After a good experience with "American Born Chinese" I found myself anticipating the week when I would read "Persepolis". Is was interesting to see how Satrapi would develop her adolescent girl character and deal with the tough issues that she faced in the Iranian Revoluation. Like "The Book Thief" I appreciated having an Iranian character, because, like the Germans during World War II, I often consider the common citizens in Iran to be just as radical as their leadership. It was also a fascinating read because previous to this book, I never really knew anything about the Iranian Revolution. I feel that it is an important issue that still affects the world today, and since the US was connected to the circumstances, I am disappointed that none of my American or World History classes discussed this particular Revoluation at all.
I also think that this book would be wonderful to use in a classroom setting. As we saw with the article, there is definitely a place for Graphic novels in the classroom, and this one in particular would be a good fit. Satrapi deals with some tough issues--growing up amidst war, conflict, religious zealousness, and so on. She handle's it well, and like Liesel in "The Book Thief", we are again dealing with a young girl who is caught in the middle of something that she had nothing to do with starting. Although most American students have probably not been in the middle of a Revolution, the issues that Satrapi deals with are relateable in the sense that they are--aside from the setting--the same issues that a typical American teenager would be faced with. Satrapi gets a lot of information out for such a small book, and so few words. Like the article said, it can be a starting point for so many things, and since Graphic novels can portray emotion through both pictures and words, it is the perfect place to address the issues of war and struggles.
What Do You Mean No More Books?!?!
13 years ago
Good point about the Iranian Revolution not being an important part of world history curriculum in many school districts. My world history class consisted of items from the past with just a sprinkling of current events, which would have touched more on issues and revolutions that may not appear in textbooks yet.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about the connections you made between both of these texts Jen. I wonder if students would connect more readily to one protagonist over the other. Leisel, at least through the omniscient eyes of "Death," seems quite innocent. Marjane, on the other hand, has a great deal of spunk and charisma. She also reads far more precocious than her indicated years. I'm looking forward to our discussion of both.
ReplyDeleteI also liked your connections to the two books! I didn't connect nearly as much as you did...
ReplyDeleteI liked that you mentioned about how the Iranian revolution was not covered in many of your history classes either. I think to be able to teach this novel, it might help to introduce more of the historical information (even in another class) before students just jump in and start reading it.
ReplyDeleteI like your comments and connections! I think that in this book, and The Book Thief, students would be able to relate to a faraway place and different character (through gender, race, etc) because of age. I think these characters are easy to relate to on that level, and it seems like you have a good idea of how you'd incorporate this into a class!
ReplyDeleteI agree that I like the viewpoint of the Iranian character, just like in Book Thief with the German character. It gives a completely different aspect to something that I would have never thought of otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI had never really heard to much about the Iranian revolution (besides from my husband who is a history buff), so it was interesting for me to read this story about a historical event that i had never really been aware of.
I think we would find the same situation with our students, that for the most part, many of them will probably not have heard of this revolution. This would something interesting to cover with the students. One point that I have made on several other blogs is the viewpoint that these characters have on western civilization. Although there is not a lot mentioned about it, the feelings are strong. Maybe not so much with the main characters, but with other minor roles that we catch along the way. Like the two ladies discussing how they will have to worry about their husbands because of the women becoming prostitutes. I think the whole westernization thing would be an interesting topic to cover with students.