Reader's Notebook #1 Sorrow of War

READER RESPONSE
Sorrow of War By: Bao Ninh

Reading this book was really hard, it was a challenge to keep turning the pages. In the beginning the author used some really profound imagery to get his message across. It was unbearable to read some of the scenes that he described in detail yet in so many ways it was artistic and beautiful. The narrator had obviously had gone through some of the horrific events of his lifetime. It is really crazy to me that he was willing to write about them.

“That autumn was sad, prolonged by rain. Orders came for food rations to be sharply reduced. Hungry, suffering successive bouts of malaria the troops became anemic and their bodies broke out in ulcers, showing through worn and torn clothing. They looked like lepers, not heroic forward scouts. Their faces looked moss-grown, hatched and sorrowful, without hope. It was a stinking life (16)”.

It amazes me that certain people are willing to talk about their traumatic past experiences to teach the younger generation something. That war affects the mind not only in a traumatic way but as a learning tool? Memories that soldiers are have, stay with them for a period of their lifetimes, if not all of their lifetime. Some of the excerpts from the poems read in class were meaningful and had a deeper meaning to them. I liked Thong's poem he read aloud, it gave the idea that soldiers are prisoners of war no matter how many years they fought because they're mind is still fine tuned to war and it’s terrifying experience.

I could not imagine the Vietnam War’s effect on so many young people. I remember I asked my sister's mother-in-law to come to one of my AJROTC competitions and she said that she couldn’t because of her involvement with anti-war protests in the 60's. This was in 2007 when I asked her to come to one of my competitions. Yet this woman felt compelled in her beliefs still after a couple decades. That made me think about the effects of this war and its toll that it took on so many people.

I look back on it and I look at images and photographs. There were so many people outraged at the fact that there were children dying overseas. There were people who were lying about their ages to fight for the country they believed in. The United States let boys die in a far off land some million miles away to be called a ‘hero’. It seems to me that the country took for granted at the time how many people actually gave their lives to fight a war that at the time did not make much sense to a great number of people.

This book was on dealing with the sorrow of war, that the Vietnam War brought and dealing with losing love. I don't think that I would be able to handle the thought of losing someone while being at war. It would bring me to pieces. Which leads me to believe that the narrator of this book was a strong willed individual to place himself at the very place where all of his losses could be.

Reader's Notebook 2, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Marxist Theory
and
Feminism.

In the graphic novel Persepolis, the themes of Marxism and Feminism are apparent in the life of a young girl named Marji. Ever since a young age Marji has experienced the life of a war torn country and the constant battle of religion. It can be very confusing for a child, let alone the child of liberal parents who raised their child to be open to most things. Marji molds her views on the political world, as the book progresses, also the challenges of the government and the life of social classes in her home country.

One of the first instances where Marji comes to a roadblock is when the neighbor boy couldn't date their maid because of social classes that tears the country apart. The Marxist theory is based upon class order and the differences between the social structures. The government that Marji and her family live in is socially inept to equality. But then again there is not one perfect society where everyone is treated equally based upon social classes. Just today I was at Costco with my mother and two white couples went in before us and as we walked through the door the woman asked us where our membership cards were. It was a blow to the ego. I wanted to ask her why she did not card anyone before us but then that would have been rude. There have been other times where I felt this way. Yet I am sure it can not even compare to what Marji has been through and dealt with growing up. Her family wasn't poor; her father owned a Cadillac and had a live-in maid.

A job that cannot equal to some in their country. As a people the citizens live through oppression, and it begs the question: Will they ever see equality and freedom? The woman in this society in Persepolis are oppressed and not given the power equal to men. They are barred from showing any hair and cannot dress the way they want because of the religion that strikes the country's dictators and runs the government. Anything out of the ordinary and the "Guardians of the Revolution" were out to get you. They stopped Marji and scared her to death when she wasn't wearing "normal clothes" for a female to wear in public. It is sad to see women who don't want individuality and to be their own person through the expression of style. But then again these women grew up knowing nothing but this and they cannot change their opinions at the whims of Americans who want to 'save' them from themselves and their country.

Marjane slowly learns about the corruption that her home town is going through. When she learns about her grandfather and how he could have been a kind it bothers her. Later she learns that he was labeled a communist and tortured by a water chamber. Marji spends a long time in the bathtub to see what it was like to be in the water for a long period of time. This part in the novel bothered me. It bothered me that Marjane a young child would put herself through that situation to see what her grandfather went through. She is wise beyond her years but this does not become apparent till later in the novel.

Later in the novel when things start to get worse. Her friend’s house gets bombed, a policeman is about to raid their house and her uncle Fereydon. In the end she leaves to live in Vienna to escape from the wrath of the government and the harsh rules and regulations placed upon the people.

Marjane went through a lot, social class struggles, feminism, religions conflict and the corruption of the government. This novel was an inspiring piece of work that showed me that are things greater than myself that people have been trying to change for a long time.

"What I find inspiring about Persepolis is that it illustrates Marjane’s struggles. She works hard to be treated as an equal. She doesn’t just want to run away; she wants to reform her society. While that’s too much for one person to accomplish on her own, the fact that she tries makes Marjane an important feminist figure."
-http://feministblogproject.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/reading-response-persepolis/

Reader's Notebook 1, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Reader Response

This book was highly interesting and gave me insight to what is really going on across the sea in a distant land. Marjane Satrapi writes beautifully and is not shy about her characters especially Marji. Marji is blunt and learns about life from first hand experiences. She is not afraid to speak her mind and let others know what she believes in.

My favorite part in the book is when Marji's parents go to Turkey and they smuggle back some posters and things for Marji. When they put the posters in the father's jacket I was laughing really hard. This book had many emotions for me. I was sad and angry when they talked about someone they knew that was either in jail or tortured. But I found myself slowly learning about life in war.

The people in the book constantly live in war. Their people historically have been at war for a long time. I cannot see myself living in a place where my family would have to run to the basement at the whim of a siren. Or even hiding parties/liqour/anything from the police from a threat of being thrown into prison. It makes me wonder why people even stay in a war-torn country. The Jewish family that lived around the corner from Marji refused to leave because it was their "ancestors (that) had come three thousand years ago and Iran was their home" (137). It's ironic how their ties to their religion/culture brought them there and because it was the Jewish Sabbath they stayed home and they were killed by a bomb.

In the beginning of the novel Marji shares a relationship with God, and he is illustrated as a bearded man. He continues to visit Marji until one day he doesn't come and Marji is upset. I really don't know much about the religion and culture that Marji practices. I wish I knew more about her family ties to their religion and beliefs about God. The book doesn't say much about it.

After reading this book I felt a sense of a small world/ large world. On account that us Americans can set foot outside our houses dressed as we please, drink at parties, put posters on our walls and listen to any type of music that we want. But yet in some distant country halfway around the world people are living in constant fear and oppression. It makes me sad to see that many children my age do not get the things that I take for granted every single day. It makes me want to travel the world to see other civilizations that may live like this in order for me to see the true beauty of the country I live in. To see the freedom that our founding fathers built for us.

At the end of the novel I was happy to see that Marjane was able to get out of that country. That her parents sent her away to be able to see the world with out the oppression that her home country gave her. It was very moving to read/see her leave from the airport. It must have been very hard for her parents to see her leave. A child of her age possesses a lot of knowledge. I was not surprised that she knew her parents weren’t going to be going with her.

I look forward to read the second book of Persepolis and I don’t know what Marji is capable of. She is an intriguing character and it’s hard to guess what she is going to do next. I hope that in the next book she realizes more about herself than those around her. That she learns more and more about the country that killed many and tortured those who did not deserve it.