Week Two [Literary feature hunt] ---[Fi]

The sudden breakout of the Iranian National Anthem from the TV made Marjane and her parents break into tears. The National anthem had been forbidden for more than a year and this is why they were overwhelmed. It does not only symbolizes Iran but also the history of Marjane and her family; it brings back their memories, and love for their country.

PG 63

Here we see Marjane hopelessly lying on the floor because one of the boys was leaving for America. Marjane didn't ever expressed her feelings toward that boy but now that he's leaving, she thinks that she actually liked him very, very much. It is obvious that Marjane presents her "like" to the boy in a romance way, but I wonder at this age does she even understand what love is or to differentiate the meaning between miss, like, and love. This is similar to Mr.McGuigan's idea on page 62(bones): it demonstrates how simple minded children are. She described the departure of the boy was "the end of the world!" This is a hyperbole, because this little boy was seldom mention in her childhood life, how could he possibly alter Marjane's life nor end the world.

PG 59

Anoosh, Marjane's uncle, had an unpleasant marriage. He said his ex-wife has no hearts and does not know how to love. In the second panel, his ex-wife's face was scratched out in the picture, represents obliteration of his wife from his memory. I think this is a *metonymy
because scratching out his ex-wife's face = forgetting her
A photo of a person can be seen as a substitution of the person and surely they are closely associated.


*A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty")." from wikipedia
•••••••••FION.LZ

Week Two [class Act] ---[Fi]

During class on Monday, we split into small groups, discussing about our given questions and general comments on Persepolis. I brought up this panel during the group discussion because I find it very interesting that the blanket on the left and the head of god on the right are actually connected. Thanks Evan for bring this up in class and expand the idea!=) Bhanesha added that the blanket is like god setting a line or boundary (look at the top left panel) for Marjane which limits her to go anywhere further. In the next page, Marjane was by herself in the darkness looking confused because god wes no longer there for her. I think this is a turning point for Marjane because she has became independent and is exposed to the outside world ready to go through both exciting and obnoxious experiences.


•••••••••FION.LZ
ADD MORE TMR.

Week Twp [Snippets] ---[Fi]

PG91

The modernization of Marlane's family presents through the pattern of their blanket. These two blankets combine formed the pattern of the flag of United State which have a sense of rebellion since Iran does not allow western influence. I think Satrapi definitely drew this on purpose to show the readers the idea of private self and public self; publicly, citizens have to obey the religion rules. For example, by covering their body from head to toes but privately they might act differently. This has a direct link to 1984 where publicly Winston obeys the party's rules; however, privately he hated the party and has rebellious actions, for example writing in his diary and having a love relationship with Julia.

PG 89

This panel captures my attention because of the pattern of the road. If you carefully look at the pattern, you should be able to see fire in which the cars are surrounded by it. Fire symbolizes chaos and war, this panel clearly displays the danger people are in because of the presence of war and the revolution (fire to the evil) and that is why they "flee northward, far from the Iraqi missiles." As shown, the fire is very strong in the bottom and gets less and less at the top: the cars are moving from the bottom to the top showing the less danger they are in as they move further from the bottom where fire is burning strongly.


•••••••••FION.LZ

Week One (Feedback)-Alice

Gutter

I found this graphic novel-exclusive jargon mentioned by Mr.Mcguigan and Ms.Brownrigg very interesting, because it made me think of how our brains work. Acutally, the process of filling in the gaps are done everyday; even when we read, our brain doesn't regester words as we think it does--it actually reads the first and the last letters of a word to figure it out!

here is an example =D

aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porblem. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Interesting, eh?

As people read that, their brains unscramble the words to make them fit. I believe that is what happens when we are reading graphic novels, too.

Week One (class act)- Alice

Class Act

When Ms.Brownrigg explained the development of the graphic novels to us on thursday, she said that Persepolis by Marjane Satratpi was published when graphic novels were not popular. However, Persepolis has succeeded as a comic book, and flourished to become a famous, Oscar-nominated animated film as well. It strikes me as amazing how a story of a person's life can affect millions of others. If I was asked the question, "what drives us to tell our stories?", by Mr.Mcguigan once again, I think my answer would be: we tell our stories to open other people's eyes, like Persepolis opened my eyes. Before I read the book, I didn't have a clue what a revolution can do to a person. Now, if I study revolutions, I can not only have a third-party perspective, but also connect with the people from the period.

This is a link to the trailer of the movie Persepolis!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqoyqekKqj8&feature=related
it's in French, but there are subtitles.

Week One (literary feature hunt) -Alice

Irony

Pg. 41

The very first panel of this page demonstrates dramatic irony, because the narration on the top states that the Shah "actually did try: he tested a dozen prime ministers", although the picture shows the Shah rejecting every candidate for unrealistic reasons, such as their physique. This panel implies that the Shah just looked as though he was trying to please his people, when in reality, he didn't want to let go of his power as a dictator.

Week One [class Act] ---[Fi]

On Thursday Ms. Brownrigg spent a class with us talking about how to read or approach grahpic novels. Knowing different literary terms we have learned from 1984 can also apply to the pictures in Persepolis. (Scroll down if you want to see how I apply the lit terms to Persepolis) We've also learned about the gutter, which is the space between panel to panel presented as a transitional of time.