Hello fellow bloggers and faithful readers,

I hope that your weekend was wonderful and fulfilled all your wildest dreams.

My turn has come to be the class blogger for our most recent round of blogs. The majority of the blogs included some element of reference towards a short story that we recently read in class by Richard Klay called Redeployment, as well as The Reluctant Fundamentalist written by Mohsin Hamid.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist recalls the story of a Pakistani man expanding on the trials of being moving from Pakistan to America and accepting and rejecting certain elements of American culture. The story then follows his path as 9/11 occurs. The protagonist, Changez, experiences the after effects of being Muslim in America and proceeds to move back to Pakistan. In Redeployment Richard Klay writes about a soldier returning home from war and the psychological effects that it has on a person to readjust to civilian life.

Grace wrote her blog on Redeployment with emphasis on the psychological trials of being a veteran. She discussed how societies views of veterans is socially constructed. She says how we glamorize them into heroes in a way that they don’t want. Graces compared this to Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, and how in that book veterans don’t want to have to toil in pain or die, they just want to integrate into normal life. The main character in Redeployment struggles through a similar battle as he fights to adjust to civilian life.

Jackson and Joseph both blogged about Redeployment, especially the usage of dogs in the novel. Joseph elaborates on how he feels Klay uses dogs as a metaphor. Joseph then moves onto the value of dogs and why they are seen as man’s best friend. He insists, “dog is a mans best friend because he cannot empathize”. I see this connection to empathy as especially relevant in a novel about war. War and killing for your country is a time when people are pushed to their limits to distance themselves from empathy. Joseph clearly sees this connection. Jackson used dogs as a central theme of his blog to communicate his thoughts. One point that he made that I found compelling was the acknowledgement to the fact that most war movies and stories end gloriously whereas Redeployment ends open ended with unanswered questions.

Alex also wrote about Redeployment and the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He notes that recent years has shown more emphasis and treatment towards PTSD, at least in the media. He makes the interesting comparison between inward and outward trauma and how one shows their trauma. I found that last point especially thought provoking, it made me attempt to comprehend how difficult it must be for some soldiers returning home. They spend their whole time in the army training to become a well-oiled machine who can function with a unit and as a unit. To return home to find that the machine that you’ve built of yourself is failing must be incredibly difficult, especially when you’re too afraid to share this internal failure.

Melissa wrote about The Reluctant Fundamentalist and the way that it can be perceived as a romance novel. She draws the comparison between Changez relationship with America as similar to America’s relationship with the Middle East. She realizes that even though Changez goes back to Pakistan he still has a little bit of America in him. She compares this to how even though America has withdrawn from the Middle East the Middle East still has bits of America in it.

As always, it was an absolute pleasure being humbled by the intelligence and insight that my classmates provide me with. I look forward to reading more and continuing to be amazed at just how smart you guys all are.

Study safe!

Isaiah

Hello fellow bloggers and curious readers,

This week I’m the class blogger so it’s my responsibility to summarize and find connections in my classmates most recent blogs. The blogs this week drew some impressive connections and had very intellectual insights.

In class we recently read the graphic narrative “Persepolis” written by Marjane Satrapi, this book is a common theme amongst the blogs. We also recently read and analyzed Hilary Chute’s article, “The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis” the connections that people drew from this article and Persepolis maintained a common theme in the blogs. The most prevalent theme, in regards to “Persepolis”, was the illustration style and the use of art as a literary tool. Joseph, Martin, Paolina, and Kennedy all tackled the topic of either black and white, or a different element brought into play through illustration.

In Paolina blog she discusses how the graphic novel genre opens up a wide variety of interpretations for the reader. She writes on the unique style that adds a new level to the story by illustrating what there are no words for. She discusses the levels of interpretation that are allowed when illustrations are brought into the story, asking the important question “How much influence does the genre of “graphic narrative“ have on our subconscious view and interpretation of narratives though its visual and discursive storytelling?” Paolina also discusses how pictures provide a foundation for a unique style of thought processing, comparing pictures to “soil” that we are able to build and grow from.

Joseph’s blog was distinct in that he did not dwell too extensively on Persepolis, instead he draws connections from the theme of black and white to other directions of thought. He wisely compares black and white to good and bad. Drawing the connection that we, as a society, always attempt to interpret situations as good or bad, black or white, and how these rigid mentalities can cripple us and cause deep anxiety. He discusses perfectionism and how it leads to thoughts of intense anxiety, realizing that if we always seek to reach an extreme end of the spectrum of black and white, we will become burdened with an unrealistic responsibility on ourselves that is both unlikely, and unattainable.

I found this train of thought both eye-opening and humbling. In these early stages of University, when everyone is trying to figure out exactly how much effort they should be putting into each aspect of life, it’s easy to get weighed down by self-inflicted expectations. The realization that there is no perfect can bring people back to the present and enable us to actively engage ourselves in all parts of the University experience.

Both Martin and Kennedy discuss the topic of violence through abstract illustrations in their blogs. Martin writes about how the use of black and white creates an abstraction to the violence in the book by denormalizing it. He talks about how putting violence in colour in comic books makes it seem like just a normal everyday occurrence. When you put the violence in black and white and use abstract drawing styles, however, it makes the violence seem unsettlingly surreal and otherworldly. Kennedy touches on this as well, saying that Satrapis graphic work provides a “wow factor” that would not otherwise have been portrayed without the use of images.

Olivea also brings up denormalization through graphic images. She draws a comparison between Persepolis and the pulitzer prize winning graphic novel “Maus” by Art Spiegelman. In Maus, Olivea tells us, the author uses cats and mice to replace Nazis and Jews in an effort to show how absurd and unfathomable violence was in the holocaust. The use of minimization in Maus and Persepolis is similar in that both graphic narratives use this art form to induce interpretation and emotion from the readers.

Clara manages to construct a blog about Persepolis that focuses primarily on culture, specifically “symbolic culture” and the role that it plays in Persepolis. She draws from her personal experience with symbolic cultural and how it is active in her life. She discusses how symbolic culture is prevalent all over the world, but the difference is in material culture, “The difference in “symbolic culture” between where I live (Canada, part of the “western” world) and the Islamic state in Iran manifests itself visibly by a difference in “material culture””. Clara brings up the parallels between material culture differences numerous times in her blog, recalling time in Persepolis when Marji would be disciplined or persecuted for her progressive beliefs and lifestyle

Reading all of the blogs this week I was struck by how lucky I am to be in a class with so many advanced, and progressively minded people. It is really impressive to see how fast and adeptly people pick up on themes in the book, and the connections that people make to either their personal lives, or the lives and experiences of others. What I drew from the weeks blogs was a pronounced feeling of respect and humbleness towards my classmates. The ability to ask questions and critique culture and society is such a powerful ability, the way that Joseph was able to question the massive topic of good and evil in a single blog post was very powerful. The way that Clara was able to draw relations from her personal life experiences to that of a war torn Iran is quite a feat. It is very easy to get comfortable living on the west coast of Canada in a wealthy city at a prestigious university amongst friends and teachers. But through this comfortable bubble we must remember how important it is to always question, to always draw parallels and to always be curious and critical.

Have a wonderful week everybody, I hope you all continue to enjoy the euphoric bliss of studying for mid-terms

Isaiah