How Marriage Changes Thi's Parents (TBWCD)

Callista Wilson
Dr. Cobos
ELA
10 February 2018

How Marriage Changes Thi's Parents 

       In the graphic novel The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui, marriage drastically changes the aspirations and behaviors of Thi's ma and bo. Growing up, Thi knew her mother as desperate to provide for her large family and her father as negative and unmotivated. However, when interviewing her parents Thi learns how different they used to be before getting married. During a flashback scene when Thi's ma is a young high school student, Thi's ma states, "I just want to study all my life. Become a doctor, if I can, and help people"(150). Additionally Thi's bo discusses how much he appreciated the house he lived in as a teen. He describes it by stating, "It was really just the space between two other houses"(178), and justifies his gratefulness by stating, "But to me at age fourteen, it was a home. An address" (178). In brief, Thi's ma goes from focusing on her education and dreaming to become independent to giving her full attention to her family. On the other hand, her father goes from being grateful for everything he has to being harsh and non-passionate towards his children. Overall, Thi's understanding of her family's history becomes deeper when she learns about the changes that occurred to her parents due to marriage.    

How The Grandmother Develops In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find"

Callista Wilson
ELA
8 December 2017

How The Grandmother Develops In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find"

(In the short story, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" by Flannery O'Conner, the grandmother changes throughout the story as her views about The Misfit develop). Generally, the grandmother is protective towards her family and values the trait of goodness. When she hears that a criminal named "The Misfit" has escaped from prison, she immediately decided that she must keep her family far away from him. She states,"I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did" (1). Later in the story when the grandmother's entire family is murdered by the Misfit, she surprisingly decided to change her negative views about him. Before The Misfit shoots her, she listens to his story and determines that it is a person's intentions instead of their actions which makes them good. The grandmother states," Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!"(22) Overall, the grandmother changes as a character when her opinion about The Misfit changes. She was previously disgusted by the idea of her children being near him, but later speaks to him as if he were one of her own. This change of perspective occurs at the climax of the story and can be seen as one of its major themes.   

Is Marjane’s Grandmother Justified to be Upset by Marjane's Selfish Actions?

Callista Wilson

ELA

24 October 2017

Is Marjane’s Grandmother Justified to be Upset by Marjane’s Selfish Actions? 

In the graphic novel Persepolis, Marjane diverts the attention of the Guardians of the revolution by blaming an innocent man for speaking inappropriately to her. She watches his arrest and later laughs about it to her grandmother. Marjane’s grandmother is justified to yell as she once taught Marjane to keep her dignity and feels that Marjane is directly insulting the efforts and ideas of her many heroic family members. When addressing the innocent man during his arrest, Marjane states, "You dare look at me in the eyes and lie!" (286). Marjane disobeys her grandmother by losing her dignity and aggressively blaming an innocent man for lying when she instead was the liar. Also, Marjane's grandmother states, “Have you forgotten who your grandfather was? He spent a third of his life in prison for having defended some innocents! And your uncle Anoosh? Have you forgotten him too? He gave his life for his ideas! What have I taught you? Hunh?? “Integrity”!!! Does this word mean anything to you?” (291). Marjane's grandmother has reason to yell as Marjane insults her ancestors who have had made selfless sacrifices to protect innocent people in the past by laughing at the fact that an innocent was wrongfully treated.

OHP Reflection

Callista Wilson

24 October 2017

IHSS and ELA

OHP Reflection

The most enjoyable part of the interview process was truly connecting with the interviewees, Larry and Mary Jennings, and treating our interview as if it were a casual, rather than staged, conversation. Although our group had prepared a series of questions, we focused on listening and understanding what the Jennings wanted to say. Also we made sure not to interrupt the Jennings even if the topics they chose to talk about did not directly refer to a question but was still relevant to the interview.  Because the questions asked were open ended the Jennings were not pressured to give a certain answer and were naturally lead to tell stories and express their emotions. At the end of the interview, we invited the Jennings to speak about anything additional which we had not covered. This way, we were assured to receive key information about their experience even if we left out an important question. In addition, asking follow-up questions and listening to their stories made our interview successful as it genuinely demonstrated the Jenning’s personal experience of the devastation and the lessons they particularly learned from Hurricane Harvey.    

For future students assigned with an “Oral History Project,” my advice would be to spend time researching or getting to know the interviewees prior to writing questions. This way, future students can write questions based off of what they know they can receive from the interviewee. Also, they will be able to set up open ended questions which their interviewees can fully answer and elaborate on. In addition, I would advise future students to download a program which allows them to easily pause, fast forward and slow down the speaking in the audio recording when typing the transcript. This will allow them to complete an accurate transcript while being time efficient.    

Marjane's Ideas of Heroism and Martyrdom

Callista Wilson

ELA 10

29 September 2017

Marjane’s Ideas of Heroism and Martyrdom in Persepolis

In the Graphic Novel Persepolis, Marjane’s varying views on the importance and definition of heros and martyrs can be seen as a major theme. Typically, a person who is idolised for their courage is considered a hero and a person who dies for the benefit of a certain belief is considered a martyr. Near the beginning of the book, Marjane is young and has recently learned the reasons behind the revolution. As she is a child with limited life experience, the many powerful revolutionary ideas she has been taught, are strongly planted in her mind. Marjane has read comic books which strongly promote the ideas of the revolution, her parents have raised her to fight and protest against injustice, and she suddenly begins to strongly believe in the morality and methods of the revolutionists. However, she feels helpless as a young child in terms of the efforts towards the revolution and is comforted by the idea of heroes in her family. Marjane states, “There are lots of heroes in my family. My grandpa was in prison, my uncle Anoosh too: for nine years! He was even in the U.S.S.R” (61).  Furthermore, Marjane does not understand that there is no need for a person to endure torture or be in prison to contribute to the revolution. The truth is, revolutionists who were not imprisoned or tortured were more likely to go further in their efforts towards change and more likely to make an overall impact towards the revolution as free people.

Works Cited

Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. SAPL, 2013.          

The Theme Of Revolution In Persepolis

Callista Wilson

IHSS 10

20 September 2017

The Theme of Revolution in Persepolis

The Islamic Revolution originated with Marxism- the idea that class should not separate workers- and occurred during the late seventies in Iran. It eventually lead to the establishment of The Islamic Republic and the banishment of the current monarch in 1979. In the Graphic Novel, Persepolis, Marjane discusses her books and states, “But my favorite was a comic book entitled, “Dialectic Materialism” In my book you could see Marks and Descartes”(12). The ideas of the revolution are not only present in the minds of the revolutionists, but also in the minds of their children. In addition, the revolution changes Iran more than protesters expected. For instance, many of the protesters, including Marjane's parents, lived  modern and secular lifestyles. They immediately became rebellious to the Islamic Republic’s strict religious rules by having parties, drinking alcohol, and looking down on their neighbors, who were loyal to the Republic. Marjane’s mother justifies her reasons for hanging black curtains by stating, “Across the street. They’re totally devoted to the new regime. A glimpse of what goes on in our house would be enough for them to denounce us!” (105). Marjane’s mother who once attended violent protests to cause the revolution becomes defiant and secretive towards the Republic and it’s followers.    Similarly, Marjane, who earlier snuck off to protest with her family’s made , reflects the actions of her parents by making fun of her teacher at school when being told to respect the new revolutionary ideas. Overall, the revolution is the main cause for change and the main cause for complexity in the plot of Persepolis. The ideas of revolution can bee seen in the books which Marjane reads, and the unexpected changes it causes can be observed in how Marjane and her parents reacted to the revolution.  

Works Cited

Afary, Janet. “Iranian Revolution of 1978–79.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 July 2017, www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution-of-1978-1979.

Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. SAPL, 2013.