Hope Pierce- Persepolis

By -
Persepolis was different from everything the we've read this semester. Although I am not a fan of graphic novels, this was a nice change from a long plot intensive novel. I like how Satrapi used a young girl to tell her story of such tough and violent subjects such as execution and government control. It makes her very relatable to the reader. Her child like mind tries to make sense of what is happening in the world around her and she uses her strong connection with God to give her some direction. This would be a great book to teach in the classroom because of the fact that it is a graphic novel. This book has the ability to reach students who aren't big on reading while still teaching them about other cultures and important events that surrounds them that are guaranteed to not be taught in a normal history class.

Like some of the other books that we have read this semester, this book has some sensitive material that may be difficult to teach in a classroom, but the beauty of the graphic novel aspect is that it does not go into deep detail of what is happening on the religious and political fronts of Iran, but it does inform the reader of what is occurring. The graphic novel does a great job of handling the sensitive material such as Uncle Anoosh's execution, the burning of the movie theater with the people inside, and even Marji turning her back on God and religion (70-71). I would definitely recommend teaching this in the classroom to probably middle schoolers and even ninth graders.

Overall, it was an interesting read. Like I said earlier, I'm not a fan of graphic novels, but this was a good one. I enjoyed reading it.

Comments

  1. StephanieDawkinsNovember 21, 2016 at 6:33 PM

    I am not a fan of graphic novels either, however I love that we got to experience something different, something that we are not use to. I also agree that the book has sensitive content, especially when it comes down to religion. I think that pieces of the book would be fine to teach but not the entire book.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Pains - The Symbolism of the Tree in Speak

By -
I have felt the paralyzing pain of internal disease. The kind of trauma that causes your mouth to curl in and swallow you whole. I, like so many other women, are walking the halls in Melinda’s shoes in “Speak.” I thought Laurie Anderson did a phenomenal job of twisting all of the tribulations a high school girl goes through, into the tree that Melinda is. Whether we’re as strong as an oak or weak as a bush, we have all gone through the disease that strikes Melinda from the inside out. Melinda is like a half-dead tree. Some parts of her strive to blossom and create beauty. Other parts are broken and diseased. Like a dead tree, Melinda needs to save herself and “cut off the damage, [so it] is possible for the tree to grow again” (187). The symbolism of a tree is significant in “Speak.” Trees reflect her growing process. In the beginning, Melinda is a sick and lifeless tree. Her view is negative and dark. She’s so far past repair, bursts of sunlight do her no good. Sunlight would be pe...
Read more

How Starr Goes from Acting to Embracing in The Hate U Give

By -
In The Hate U Give, Starr Carter is caught between two worlds. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but her father sends her and her brothers to a private school where she is surrounded by white people. She talks about acting differently depending on what group she is around, which can create some identity problems. She says on page 11, "Funny how it works with white kids though. It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black." When at Williamson, she sees white kids that think it's cool to engage in black culture, but she knows they don't understand what she goes through in her Garden Heights community. She witnessed her friend Natasha's death when she was 10 years old, and she sees gang activity in her community all the time. When she is among her black friends, like at the party, they tease her for hanging out with the white kids. This reminds me of a Drake song where he says, "I used to get teased for being black, and now I'm...
Read more

Postmodernism in Curious Incident

By -
Before I start writing, I first want to acknowledge that I just really loved this book! It seemed like a lot of the class had trouble enjoying or appreciating the novel because it's so different stylistically, which is understandable, but all of those unique elements helped make the novel more authentic. The main topic I want to focus on (also what I'm writing my paper on) is how a lot of postmodernist elements were used in the novel to make Christopher come to life. While obviously not every postmodern novel is about an autistic kid, I think Haddon really used a lot of these elements to his advantage and they ended up working out really well to characterize Christopher. One of the major postmodern elements which helps this book really craft an authentic portrayal of autism is the fact that it's metafictive. Basically, this means it's a "story within a story." Readers would be extremely limited just reading the parts of the novel which are meant to be C...
Read more