for them. “Everybody hates us; our own side and the enemy. And if we won Jim, if we put it over, our side would kill us. I wonder why we do it” (161). He has been hiding his feeling so that he even has forgotten why he is fighting. As Lisa says to Jim, “you helped me with my baby”. “Mac helped you more than I did,” Jim replied. “Yes, but he don’t look at me-nice”(344). Mac thinks that he should be absolutely practical without showing sentimental feelings, the same that that little boy doesn’t want to cry. But we see that somewhere in the novel he can’t hide his sensitive feeling as Mac said to Doc, “I’m not an actor at all. Speech has a kind of a feel about it. I get the feel, and it comes out, perfectly naturally. I don’t try to do it. I don’t think it could help doing it” (148). He even, when slung the dead body of Jim over his shoulder, didn’t want to use his dead body; it is just a feeling, a deep feeling. “Mac marched through them as though he did not see them “Mac shivered. He moved his jaws to speak, and seemed to break the frozen jaws loose. His voice was high and monotonous. “This guy didn’t want nothing for himself” (349). This sentence is the most sensitive sentence that he can use when he is mourning. He is full of feeling and emotion; he has the love of humanity in his heart. His dream is to establish a communist society that nobody is better than the other, and nobody can exploit humanity. But he doesn’t know how to explain it in a correct way. Or maybe he doesn’t even aware of having this much of love in his heart, or maybe he ashamed to divulge that he has some spiritual point in his mind. However, somewhere we see that Mac is talking about what Doc Burton has said, he says “well Jim, it’s a bunch of bunk; but here’s something that isn’t bunk. You win a strike two ways, because the men put up a steady fight, and because public sentiment comes over to your side” (154). “Those cops out in the road are special deputies, just working stiffs with a star and a gun and a two-week’ job. I thought I’d try and sound’ em out; try and find out how they feel about the strike. I guess how they feel is how the bosses told But I might get a line on ‘em, anyway” (154).
Doctor Burton also has all three qualities however; above all he is a theorist man. He has the same goal that Mac has. He wants to travel through a way which there is no oppression. He also has the love of humanity in his heart. He believes in man as a part of a nature, and wants to go in a way that all men are becoming a collective as a one. “Group-men are always getting some kind of infection. This seems to be bad one. I want to see, Mac. I want to watch these group-men, for they seem to me to be a new individual, not at all like single men. A man in a group isn’t himself at all; he’s a cell in an organization that isn’t like him any more than the cells in your body are like you. I want to watch the group, and see what it’s like. People have said ‘mobs are crazy; you can’t tell what they’ll do.’ Why don’t people look at mobs not as men, but as mobs? A mob nearly always seems to act reasonably, for a mob”(151). Doc believes that the reason that the other side of strike kills the people is that “the other side is made of men, men like you, man hates himself” (151).
Doc Burton has a broader perspective of the world. He believes that life is always moving without any pause. As he says “you say I don’t believe in the cause. That’s like not believing in the moon. There‘ve been commune before, and there will be again. But you people have an idea that if you can establish the thing, the job’ll be done. Nothing stops, Mac. If you were able to put an idea into effect tomorrow, it would start changing right away. Establish a commune, and the same gradual flux will continue” (149). While Mac thinks that when they establish a communist society, they have done their jobs and it would be the end of the way.
Doc Burton wants to see everything exactly as they are, not to judge. “Listen to me, Mac. My senses aren’t above reproach, but they’re all I have. I want to see the whole picture-as nearly as I can. I don’t want to put on blinders of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and limit my vision. If I used the term ’good’ on a thing I’d lose my license to inspect it, because there might be bad in it. Don’t you see? I want to be able to look at the whole thing.”(149). While Mac sees the world through a lens, a lens which has limited his vision to see the whole picture, a lens which labels everything as a ‘good or ‘bad’ things.
Jim is a character who has an enormous ability to understand other’s feeling and problems. He “is affected by group behavior and group or societal norms” (An Introduction to Marxist Criticism). He has a wonderful outlook on life. Jim just looks closely at all the process of the strike and all characters without any intolerance. That is what Mac asked Jim. Mac has found something really valuable in Jim. Jim has a powerful talent that can" see the whole picture"(French, xxxix).So Mac decides to take him in this travel. Jim demands Mac to take something to do, but Mac asks him just to watch everything closely.
Like Mac and Doc, Jim believes in the big different between men as individual and the men in group. Jim always talks to Lisa, as if he talks to readers. He looks at Lisa as the symbol of the people who has been victims by the system. "Everything's crumbling down and washing away. But this is just a little bit of the whole thing. This isn't anything, Lisa. I'm telling it to myself, but I understand it better with you listening."(318). In a conversation between Jim and Lisa: “I heard guys say the cops’ll throw bombs, an’kill us all,” she said lightly. Jim was puzzled. “It doesn’t seem to scare you much.” “No. I ain’t never been ascared o’things like that.” (344). He is inspired by the insane character of Lisa ,who does not scare of anything. Jim can see what Doc Burton tried to see (the whole picture) and has the ability to throw away what makes Mac to make mistakes. At the end of the strike, when it comes the time that Jim has to talk to the strikers and persuade them to continue fighting, he says "I can pull off this bandage and get a flow of blood. That might stir'em up" (347). He really wanted to do that in the best way, and he did by his bloody dead body. He stired’em up in his own way. He did his job great. He created the best end for this battle. “Sometimes sacrifice of the individual to some larger good is necessary”(xxvi).
“A secret of Steinbeck’s technique in his greatest work is his ability to avoid telling readers what they should feel and to make them participate in discovering the characters’ feelings by collaborating with the author in creating them. He sought-as he often argued-to promote understanding through his work, not to provide sentimental self gratification.”(xxv)
Steinbeck’s dream to create a character that is combined of all three dimensions came true. So I discovered that creating a personality such Jim, who represents human behavior, is possible. Maybe it needs a hard work, but it is possible. I can imagine if each of us ask ourselves who we are, what our part in this world is, and what our role is in the world, then we can change our world as a safe place where all the people can be happy and live as a one.
"Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain."
"Saadi "
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain."
"Saadi "
Works cited
Knapp, Stacey. "An Introduction to Marxist Criticism." instructorknapp.blogspot.com. 25 09 2010. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. <http://instructorknapp.blogspot.com/2010/09/introduction-to-marxist-criticism.html>.
Steinbeck, john. in dubious battle. Print.
French, Warren. introduction in dubious battle. Print.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Once upon a time a man who had no job migrated to a city in order to find a job. when he entered the city gate, suddenly a bunch of wild dogs attacked him. He decided to take a rock to throw the dogs, but it was too cold and all the rocks were frozen on the ground. He cried" what kind of city is this that they have tied all the rocks to the ground , and loosed all the dogs?"What a difficult job is fighting when all equipment is in the hand of enemy.They have money, guns, scabs vigilantes and...,.which make them powerful to fight against worker,while the workers have nothing ,which motivate them to fight against oppression.In dubious battle, the story happened in a small part of California named Torgas valley, a county which is in the hand of a few men..It occured at the late of the great Depression in 1930.At that time there were no large industries that support those huge workers to get jobs.So many of them had to imigrate to the agricultural areas such as Torgas valley to find a job to survive. Therfore with this huge number of applicants for work, the farms owners had an unlimited power to cut the wages as much as they wanted.They were sure that workers would get all the work done without any complaining.Despite owners assurance , a big strike started when an old apple-picker falls out of a unsafe ladder during his work. The strikers settled on the land of Anderson,Al's father. Anderson is a representative of a group of people who have a small thing and the least faciliteis to live, but they think they have everythings. His only fear is to lose his property."I am sorry for Anderson, but what the hell. If i can give up my whole life, he ought to be able to give a barn."(337) During this strike we witness that the enemy tries to defeat the strikers with different kind of tricks.First they try to prevent them to get food, then they hired vigilante to suppress the strikers, And after that they resort to fire the places by their own people, and kill them in order to provoke them to do something wrong ,thoughtless and illegal, so they could put an end on the Strike forever.
Jim's characterization
How does Jim's characterization progress to a point where he is similar to the grower?
How does Jim's characterization progress to a point where he is similar to the grower?
Jim just watches the process of the strike without any intolerance.That is what Mac asked Jim. Mac have found something really valuable in Jim. Jim has a powerful talen that can" see the whole picture"(xxxix).So Mac decides to take him in this travel. Jim demands Mac to take something to do, frequency, but Mac asks him just to watch. After watching and perceiving , and after having many argument with Mac(with , Doc Burton, London(who is the symbol of all workers) and all many workers in the strike, he turns to a kind of perfection of Mac, Burton, London and many other people whose hearts are beating for the humans. Jim says"Everything's crumbling down and washing away.But this is just a little bit of the whole thing.This isn't anything,Lisa.I'm telling it to myself,but i understand it better with you listening." at the end of the strike when it comes the time that Jim has to talk to the strikers and persuade them to continue fighting, He says"I can pull off this bandage and get a flow of blood. that might stir'em up." He really wanted to do that in the best way, and he did by his bloody dead body. He stired'em up in the best ever way that he could.,much better than any speech..He did his job great.He created the best end for this battle.
“Sometimes sacrifice of the individual to some larger good is necessary”(xxvi).
Jim just watches the process of the strike without any intolerance.That is what Mac asked Jim. Mac have found something really valuable in Jim. Jim has a powerful talen that can" see the whole picture"(xxxix).So Mac decides to take him in this travel. Jim demands Mac to take something to do, frequency, but Mac asks him just to watch. After watching and perceiving , and after having many argument with Mac(with , Doc Burton, London(who is the symbol of all workers) and all many workers in the strike, he turns to a kind of perfection of Mac, Burton, London and many other people whose hearts are beating for the humans. Jim says"Everything's crumbling down and washing away.But this is just a little bit of the whole thing.This isn't anything,Lisa.I'm telling it to myself,but i understand it better with you listening." at the end of the strike when it comes the time that Jim has to talk to the strikers and persuade them to continue fighting, He says"I can pull off this bandage and get a flow of blood. that might stir'em up." He really wanted to do that in the best way, and he did by his bloody dead body. He stired'em up in the best ever way that he could.,much better than any speech..He did his job great.He created the best end for this battle.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
In Dubius Battle
In Dubious Battle
All the time that I was reading the novel In Dubious Battle I was thinking what would happen if all those workers had been reached that level of consciousness which Mac and Jim had reached. They had no fear to fight against everybody who wanted to exploit them.Mac and Jim didn't feel being separate from other workers, or better to say the whole human being.They had found the truth that all of the people are one nature.Their heart were as big as a sea.They didn't want any profit unless all the people could have it.They couldn't be happy unless all the people were happy.They even fight for those who hate them because they were red."Everybody hates us;our own side and the enemy.And if we won,Jim, if we put it over, our own side would kill us.I wonder why we do it."(161). Now I think if every body could reach that consciousness to know what is happening all around, and if everybody knows that he works and gets just a few percents of his real wages, and the rest of it goes to the pocket of those minor people who exploit him. Then someone like Mac doesn't have to fight for others, and he would fight beside Mac for all one nature(humanities). In that case all the people do the thing that should do, and Mac does not have to decide what the other should do.If it happened, Mac and Jim wouldn't have to take all the blame, or better to say there would be no mistake to need to take the blame. All we did would be generated from our nature, no matter we would win or loose. The thing that mattered was that we should fight with those unusual men who try to obstruct our way to live in the way that we deserve.If it happened, that all of us had consciousness a barn (the place that workers had settled in it), wouldn't be" burned down by our own kind of men"(292)What would happen if each of us asked ourselves "who we are, what is our part in this world and what is our role to make the world as the same that all humanities be happy and live as a one?"
In this novel Mac and Jim did more than their role in this world.In the end of the strike we see that "God Mac, you ought to of seen them. It was like all of them disappeared, and it was just one big-animal,going down the road.Just all one animal." (322)Then they go and knock that barricade, because " the animal don't want barricade." (323).Becoming like animal means to come back to our nature, that there is no fear of what would happen in the future if we knock the barricade which has obstructed our way.And the more valuable issue in this strike was that they wanted to decide by themselves if they fight or run away.They want to vote.In next movement this big animal Who wants to decide by himself would become bigger and bigger.
"Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain."
"Saadi "
All the time that I was reading the novel In Dubious Battle I was thinking what would happen if all those workers had been reached that level of consciousness which Mac and Jim had reached. They had no fear to fight against everybody who wanted to exploit them.Mac and Jim didn't feel being separate from other workers, or better to say the whole human being.They had found the truth that all of the people are one nature.Their heart were as big as a sea.They didn't want any profit unless all the people could have it.They couldn't be happy unless all the people were happy.They even fight for those who hate them because they were red."Everybody hates us;our own side and the enemy.And if we won,Jim, if we put it over, our own side would kill us.I wonder why we do it."(161). Now I think if every body could reach that consciousness to know what is happening all around, and if everybody knows that he works and gets just a few percents of his real wages, and the rest of it goes to the pocket of those minor people who exploit him. Then someone like Mac doesn't have to fight for others, and he would fight beside Mac for all one nature(humanities). In that case all the people do the thing that should do, and Mac does not have to decide what the other should do.If it happened, Mac and Jim wouldn't have to take all the blame, or better to say there would be no mistake to need to take the blame. All we did would be generated from our nature, no matter we would win or loose. The thing that mattered was that we should fight with those unusual men who try to obstruct our way to live in the way that we deserve.If it happened, that all of us had consciousness a barn (the place that workers had settled in it), wouldn't be" burned down by our own kind of men"(292)What would happen if each of us asked ourselves "who we are, what is our part in this world and what is our role to make the world as the same that all humanities be happy and live as a one?"
In this novel Mac and Jim did more than their role in this world.In the end of the strike we see that "God Mac, you ought to of seen them. It was like all of them disappeared, and it was just one big-animal,going down the road.Just all one animal." (322)Then they go and knock that barricade, because " the animal don't want barricade." (323).Becoming like animal means to come back to our nature, that there is no fear of what would happen in the future if we knock the barricade which has obstructed our way.And the more valuable issue in this strike was that they wanted to decide by themselves if they fight or run away.They want to vote.In next movement this big animal Who wants to decide by himself would become bigger and bigger.
"Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain."
"Saadi "
Monday, October 31, 2011
Final draft
Final Draft
In Persepolis, Marjan has a great message to all people around the world. Her rebelling against anything that is wrong , and her independent mind are admirable."Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you -- who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, and treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder."(Charlie Chaplin ,final speech in the Great Dictator). During the hard time of her life, when the government was controlling people and manipulating their religions, ideologies, and situations, she figured out the truth that people deserve happiness, freedom and equality in their life, and she stood up along with several others to fight for her belief.
“I was born with religion” (Satrapi 6). Some people think that a religious person is defined as a person who prays regularly. I also believe that Marjan was born with religion. Most people are born with religion, without having any chance to choose. The kind of religion we are born with depends on the religion of our ancestors. It has become a tradition in every society. Nobody is asked whether s/he wants to have religion or not, or which religion s/he wants to have. I think most people who claim to have a religious belief, don't even know what their own religion says; they attack the different ideas blindly, and don't take a chance to learn different ideas. Intolerance has made them blind. "Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance" (Chaplin). I don,t have enough knowledge about religions, but the only thing that I know is that unfortunately religions have been the best tools in the leaders’ greedy hands. For example, in my country Iran, Islamic republic encouraged young people to fight against Iraq and said that suffering martyrdom would take them to heaven. "The key to paradise was for poor people. Thousands of young kids, promised a better life, exploded on the minefields with their keys around their necks” (Satrapi 102).
Marjan is the symbol of a deep humanity, who is looking for happiness, respect, sympathy towards others, equality and freedom for all the humanity, someone whose mind has not been too manipulated to lose her consciousness completely. She is still having the love of humanity in her heart. She naturally feels that all of the humanity has one nature, so all of them have the same right to live. She is the symbol of the natural man whose mind has not yet changed completely. Before the revolution in Iran the educational system which is the main language of the governors, told her that Shah-the king of Iran- was the representative of God and after the revolution, the next government claims to be the representative of God too. She got confused especially when her teacher who, “was the one who told us that the Shah was chosen by God."(Perspolis 44) said, "Children, tear out all the photos of the Shah from your books."(Satrapi 44).She couldn’t digest that some people in power "tell us what to do and what to think and what to feel"(Charlie Chaplin final speech in the Great Dictator). In 1980, "the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school"(Satrapi 3) what was the difference between Reza Khan (the father of Shah) and the Islamic Republic? Reza Khan forced people to take off their veil and Islamic republic forced them to wear the veil. Marjan had a lot of questions in her mind. Some of them were answered by her parents and some understood by reading books. She began to search for the answers of her questions from any kind of sources. It was lucky that Marjan's family was open-minded enough to help her find the answers. Even one day her father said, “I think you are old enough to understand certain things you should know...."(Satrapi 22). Somewhere else she said, “I realized then that I didn't understand anything. I read all the books I could.” (Satrapi 32) She always had a dream of equality and justice for all the people who suffered class distinction. She believed in God as the symbol of justice and equality who supported the oppressed. But when she found out that God did nothing to prevent these cruel and injustices, she didn’t stick to believing in God, and lost her faith. She tried to find some other way to reach her dreams.
Marjan is a brave individual who tries to know the truth without intolerance. "Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.”(Charlie Chaplin final speech in the Great Dictator) She wants to make her own decisions, and not follow a wrong way just because that is a public opinion. All of those who have the same thoughts as Marjan can't stay silent when the people in power on the top of the pyramid, who can be counted by fingers, are always making bloodshed in order to satisfy their greed, while on the bottom of the pyramid the people are striving to survive.
Marjan is one of these people around the world who have understood the truth and are standing against oppression, exploitation, and injustice. Those 99% who are demonstrating against 1% in the occupy wall street in New York , Oakland, and all around the world, those who are fighting against oppressors in Iran, Libya, Syria and Egypt, … ,those who are speaking out that we are not cattle, we are not machines, we are men. “Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate" (Charlie Chaplin final speech in Great Dictatot). People no matter in what time and situation are human being that deserve freedom and rights, under no control of anyone but themselves.
Work Citation
Satrapi, Marjane, Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004.Print.
"Charlie Chaplin Final Speech in The Great Dictator - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 31 Oct. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4>.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
What was the purpose for all of this tragedy?
One of the most significant defining characteristics of revolutionary generation is being rebellious, or at least in my country-Iran- it was. Also one of the most significant defining of a succeeding revolution is that the majority of the people in a society rebel against the government’s authority, and children cannot be excluded from this majority. I remember one day during the revolution, we had some guests in our home. As usual their children were playing with each others. They were between the ages of four to seven. Something interesting drew my attention to their playing. It was the beginning of the game. They were introducing themselves to others. It was something like a referendum. One of them said that she wanted a proletarian government. Another one said he wanted liberalism and so on. I remember at that time I had a four years old brother. I loved to buy and read books for him. All of those books were trying to teach children to unite against the oppression. His common questions were about politics. For example, what “liberalism” meant, or why the Iraq attacked our country, or what “imperialism” meant and so on. The children witnessed the proceedings of the revolution and they were closely involved in these proceedings. This generation knew much more than the other children at the same age in other countries. A deep sense of social injustice was developed among the people especially children. They learned to resist to any injustice and violence, and after victory they saw the result of this resistance. They have earned this knowledge by practical experiences, not just by reading books or watching movies. Right after the revolution, all subjects and titles of books, movies and media were changed. However, the content of all was rebellious and resistant until achieving victory. Then children knew that they didn’t have to endure oppression. Marjan was not the only child who rebelled against the situation which she did not agree with. Iran witnessed a huge number of such rebels who were killed during and after the Islamic revolution. Marjan and her family was one of the luckiest families who experienced a minimum of loss. They had money to send their beloved child to a safe place that nobody could kill her because of her opinion. Her family witnessed a lot of families who lost their children because of being executed or being killed in the war. An eight year imposed war which had no change in the borders, but left about half a million killed and wounded people who are still suffering the effect of chemical weapons, a war that just benefited the big weapons factories especially Americans factories, which could sell their weapons to both Iran and Iraq.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
execution
Execution
One of the saddest scenes of the book is when Marji heard that his uncle Anoosh executed as a Russian spy .This news touched the heart of Marjan severely. She loved uncle Anoosh .She always had a dream of equality and justice for all the people and suffered that their maid eat lunch separately. She could feel class distinctions in the society and suffers that people are treated unfairly and not only are not given their rights, but also are killed because of their demands for their rights. She is seeking for a powerful hero to efface this injustice from the society. During revolution she thinks that the only one who can help her to reach her desires is God. Before the death of Anoosh, probably she had never had such a horrible moment like this, especially that uncle Anoosh was one of the heroes in her mind. Now they executed him. Before that sad event , she believed in God as the symbol of justice and equality who supports the oppressed. Now she finds that God did nothing to prevent these criminal actions. On the other hand she thinks that this regime is a representative of God. All of her images about God came to nought. She is really angry and frustrated, so when God comes to her and asks her what has happened, she yelled at God and says "shut up, you get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again" ( 70). Now she needs to replace someone else instead of God. The best choose is Marx. Especially that uncle anoosh and her grandfather had been following his ideology.
I have a lot of horrible memories during the time that Iran was in an atmosphere of terror with a huge number of executions. Any time that I remember these memory, I get a horrible palpitations. It was about one or two years after war. At that time the chief Justice of Iran was a theologian , named khalkhali, chosen by Ayatollah Khomeini ,The leader of the revolution. "Khalkhali later investigated and ordered the execution of many activists for federalism in Kurdistan"(a province of Iran), "At the height of its activity Khalkhali's revolutionary court sentenced to death "up to 60 Kurds a day". (Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali, The Daily Telegraph 28 November 2003)
At that time there were many protest groups and parties who criticized the government and tried to warn people about all of wrong actions of the government. To prevent the people from revolting against the government Khalkhali ordered the execution of many activists. They had legislated a law that everyone who revolt against the government during the war, is an enemy of God ,and every opposition against government is exactly the same as warring against God, and should be executed. So he ordered to inspect all the houses and cars and people who were suspected of having banned books, manifestos, printing machine, and so on ....The people had no security in their own place. During and After the Islamic revelation, the most people who were involved the revolution were interested to know about different ideologies and different political views. So they had all kind of books, magazines and etc in their home. Now they had to hide them from the Basijies(religious police). Some people who had big town house burned all of their banned books and another items. Some times Basijies(police) could find revolutionary by the smoke of the fire, and arrested them. Some people took their books and printing machines out of their home and hide them out of town, but it was not easy because the basijies were everywhere on the roads to inspect the them. If they were arrested, they rarely could be rescued from the dead penalty punishment. I remember that in our neighborhood a child of a family was burned in the fire while they were trying to burn their printing machine. Many sources believe that Khalkhali had sentenced 8.000 men and women to dead penalty
One of the saddest scenes of the book is when Marji heard that his uncle Anoosh executed as a Russian spy .This news touched the heart of Marjan severely. She loved uncle Anoosh .She always had a dream of equality and justice for all the people and suffered that their maid eat lunch separately. She could feel class distinctions in the society and suffers that people are treated unfairly and not only are not given their rights, but also are killed because of their demands for their rights. She is seeking for a powerful hero to efface this injustice from the society. During revolution she thinks that the only one who can help her to reach her desires is God. Before the death of Anoosh, probably she had never had such a horrible moment like this, especially that uncle Anoosh was one of the heroes in her mind. Now they executed him. Before that sad event , she believed in God as the symbol of justice and equality who supports the oppressed. Now she finds that God did nothing to prevent these criminal actions. On the other hand she thinks that this regime is a representative of God. All of her images about God came to nought. She is really angry and frustrated, so when God comes to her and asks her what has happened, she yelled at God and says "shut up, you get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again" ( 70). Now she needs to replace someone else instead of God. The best choose is Marx. Especially that uncle anoosh and her grandfather had been following his ideology.
I have a lot of horrible memories during the time that Iran was in an atmosphere of terror with a huge number of executions. Any time that I remember these memory, I get a horrible palpitations. It was about one or two years after war. At that time the chief Justice of Iran was a theologian , named khalkhali, chosen by Ayatollah Khomeini ,The leader of the revolution. "Khalkhali later investigated and ordered the execution of many activists for federalism in Kurdistan"(a province of Iran), "At the height of its activity Khalkhali's revolutionary court sentenced to death "up to 60 Kurds a day". (Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali, The Daily Telegraph 28 November 2003)
At that time there were many protest groups and parties who criticized the government and tried to warn people about all of wrong actions of the government. To prevent the people from revolting against the government Khalkhali ordered the execution of many activists. They had legislated a law that everyone who revolt against the government during the war, is an enemy of God ,and every opposition against government is exactly the same as warring against God, and should be executed. So he ordered to inspect all the houses and cars and people who were suspected of having banned books, manifestos, printing machine, and so on ....The people had no security in their own place. During and After the Islamic revelation, the most people who were involved the revolution were interested to know about different ideologies and different political views. So they had all kind of books, magazines and etc in their home. Now they had to hide them from the Basijies(religious police). Some people who had big town house burned all of their banned books and another items. Some times Basijies(police) could find revolutionary by the smoke of the fire, and arrested them. Some people took their books and printing machines out of their home and hide them out of town, but it was not easy because the basijies were everywhere on the roads to inspect the them. If they were arrested, they rarely could be rescued from the dead penalty punishment. I remember that in our neighborhood a child of a family was burned in the fire while they were trying to burn their printing machine. Many sources believe that Khalkhali had sentenced 8.000 men and women to dead penalty
Sunday, September 18, 2011
My mother never...
My mother never compared me with anybody else. She never talked about the words " better" ,"worse", "good" or "bad". She always asked me to be myself without comparing with others. She always emphasized the importance of being myself. She told me that there is a great power in accepting yourself , and when you accept yourself exactly as you are, you would release all of your potential which is needed to be grown, and then you can do everything that you want. She advised me that never try to be someone else, just because you think someone else is better than you. all people are equal. no one is better than another. this idea that you should be better than the others has been generated by our society just because they want make us to forget that we are all one nature. maybe you think that my mother is an educated person. on the contrary she is not educated. she didn't even graduate in her high school . I think this is the key that her natural mind has not been manipulated by educational system.
Now after many years of my childhood I can consider all of the truths that my mom has thought me .I see people pretend that they like each other ,but this is just a show. all of them want to be better than others, so they cannot like those who have left them behind. People cannot love and hate at the same time ,and this awful competing life desires to hate if we want to win. we are always struggling to win, but on the other hand we need to love because of our nature. these two desires are inconsistent with each other. so we always carry a contradiction in our life.
Now after many years of my childhood I can consider all of the truths that my mom has thought me .I see people pretend that they like each other ,but this is just a show. all of them want to be better than others, so they cannot like those who have left them behind. People cannot love and hate at the same time ,and this awful competing life desires to hate if we want to win. we are always struggling to win, but on the other hand we need to love because of our nature. these two desires are inconsistent with each other. so we always carry a contradiction in our life.
Friday, September 9, 2011
I am
I am Zohreh Shojaee. I was born in Iran.I have been here in US for 3 years. My most important goal is to know who i am,and why i am here (on Earth), and who I want to be. Until a few months ago I thought that i have to be someone that society wants me to be based on it's own values.The values that each society imposes us and says that you are a good person if you have this kind of character, wear in a particular way, learn the only subjects that can brings money and so on. So in every society i have to change my character hobbies,life style,the way of wearing clothes and so on.I love to learn something while I have to learn something else (which I'm not interested in) but I learn it just because I need to make money to live.Now I have found that there are a lot of spiritual needs that we have never spent any time to think about it.
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