English 485: Expedition Adolescence

In both The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Speak , both protagonists use art in order to build upon their own voices as individuals who seek to belong.  In  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,  Junior, an adolescent male Indian who lives on a reservation uses cartoons because they are a way for him to formulate his thoughts and experiences into a form of language everyone can understand.  He believes that languages are too specific and unpredictable, so if he is able to draw cartoons then can talk about the world in an artistic form, and maybe his drawings lead to a way to escape from his reservation; drawings are his lifeboats in a community where everyone is drowning.  Junior draws cartoons to better understand the world, to make fun of people, and to honor those who are close to him.  During a time where Junior is shunned by others on his reservation for enrolling in a white school, and failing to be accepted at his new scho...

What I really appreciated about The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian  was its ability to portray Junior's search for personal identity and acceptance, and juxtapose the adolescent development, experiences, and expectations of Indians on the reservation and whites. Sherman Alexie is able to critically juxtapose the development, expectations, and experiences of Indian and white adolescents through Junior's interactions with both environments. Junior is an Indian boy who excels in reading and other areas of education, and this causes tension between himself and the other Indians on the reservation who expect him to fall in line and fail. He seeks a sense of personal identity and satisfaction he cannot find the reservation so he chooses to enroll in a white school where such talents are celebrated and a pursuit of education is expected. While his academic abilities are in par and tolerated by his white peers at his new school, he is still not fully accepted because of hi...

The overall claim of the article appears to be that adolescent development has and continues to be a highly researched and debated area of study that has attempted to shift from a historical focus on problem behavior that had become the intrinsic nature of adolescent development to a more diversified, contextual, social, and biological approach to adolescent study. But according to the author, research and approaches to the study of adolescent development must continue to shift in their perspectives in order to create a comprehensive, normative and atypical theory of adolescent development that includes biological, contextual, social, and psychological influences.  While I agree with the author in the abandonment of problem behavior as the central focus of theories of adolescent development was the right course of action, I am not so sure I agree with the pressure to shift the focus of research from the overarching contextual, social, biological, etc. views of recent research in th...

Persepolis is one of my favorite books we have read. My 3 favorite parts if the book was the use of religion, perception of war, and use of graphic images. The use of religion is extremely important in Persepolis because it is what drives the war and is very important to Marjane's personal story. For example, if we start of at the beginning she has strong faith in Islam, and even states "I want to be a prophet"(8) at school. Although her parents are not as traditional and she does not wear an hijab her faith and belief in gods drives her childhood and hope. She turns to god many times when she does not understand things in life, She even states in regards to him, "the only place I felt safe was in the arms of my friend"(53). However, when things get so bad that even god can't seem to explain to her the lack of humanity in her country, that is when she walks out on him. The perception of war of war in Iran was also changed dramatically for me through this ...

Persepolis was a very interesting read as I have never been a big fan of graphic novels. However, this one was pretty good and it has made me become open to reading similar books with similar styles. I love the way the Satrapi made the protagonist to be a young adolescent girl who deals with this horrific governmental situation. She was able to tell the story from her perspective; a perspective that many people would probably never know anything about if they did not read this novel. For me the book was kind of relatable, not so much of the “revolution” that was going on but definitely with Marjane’s connection to God. I as well believe in God and turn to him when things aren’t going right. My perspective of God however is different. Marjane can actually see him in front of her when she calls on him and that’s something that I have not ever done before. Also, Marjane lost faith in God when her uncle was killed. “Shut up, you! Get Out of my life!!! I never want to see you again! (70-71...

I'm already someone who likes graphic novels, so I was really excited to read this. The thing that stuck out to me in this book, and which I really loved, is that Marjane is so curious and headstrong. I think she is such a great example for younger readers. She's vocal about things she believes in, she participates in the world, she seeks out new ideas, and she has ambitions and believes in herself. I think it's so rare and important to see young protagonists, especially girls, that don't let the world push them around or belittle them for being adolescents. It communicates such a good message to younger readers: that because they are young doesn't mean they're powerless and that speaking up for yourself and your beliefs is still important even if you think it might not matter. In a world that seems to try increasingly to suppress strong and passionate voices that go against the norm, Marjane is a great example of an engaged person who is always seeking to learn...

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...