As the school year wraps up, I am grateful for the insightful pieces we read as a class in ASTU 100. I will now look at life narratives as the type of literature that can accomplish many great things in terms of spreading awareness and removing biases and prejudices against people and groups of people.

When I think of literature that does work within this category, I think of Moon at Nine by Deborah Ellis. At the age of 14, I had the pleasure of reading this book and writing a review for the National Post, and have always remembered this novel as being one of my favourites because of its incredibly touching story.

Moon at Nine tells the story of a young girl, named Farrin, who lives in Iran, and who is forbidden from being who she is due to homosexuality being illegal in Iran. This novel can be considered a biography, and most certainly a life narrative, as it depicts a true story of a young person’s life when faced with hardship.

Through the ASTU 100 course, my interests in life narratives as political resistance, the concepts of public and private memory, and trauma, and life narratives as an outlet for coping with trauma have peaked.

This biography of a

young girl’s experiences help shed light on the powers of political hegemony and how the rule of a group can have detrimental impacts on one’s life. This biography allows its audiences to construct further knowledge on the power of life narratives as being able to (potentially) change and challenge authority in various ways. Whether that be figures within government, family, or the general public, all as captured in Moon at Nine.

This biography also captures the elements of authority and ethics when telling a story. As we have analyzed in Missing Sarah by Maggie de Vries, questions such as who has the right to tell a story, who has authority,

how legitimacy is communicated, etc can also be examined within Moon at Nine. In order to ensure the safety of those in the story, names have been changed, and certain details have been altered. Does this change Farrin’s story?  Does this remove Farrin’s authority to tell this story? How did Ellis’ position as a white woman from Canada influence her ability to tell Farrin’s story, and how did this change certain elements of the narrative? It is worth noting that in the narrative, Ellis explains “This story is essentially hers” (Ellis, 2016). How does 

Ellis’ acknowledgement through the use of this modal change her relationship with the readers, and how does this change their reception of Farrin’s story?

This biography would be an excellent addition to the life narratives ASTU 100 class, as it speaks to many elements of the Global Citizens’ stream of CAP. How does society deal with those who are deviant? How is the crime of homosexuality treated in Iran and how does this impact lives? How does a life narrative about trauma, struggle, and power work to educate its audiences about political and social relations on one’s authority and agency? Geographically, how has the globalization of ideologies, practices and beliefs changed or reinforced the experiences of those similar to Farrin’s?

 

Works Cited

Ellis, Deborah. Moon at Nine. Pajama Press, 2016.