Week Nine

Farmworkers are essential to the economic well-being of U.S. society, but they continue to live and work under conditions which deprive them of what is decent and adequate to survive. They are among the poorest paid workers in this country and have struggled to be included under the minimum wage laws. The wages they receive result in farmworkers and their families living in conditions of poverty. At their workplace and in communities in which they live, they face discrimination and exploitation. Intentional exclusion from these protections denies farmworkers such rights as overtime pay or the protected right to organize. The few state and federal laws established to protect farmworker rights, such as the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, have not been adequately enforced. Instead these laws have continued to be weakened at every level. This places farmworkers and their families in jeopardy of abuse, serious injury, and even death. In addition, unemployment and workers compensation benefits have been systematically denied to farmworkers. Children of farmworkers are often forced by their parents poverty into the fields at ages as young as 10.

Week Seven

In order for me to improve my paper I should add some quote sandwiches and make sure my paper has one centralized topic.  Also I need to work on a stronger conclusion with reader feedback and well organized closing statement. Lastly I also need to focus on the transition of my paper from one idea to another.

As a Reader

As a reader I was able to travel through Marjane’s life as she experiences things such as her uncle’s death and going through puberty. You will travel back in time with Marjane as she thinks about the past to a time where Marjane was taught that the King was appointed by God as the leader of Iran. However, after the King fled for his life the very same teacher scolded her for saying that the King had been appointed by God, and asked where in the world did you get that Idea? Such things left her confused and lost. There were many contradictions is Marjane's life. Having grown up in a westernized society in which she did not have to wear a veil it was confusing to her to be told by the new government that all women now were required to wear veils to protect them from the advances of men. Such things led to a lot of trouble for Marjane as she went through life. Her parents had always encouraged her to develop an independent mind. The feeling of oppression eventually becomes too great and Marjane acts out against the social restraints that the new government has put upon her. Through thoughtful questioning of her parents Marjane learns of her family’s history. She learns that she is descended from the former Emperor who was deposed by the king. Her grandfather chose to follow the king and briefly served as Prime Minister until he decided to become a communist. This decision led to her Grandfather spending much of his time as a political prisoner. Such events molded her family to the point that her parents became actively rebellious and her uncle was willing to give his life to gain freedom.The first half of the novel portrays the recounting of the author's loss of naivety and faith. As a child, Marjane sees herself as a prophet in the line of Zarathustra, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Her imaginary friend is her vision of God as an old man with a long flowing beard. In these scenes from childhood, God encourages Marjane to become a prophet and to stand up for love and justice. As a child Marijane saw herself to be very religious and modern. Aspects such as revolution and the influence of her parents cultivate the characters identity to lead her to follow different pathways. Another key aspect of the story is how a theocracy turns a religious girl into a state of rebellion against school, society, family and country.
As Marjane begins to see the political and social realities of her world, the reader sees her slowly detaching from her faith. As she hears stories of political imprisonment and torture, she finds that God no longer gives her comfort. She basically begins to see life in a whole different perspective to the extent where the only thing she puts her faith into are the things that she physically hears and witnesses. The imprisonment and execution of her Uncle Anoosh causes a break in her faith and she describes herself as lost and alone in the universe. In the part of the novel that we see Anoosh come into role the reader can see it titled the "Sheep." This symbolizes the people as sheep or followers. Furthermore as the novels progresses you can now see a pattern how Marijane's believes and values are changing.In the beginning of the story we see the involvement of Marijane's mother in the Islamic revolution which results in her mother dying her hair. Therefore events as such made Marijane also want to pursue and follow her family's involvement. The actual year of the revolution the reader can see how Marijane becomes so involved that she puts her believe of her prophetic destiny aside and takes actions which show her interests in external events. In addition when the Rex Cinema burns down once again we see the rage in Marijane and how she is forbidden. That night the character doesnt get to talk to her god like figure friend which is the key cause of the characters lost of faith. Furthermore it was not intent for Marijane to be interested in such adult like situations but whenever she would like to do child like things such as playing Monopoly her parents where always too distracted by the outside world that cultivated her to participate and do the same. All, in all, changes and situations as such were the root cause of the overall character transformation of Marijane.  Marjane gained first hand experience of the death and destruction caused by war during the start of the Iranian and Iraq war. The war led to the death of her neighbor, and other fellow students. During this time the schools were passing out plastic keys to all the boys who were thirteen or older and telling them that if they died in the war that they would have a grand place in heaven waiting for them. So many young boys went off to battle and many plastic keys were buried with them. It is after her own city block was bombed that her parents decided to send her away. They sent her away not only to keep her safe but also so that she could be in a place where her free spirit and drive for knowledge could thrive, without the fear for her life or her mind.
In the end Persepolis is a great book that is very informative for it allows the reader to indulge down into the problem and to see more than what the media and government want you to know. Also Persopolis allows its readers to view life in a different perspective through the eyes of an individual who witnesses things first hand and along the path we are able to see the major changes the cultivate every individuals life.

Week Four Number Two

As a child Marijane saw herself to be very religious and modern. Aspects such as revolution and the influence of her parents cultivate the characters identity to lead her to follow different pathways. Another key aspect of the story is how a theocracy turns a religious girl into a state of rebellion against school, society, family and country. In the beginning of the story we see the involvement of Marijane's mother in the Islamic revolution which results in her mother dying her hair. Therefore events as such mad Marijane also want to pursue and follow her family's involvement. The actual year of the revolution the reader can see how Marijane becomes so involved that she puts her believe of her prophetic destiny aside and takes actions which show her interests in external events. In addition when the Rex Cinema burns down once again we see the rage in Marijane and how she is forbidden. That night the character doesnt get to talk to her god like figure friend which is the key cause of the characters lost of faith. Furthermore it was not intent for Marijane to be interested in such adult like situations but whenever she would like to do child like things such as playing Monopoly her parents where always too distracted by the outside world that cultivated her to participate and do the same. All, in all, changes and situations as such were the root cause of the overall character transformation of Marijane.

Week Three

The first half of the novel portrays the recounting of the author's loss of naivety and faith. As a child, Marjane sees herself as a prophet in the line of Zarathustra, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Her imaginary friend is her vision of God as an old man with a long flowing beard. In these scenes from childhood, God encourages Marjane to become a prophet and to stand up for love and justice.
As Marjane begins to see the political and social realities of her world, the reader sees her slowly detaching from her faith. As she hears stories of political imprisonment and torture, she finds that God no longer gives her comfort. She basically begins to see life in a whole different perspective to the extent where the only thing she puts her faith into are the things that she physically hears and witnesses. The imprisonment and execution of her Uncle Anoosh causes a break in her faith and she describes herself as lost and alone in the universe. In the part of the novel that we see Anoosh come into role the reader can see it titled the "Sheep." This symbolizes the people as sheep or followers. Furthermore as the novels progresses you can now see a pattern how Marijane's believes and values are changing. Also i believe from the begining of the book till this point we can se how the envrionment that the author is surrounded by effects personality change through out the story. Lastly the death of her uncle Anoosh is what will effect Marijane the most and alter outcomes in the novel.

The Letter

Social classes are economic and cultural aspects of groups in the society,that usually determine an individuals status in society in terms of power. In Persepolis this term signifies key components of Marijane Satrapi daily life to extent where it creates diversity in everyday existence. One of Satrapi’s strengths is how she shows us the prevalence of social censorship to an extent in which she portrays how everyone is out to protect themselves. In pages 34 through 37 we witness the love scene between Mehri and Marijane's neighbor. Here we see the impact of social classes breaking apart the relationship between two individuals because of different social seeding. Just because Mehri was really a maid and not Marijane's sister the love of her life decided to turn his back on her. Yet what stood out most about the entire scene was on pg. 37 where you can see Marijane thoughts on the situation as she states "we were not in the same social class but at least we were in the same bed." This quotation as a reader grabbed my attention to give a understanding of the the main characters aspects and values of life as she sees it at such a young age. Furthermore I can relate to this scene in terms of understanding how social terms such as lower, middle, and upper class can make someone feel unwanted. When I recently visited my country Fiji I came to realize how life was much more difficult there compared to the U.S. Everything was based upon social structure, who you were and what you had. Yet this scenario just does not exist there but all around the world. Power is what makes people who they are and without it you are seen as nobody in the eye of the world. I think the authors main purpose of having this scene in her book was to signify how life was during that particular time period and also to show how inequality will always exist. This scene just makes the rest of the novel more interesting to read because as you read along you see how the violence continues and the people with the most power remain to stay on top. Furthermore it gives a sense of the main characters personality because at one point in the book Marijane expresses how she is ashamed of her father's Cadillac, which resembles the wealth in her family along with many other things.

My Mother Never

My mother has never told me no for something. I am the youngest out of four children and one thing that I noticed about my beautiful mother is that she always took care of her four sons equally especially when it came to me. Compared to my three oldest brothers I would say I am probably the most spoiled of them all. Whether it was toys, shoes, clothes or video games my mother never said no to me. She always made sure to provide me with every thing I ever asked for. When it comes time to make that special somebody the one she has to be loving and as caring or even more then my mother. I still remember those days my mom would stay awake waitng for me to come back from basketball practice and make what ever I asked her to make. "Behind every mans success there's a woman behind it," and till this point that would be mother because from my baby steps to the huge strides that I made in life till this point, theres only woman who I could think of that was always there. Also mother's are probably the only woman guranteed not to hurt you or ever bring you down. My mother has never said no to me till this day for anything that I desired or wish to have done but thats not what make me love her the most. When I am older I will always like to keep my mother with me and take her of her the way she has all these years. In addtion I will also like to make sure that I fulfill my part as a son and give her everything in life just the way she did for me.