I completely disagree with her father’s statement. Marji is surviving because her mother and her grandmother have shown her that politics and sentiment are mixed. How could they not be? How can a woman who is forced to cover her hair so that men won’t become excited not feel some form of sentiment or emotion for the situation? If the government made every person drive a yellow car than maybe those rules could be better obeyed with little or no sentiment, but they are asking the women to mask the parts of them that add to their femininity. I am certain Marji’s father was simply trying to teach her to see that the rules of the government are to be taken without changing who she is so that she will not lose herself or lose her life. I feel her mother was doing well by taking in the government’s rules with only a touch of sentiment until the men approached her on the street remarking that she should be raped. At this turning point we see Marji’s mother pull out all the stops on her sentimental drive and allow Persepolis to attend their next rally. At this rally we see how sentiment and government meet and it is not pretty. The men, well the sane men, must have felt sentiment for the women they care for, watching them go through strife so that the perverts of the world can better control themselves. Marji’s grandmother’s sentiment was one of the strengths that helped Marji become who she is, a strong woman who has taken charge of her life, if it was not for her grandmother’s wisdom and emotion Marji may have fallen away from her own character and masked who she really is. It would have been easier for Marji to play the role of a French woman, but her grandmother’s words, filled with emotion, haunted her. Those words reminded Marji of who she was and where she came from. Marji displays her sentimental feelings toward the teachers at school, those women where the ones who showed no sentiments, when she tells the class of the teachers lies and reminds the class of the men in prison suffering as they were being taught that the men were all free. Another time when Marji displays her sentimental feelings is when the men ask her to stop running as it is exciting for them and her response if that they can stop staring at her butt. I am glad she had enough kindled sentiment sorted up to fight her own battles and keep her strong in situations that could have pushed her over the brink so that she could tell this story that needed to be heard.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Through the story of the great Gatspy we see Nick discover what it is to have desire, Nick is finding himself through all of the characters in this novel. Through these irresolute characters, Nick is able to find his own self, a solid ground to construct his life. It seemed to me that Nick was a person of solitude, a loner, and even after he was out of the military he was left with a sense of longing and lack of knowledge about himself. He seems intelligent and is in the process of becoming a bondsman; basically he is just doing something to say he does it. His life’s goal is not to become a bondsman; it is more of just something to do than something he longs for. He finds himself borrowing from his parents to begin his own journey. As he sets out and finds this peculiar, out-of-touch group of people he begins to relax and find comfort in their dysfunction. The dysfunction leader, Gatsby, teaches Nick a thing or two about desire. At the beginning of the novel, and really right up toward the end, I see Nick as lackluster. He has no career that he is just dying to be a part of, or a love he is aspiring to have, or really any life at all. We discussed light and floating and how lovely things seem to just float about in this novel. Nick is floating, but not in a picturesque sort of way, Nick is floating in a boat that was not tied to the pier properly sort of way. That is why his mind lacks judgment and he is able to gather with so many different people. He is aimlessly floating from one dysfunctional group into another. The coast is smooth sailing until Gatsby’s life unravels in front of Nick. Gatsby is a different kind of dreamer. He would have made for a fantastic artist if only his efforts were toward art and not money, I feel this way because he had such a wild imagination. It is this imagination that allows for the elaborate schemes and parties pushing him further toward his desires, money and Daisy, while masking who he truly was. Gatsby was not honorable but he was admirable in his quest to pursue the American Dream, which so often ends in defeat. I feel it is through Gatsby we see Nick blossom. He begins to look at life differently, and this is evident in the last few pages. He is not only ending Gatsby’s life with poetic phrases, but he is beginning to find his own desires. As the pool is filled with blood and the picture of a summer ending with defeat, Nick is developing his own life. Nick is blossoming into a person who has desires and goals. He is beginning to feel the pull of desire. He sees Jordan and feels something for her; almost regret in not pursuing her further, this is a sign that Gatsby did inspire Nick through his desire for Daisy. I am not suggesting Nick will begin a life built around Jordan, but maybe a life built around pursuing things he wants and not letting it just drift away. I feel that Gatsby had a light coming from his life, despite his criminal tendencies, and as his story ends that light is spread to Nick. Nick has moved on from being a wall flower.