Last Post

I was reading over all of my latest blog posts and thinking about my time spent blogging this semester. I realized how much the blogs really helped me retain information and the ideas from the books. Everyone of my blog posts was an issue that really struck me as interesting and inspiring. It struck me that the biggest ideas and plot points I can remember from all the books this semester were topics that I had blogged about. It only makes sense that the process of writing out my ideas helped me remember. I noticed too how much certain characters or plot points reminded me of events in my own life or events I have heard about in the media. I liked most of the core books because they were easy to relate too and could be applied to anything thing even in modern society. The blogs then gave us the freedom to make those vital connections before we forgot them the next day in class. Overall, the blogs were very helpful to my core experience.

The Key to Heaven

We got to discussing in class today about propaganda in the media and across all governments. We agreed that Persepolis deals with extreme cases of propaganda put out by the revolutionists, the new government. It is crazy to realize the extent to which the government will lie to its people for their support and cooperation. Our discussion group never got a chance to share our page, but on page 99 there is a prime example of the government lying. The narrator's friend is telling her family about how her son is being brainwashed to go fight in the war. The government has given her friend's son a golden key that apparently is the key to heaven for when the son dies. The gesture is meant to lure boys into the army with the promise that if they die they are guaranteed to go to heaven. Furthermore, the government alters the boys sense of heaven by explaining all the luxuries it has to offer. All the women, food and gold one could ever want, obviously a persuading argument to go fight without fear of dying (99).

I just think it's tragic to see the government sink so low. Of course there is no real "key" to heaven, to never ending paradise. It's all made up by the government as an attempt to reassure families and take their children for the war effort.

Persepolis

I love reading the book Persepolis. It's so interesting and fun. The scary part is, is that it's so serious at the same time. When reading my brain is so programed to think it's light reading, so much so that a full page torture scene in black and white ink just shocks me. The juxtaposition of the kid like comics and brutal warfare is astounding. What I also note is the extreme bluntness of the author. She is so little in the beginning, so innocent and she describes these scenes in few words, there is no sugar-coating, she tells it like it is. I think about my time spent babysitting and I realize just how blunt little kids can be. They insult each other naturally without so much a thought as to a possible consequence. They make judgments without think about the emotions surrounding such a statement. Society has not gotten to them yet. Experience has not taught them yet to tread around such subjects lightly and cautiously out of respect for others. In Persepolis, she does have any concept of censoring or using any sort of euphemism, she throws it all out there. I like it. It creates a very authentic message, objective to a point, undiluted.

Relating to Giovanni's Room

David in Giovanni's Room is constantly torn between his girlfriend and his gay tendencies. He is told by multiple people to settle down, get a girl, have a family. But his heart tells him differently, he is attracted to men and wonders about life as an openly gay man. He doesn't think he can do it and spends most of the book oscillating between experimentation and guilt.

All of this tension between choosing the family life and love life made me think of the modern debate concerning gay marriage. Why has society still not allowed the two concepts to fuse? I am writing a paper in Sociology right now about the gay marriage debate and I find the topic very interesting. It seems like if one wants, one can be gay and raise a family at the same time. The family would look different, but the values would be the same: a support system, connectedness, learning environment. But as we can see through numerous measures in almost all states, people don't like the idea of official gay marriage and vote against it. They want marriage to be a sacred thing between one man and one woman. David can represent a victim of this societal outlook. Obviously he can see no way to have the best of both worlds or he wouldn't spend so much time feeling guilty and attempting to make up for his lack of manliness.

A Multiracial Identity Crisis

I was reading the New York Times online today and I came across an interesting article concerning the new issues people are having in identifying themselves as multiracial. Many people who are of multiple races feel the need to choose which race to identify themselves with for personal reasons concerning their own sense of identity. I just thought this article was interesting and worth reading. It reminded me of what WEB du Bois was saying about trying to fit in with the culture around him, about trying to be both American and Black. It also reminded me of Obama's speech on race that we watched on Friday where he asserted that he was just as much a white man as he was a black man although politics and the media advertise otherwise.

check out the article here.

Oh, Freud

Sigmond Freud talks all about civilization and life and living in Civilization and It's Discontents. He likes to approach the idea of life and living in an extremely objective way, to distance himself as much as he can personally from the subject. One thing I noticed was how he likes to refer to living as a sort of art, something that can be approached from many different angles but still produce the same conclusive feeling. A concrete example of this is on page 32 where he is talking about fate he says, "And how could one possible forget, of all others, this technique in the art of living?" I have never thought about life as something in need of proper technique or skill. It seems to contradict the very essence that is life, something nobody can predict or control fully. Freud does establish that he does not know the proper way to go through life either. I actually kind of agree with him when he suggests that such ideologies like fate, religion or lack thereof are just ways people choose to deal with life, to help themselves get through it. It's just interesting to think of your own life in that way because everyone thinks that their way of living is the right way to live, the best that can be done. But in reality there are all sorts of "techniques" to approach this "art of living," I guess I just hope my technique works out ok.

In the End "I Smelled Nothing"

The last paragraph of Age of Iron reads as such a relief after reading through all the stress, pain and ranting by Mrs. Curren. She describes the scene as getting into bed with Vercueil and holding him. I think this is the scene where she finally feels free enough and comfortable enough to die. She says, "I smelled nothing," "the breath went out of me in a rush," "there was no warmth to be had" (198). After a long book, long letter, of deeply describing smells and emotions, feelings and experiences with so much detail they feel almost too real, these last few statements stand out as a momentous event. Vercueil was right next to her and she did not describe his sweaty, dirty, alcoholic smell. She made no reference of her opinions on the situation, the environment. No, this paragraph is strikingly opposite from the rest of the book, further enforcing my feeling that Mrs Curren indeed has passed on.