Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The Iranian Revolution
I am almost mad now that I have finished Persepolis that I am so uneducated about the revolution. It makes me wonder why our school systems aren't focused on such an event. I feel like almost all of the history we have been taught only deals with the U.S. and our involvement. I also am not sure how to feel about the veils at the same time, something I have never really been able to understand. I knew the purpose as discussed by Satrapi, but I never realized how some women feel toward them, and it is weird to see that before the revolution, they weren't worn. I knew that women were treated poorly in Iran, but talk about double standards. How is it that they say their religion doesn't allow a woman to show anything, even her shape, but men are able to drive around asking for prostitutes?? They are allowed to dress how they like, they are supposed to protect the women if a man looks at them the wrong way when really they are beating other women for wearing lip gloss? It really makes me happy that the Satrapi family stood up for what they beleived in and Marjane's parents raised her to express herself and think freely. It was like some of the people she met in the schools were so tainted by these people taking over their country that they forgot how to feel the way they wanted. Everything was controlled. I loved when Marjane stated that they wanted you to leave the house thinking only if you were covered and not why is it that I must cover myself and who are these people to tell me how to be. It really showed the influence on Iranian society and how much power these people had over them.
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I don't know how your school system taught history, but my school system really only focused on US history. I think I was required to take one world history class, and that only focused on ancient world history. The place where you would learn about the Iranian Revolution would either be from a class at a university like Ohio State or on your computer at home. But yea, I also felt uneducated about the whole situation with Iran after reading Persepolis.
ReplyDeleteI was completely upset by her telling of the new system in which women were required to wear the veils. My school also never taught me anything about Iran or its revolution so I always thought that was just the way it had always been there. It seems crazy to me that in no time at all your country can change everything about the way you live your life. Being forced to cover face and your hair seems absurd to me. If a woman's hair makes a man unable to controlo himself I would think that men being uncovered coulod do the same to women. Why should women be forced to hide themselves away while men continue life as they always have?
ReplyDeleteI share the same sentiment as you. Although there was some info in the book on the revolution, I was surprised that being about the revolution there wasn't more. I understand the book was about her experience but still a little more historical context would have been nice. Maybe she expected people to have more knowledge of the event. I found myself looking up a few things about the revolution while reading the book because as many of you have stated we don't exactly have the most worldly history experience in pre-college classes. As someone brought up in class maybe this was also her intention, have this book be a question that makes us search for answers.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that our school system should have done a much better job of teaching us about the revolution because I feel that it is an important historical event. It is difficult in high school to touch all the topics because the worlds history is so rich and we tend to focus on western history because that is most relevant to us. I do feel that this novel certainly completed its goal of raising awareness to the fact that Americans are for the most part ignorant to this culture and it's rich history.
ReplyDeleteThere is a word for a person who educates oneself, autodidact. Except these people are not required to know that word, they teach themselves that word. Perhaps curiosity best remedies ignorance, and the knowledge that whatever popular arguments prevail there are always counter arguments and perspectives not largely conveyed. Even if those arguments don't grace mainstream academia, institutions, and individuals, it certainly does not mean that they are without merit. Sometimes it's whats being omitted even within the context of what we're being taught. I'm not trying to appeal to any conspiracy theories by suggesting these omissions are deliberate, as someone said above you can't cover everything in school, but it certainly is a shame that some things aren't covered. In regards to our countries involvement in Iranian history, it is most unfortunate that we did not follow the advice of our founding fathers' foreign policy about entangling alliance with none, staying out of other countries internal affairs and that we should engage in peaceful trade with all.
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