The novel Disgrace, written by J.M. Coetzee was published on July 1^st, 1999. It narrates the discomforting story of a South African professor, David Lurie who has been divorced twice and commits several sexual acts which are rather inappropriate. The social context of this novel takes place in post-apartheid South Africa, which plays a crucial role in understanding the underlying nature of this novel. Coetzee has recurring themes of violence, denial, and vulnerability which are all depicted through the unfolding of events in Disgrace.

Personally, I didn’t quite enjoy reading the novel because it was discomforting in the way these themes were portrayed, the social context during post-apartheid where there was a lot of racial tension between the majority and minority. They were racially segregated in almost all aspects of life (political, economic and social discrimination against non-whites by the whites), they were segregated into four categories; Afrikaners (the White), the Black (Non-whites), the Colored (people of mixed race) and Indians. It’s important to note that apartheid was specifically meant to protect the domination of the White South Africans (Afrikaners) over non-whites. The Afrikaners believed that South Africa was their “God-given” homeland and that the white race was superior. Despite all the violence, a series of bad choices and racial segregation, I thought that the book was quite compelling and an interesting read as there were many hidden themes which were implied in Disgrace. In relation to the bigger picture of the Global Citizens stream, reading this novel was extremely relevant because we explored the relationships between literature, the self, the nation and the world around us. Disgrace is also a novel which conveys experiences of historical events, in this case, post-Apartheid in South Africa. Hence, it has allowed us as students to question how memory is portrayed and viewed both through a more specific lens versus a more generalized view.

When reading Disgrace, the theme which particularly interested me was “vulnerability” and how it was portrayed through multiple characters including; David Lurie, Lucy Lurie, and Melanie Isaacs. The theme of “vulnerability” is depicted in different forms throughout the novel as a way to accentuate the development of characters and how their experiences impact their thought processes and personality. An example of Melanie Isaacs showing vulnerability is when she spends time with her professors, David Lurie. She is somewhat characterized as timid and innocent when David Lurie sexually assaults her by raping her. When reading the first sex scene between Melanie and David, as a reader, I felt that David was somewhat pressuring her into having non-consensual sex and although Melanie didn’t do anything to prevent David’s actions, it’s implied that she was vulnerable towards David as she didn’t show any sign of enjoyment. Even though Melanie’s character is quite ambiguous as we are never given any details about her intentions towards David, the question begs to differ whether her vulnerability was used to deceive David. Why you might ask? Well, not long after their first sexual encounter she starts to dodge David’s lectures and skips her rehearsals. She then shows up at David’s apartment unannounced crying hysterically (another example of her vulnerability) about a matter that is never further discussed or explained. She also skips a test for David’s class and as David calls her out for it indicating to her that she had to make time to write the exam, she refuses and this implies that she thought because David has developed a sexual interest towards her, she would be able to get away with not completing her duties as a student. These moments of vulnerability which Melanie Isaacs has portrayed causes us as readers to identify changes in her character as we see that there is a side to her we don’t know about or is hidden to us. Her intentions are never explicitly stated and characterized to be quite secretive towards David and the readers.

On the other hand, Lucy Lurie deals with being vulnerable in a different manner. Although we know that she has been through a traumatic experience of rape when there was a home invasion by three men, she dealt with the rape by keeping it to herself and letting it somewhat consume her. In the social context of post-Apartheid, the racial tensions were evident and has a linkage to Lucy Lurie’s traumatic experience. After the incident, she explicitly informed David to only tell his side of the story and not her side of the story because she would take care of it herself. Lucy was showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress as she would not sleep in the room that the incident took place, she would avoid talking about the incident even though David tried to address it a couple of times as he thought that she should report it to the police, and at the time where she finally explicitly says she has been raped, she has accepted the truth and we see her own up to her trauma after the time she has been in denial of what happened. I wouldn’t say she was in complete denial, but she refused to talk about it and instead of reporting it to the police, she kept quiet. As Lucy’s character shifts throughout the book, we see that in the moments where she is vulnerable, she has lost a sense of herself because she was suffering in the shadow of her attack. However, she regains her spirit and confidence towards the end of Disgrace where we see that she is able to make choices and decisions with a clearer mind.

Lastly, David Lurie’s portrayal of vulnerability is contrasted with his personality because he is characterized as egoistic, self-absorbed and struggles to understand or feel empathy towards others. His vulnerability is never clearly explicit but is especially prominent when he and his daughter, Lucy are attacked in her home. David shows signs of vulnerability when he is hit across the head, dragged across the kitchen floor and locked in the bathroom. When he regains consciousness, he calls Lucy’s name and tries to break free. We see that he struggles and feels helpless and vulnerable as his father instincts kick in and all he wants to do is help Lucy to see if she was alright. During this moment, the readers are given a different perspective on David, he is genuinely worried and vulnerable which is the opposite of how he was portrayed previously in the novel. I think what made him most vulnerable was the fact that he couldn’t do anything to help Lucy and at that point, I’d like to believe that he had a moment of realization of all his past actions and experiences with Soraya, Melanie and possibly wondered if they felt this type of vulnerability and the feeling of not being able to escape. David’s vulnerability and his experience has created a sense of irony where even though he is not willing to confess about his wrongdoings in the past, he builds a wall against others to ensure that he is impenetrable. However, now that the tables have turned not directly on him, he somewhat struggles with his current situation with Lucy’s traumatic experience and his walls come tumbling down. He feels like now Lucy replicates the same response he had towards the school board attempting to get him to confess towards the sexual assault of Melanie Isaacs, but he didn’t want to accept them, he was willing to “accept the charges”. In this case, David is trying to uncover what really happened to Lucy while Lucy is defensive about it and unwilling to talk about her experience and her truth. The audience sees a development of character in David as throughout Disgrace he constantly struggles to place himself in the shoes of others or be empathetic towards them, however towards the end, he learns to let go of this defensive bubble he has created by being more accepting and open.

Overall, the theme of vulnerability has been presented and expressed in a variety of ways and has different effects depending on the character and their experiences. This can be applied to my sociology class because we learned about the effects of racial segregation and marginalization and what kind of impacts that may have on the lives of the target community. We learned about the Thomas Theorem which indicates that if we believe that our racial issues are real, then it means it is real in its consequences (based on our experiences in society). This relates to Disgrace because even though the social context of post-Apartheid was not entirely clear or referred to very often, the violence and traumatic experiences which are evident in this book are a result of the racial segregation and apartness of communities, this then evokes hatred towards another which can be expressed through violent acts.

Front Cover Image of Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman (found on Amazon)

During our ASTU Class, we started to delve into a significant historical event named the Holocaust. As we talked about the Holocaust during World War II and how this event played a central role in shaping the identities of the Jews, our discussions also covered the theme of memory and the reliability of the narrative as we thought it was important to consider when reading Maus. Maus is a graphic novel written by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman and was published in 1991. This graphic novel depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father, Vladek about his personal account and testimony as a Holocaust Survivor and a Polish Jew. Through the use of black and white comic illustrations, the iconicity/simplicity of the narration and using animals (cats, mice, pigs) as a contemporary representation of racial differences, Spiegelman has successfully captured this distressing period in history which will forever be remembered. Spiegelman employs modernist techniques including notions of objective reality, reason, morality, and social progress to evoke themes of memory, racism and language.

In our ASTU class, we often questioned why Spiegelman made certain choices in the making of his graphic novel. A topic that often came up was why he chose to represent Jews as mice, Germans as cats, and the Polish as pigs. We looked at “Funny Animals” and began to deduce why Spiegelman chose to make such decisions. We discussed that it was a way for Spiegelman to evade censorship and he used the comic as a medium to express the intergenerational trauma that lies between Artie and his parents, Vladek and Anja. This type of trauma would pass down from generations to generations, hence impacting their understanding of their own identity, cultural and historical background. He chose to use these animals to symbolize a particular type of food chain in which the mice were seen as vermin or prey and the cats as predators who would terrorize and victimize their prey. Spiegelman used the characteristics of these animals to relate them to human characteristics, for instance, mice are characterized as clever, survivors. However, they were no match for the massive machinery of the Nazis, cats were depicted as pets (meaning they were spoilt) and cunning.

I personally really enjoyed reading this graphic novel for ASTU because to me, Maus was able to express and narrate experiences that are often not talked about or discussed under everyday circumstances. Maus reminds me of Persepolis (written by Marjane Satrapi) because not only are they similar in terms of the graphic illustrations but they both depict personal experiences of characters who have gone through a particular event in history which has made an impact on how their lives turned out. I think reading Maus has made a great contribution to ASTU and what it means to be a global citizen as we continue to understand the experiences of others through their perspectives, and not just by reading the Master Narratives. This has helped us further develop our skills to be selective towards which stories we take into account, allowing us to focus more on Counter-Narratives, or the stories which don’t get publicized, offering a different and more personal perspective.

What stood out to me the most while reading Maus was the theme of memory, I thought “memory” served as the central anchor to the content and other works we have discussed in our ASTU class. The dialogue within this graphic novel accentuated the accountability of memory within Maus as Spiegelman focused only on Vladek’s memories of the events that have happened in World War II and the Holocaust. Something that was quite interesting was Spiegelman capturing his father’s imperfect English as Vladek’s mother tongue was not English. Throughout the book, I often questioned, to what extent was Vladek’s memory reliable? I would notice that Vladek didn’t place as much emphasis on Artie’s mom, Anja as it seemed to be a memory which he didn’t want to reopen or remember as she committed suicide several moments after Artie left a state mental hospital after a brief stay in 1968. However, on the other hand, in the graphic novel, Artie constantly asks his father to disclose more information about Anja, what she was like and what her experience was of the war as it had a great impact on her mental health afterward. We see glimpses of the instability of Anja’s mental health throughout the novel (pg 31, 122) as she repetitively states that she “does not want to live”. I think Spiegelman was attempting to approach the idea of “unspeakability” not just through the cats and mice but also through the horrid experiences shared by his parents as Anja wrote them in a diary. Spiegelman tried to uncover their experiences not just through Vladek’s perspective but Anja’s as well because it would become more reliable and provide multiple narratives.

Throughout the novel, I noticed that Artie kept persuading Vladek to tell him more about his mother and occasionally he would bring up Anja’s diary however Vladek was always ignorant about the matter. He never directly addressed Artie’s questions regarding Anja’s diary and quite often Vladek was reluctant to talk about it or abruptly gets upset at Artie for bringing up the matter. Near towards the end of the novel, on page 158 when Artie mentions “this is where Mom’s diaries will be especially useful. They’ll give me some idea of what she went through while you were apart.” Suddenly, Vladek responded, “I can tell you…she went through the same what me: terrible!”. This connotes that Vladek only wanted to revisit his memories and talk about HIS experiences. He “destroyed” the memories of Anja because according to Vladek, “After Anja died, I had to make an order with everything…These papers had too many memories. So I burned them.” Possibly, he wanted to bury his memories because of the tragedy and depression he felt, however, this raises questions of reliability. Vladek seems to also be in denial because he doesn’t want to tap into that time in his life, which is quite odd because he willingly talks about his dreadful experiences during the Holocaust but doesn’t want to talk about his beloved wife, Anja. By the end of the story, I felt dissatisfied because it was not the ending I was hoping for. I thought it was as if the story stopped halfway and it also ended on unpleasant terms considering the unstable relationship between Art Spiegelman and his father, Vladek. Also, I started wondering if, throughout this entire graphic novel, how much of Vladek’s story was true? Was there a prominent bias or agenda he was protecting? Or was this a genuine and authentic testimony which truly represents the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust.

Reading Maus tied in nicely with all the other works we have uncovered and studied, especially the first “documemoir” or documentary memoir we watched directed by Sarah Polley named “Stories We Tell”, along with Persepolis. For our literature review, we had to write a scholarly review which also focused on a particular area of memory and I focused my topic on “Technologies of Memory”, a term coined by Marita Sturken. “Technologies of Memory” are key terms in Communications scholar Marita Sturken’s introduction from Tangled Memories, which accentuates different forms of memory related to culture and cultural memory’s role in the nation. Sturken defines “technologies of memory” as dynamic “objects, images, and representations” which produce cultural memory. Sturken describes this as dynamic because they change depending on the context of time and place and are interpreted in the present. Hence, in this case, Maus uses images and representations of race through animals to produce cultural memory regarding the event of the Holocaust. Overall, memory is seen as a complex concept which is not always understood very well and is very unique to every entity or human being. As Sigmund Freud argues, “the forgetting of impressions, scenes, experiences comes down in most cases to a process of ‘shutting out’ such things (which have been repressed).”

Mrs. Dalloway is a novel written by modernist writer Virginia Woolf.  The novel was published in the United Kingdom in 1925 and uses William James’ metaphor of the “Stream of Consciousness” to narrate the story of a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway. Throughout Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf closely tracks the momentary thoughts of a particular character and she often blurs the distinction between indirect and direct speech as she freely alternates between her mode of narration. She is able to delve into a characters’ experience and mind through soliloquies, indirect interior monologues, and omniscient descriptions. Woolf places a lot of emphasis on Mrs. Dalloway as she is the focal point tying the other characters in the book together based on her past experiences and her present life.

In a nutshell, Mrs. Dalloway depicts a full day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, who is an upper-class housewife residing in London who is getting ready to host a party that evening. In the second half of the book, there seems to be a shift in the main character as Woolf gradually focuses on Septimus Warren Smith, a First World War veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or in those days it was known as, “Traumatic Neurosis” or “Shell Shock”. Throughout the novel, Septimus frequently hallucinates his dead comrade, Evans who seems to play a central role in his life after World War I. While reading this book, I personally thought that Virginia Woolf has truly captured the essence of the “Stream of Consciousness” as she was a writer who was concerned about capturing emotions such as excitement, pain, beauty and horror in words, she called this “The Modern Age”. I quite enjoyed the uncovering of emotions and how complex it is to understand what the characters were thinking and the thought processes they were going through. Although it was often confusing to follow, I think it shows an accurate representation of how our minds work, even until today.

In Mrs. Dalloway, the uncovering of sexuality and homosociality seems to be a subtle theme which is evident throughout the book between Clarissa and Sally, and Septimus and Evans. According to Woolf, in order to grow, we need to do some gender bending, we need to seek experiences that blur what it means to be a “real man” or a “real woman”. In class discussions, a lot of our discussions circulated around Clarissa and her relationship with Peter as they were supposed to get married however we didn’t really touch on the topic of sexuality and Clarissa’s relationship with Sally. However, when we were first introduced Mrs. Dalloway, we talked about the Victorian Era (Pre-war) where we described it as a more conservative period and how it had a sense of “stuffiness” to it with not much flexibility in relation to gender and sexuality. In this novel, it was written in the Post-Victorian era (after the war) where they moved into becoming more progressive in the exploration of sexuality and Woolf wanted to capture this as a gesture of freedom, especially freedom of spirit.

When reading Mrs. Dalloway, I notice that Clarissa and Septimus seem to show signs of lesbian attachment and homosociality. Homosociality can be defined as same-sex relationships that don’t have a sexual or romantic nature, usually, they are present in friendships, and are attractions between men that specifically exclude women. For Clarissa, her attraction and love for Sally Seton was particularly prominent when they used to live under the same roof. During her first impression of Sally, “all that evening she could not take her eyes off Sally. It was an extraordinary beauty of the kind she most admired, dark, large-eyed, with that quality which, since she hadn’t got it herself, she always envied–…” it’s almost as if Clarissa admired her and looked up to Sally not in a sexual nature (33). However, she couldn’t express her love and admiration to Sally because Clarissa was less daring and was better at repressing her emotions towards Sally. This reminds me of Sigmund Freud as he believed that society is built around the suppression of drives and Clarissa consider the “reality principle” as she has to take into account the external world and the deferment of pleasure.

As her feelings of Sally were flashbacks of her past experiences, sexual fluidity seems to be present as Clarissa’s feelings and thoughts about Sally Seton are constantly changing. In the present time, Mrs. Dalloway no longer has that attraction to Sally. When Mrs. Dalloway looks back at her relationship with Sally, she acknowledges the “purity, the integrity, of her feeling for Sally. It was not like one’s feeling for a man…..it had a quality which could only exist between women” (34). Mrs. Dalloway looks back on this memory and the exploration of her sexuality as an experience she would never forget. As Mrs. Dalloway’s thoughts and feelings act in this continuous movement, her thoughts often progress and develop into a new stream of thoughts where she perceives it as a faded memory (in present time). Also, when Sally kisses Clarissa on the lips, Clarissa’s world “turns upside down” whilst everyone in the background disappears and she was caught in that singular moment with Sally. Even though nothing was being said by either Clarissa or Sally after the kiss, it was similar to Hemingway’s “Theory of Omission”, also known as the “Iceberg theory” because it displayed some of the most significant things about Clarissa and Sally as characters and how everything is impressionistic where some mutually understood meanings or in this case, feelings aren’t being mentioned.

On the other hand, Septimus portrays somewhat of a different homosociality with Evans as we never really meet Evans in the novel. As readers, we are introduced to Evans as Septimus’ “friend” in his recurring analogs and hallucinations. “In the trenches, he developed manliness; he was promoted; he drew the attention, indeed the affection of his officer, Evans by name.”, this was Septimus’ memory of his comrade Evans and how he is introduced as a central part of his life after the war (89). Not only did his possible repressed feelings for Evans cause him to suffer from hallucinations and trouble differentiating between reality and the war, it also disrupted his marriage as he is constantly focused on Evans and not his wife, Lucrezia.  After the death of Evans, Septimus has ceased to feel anything and not be consciously aware or present of the present situation. This implies that his ability to emotionally connect dies with Evans, hence hinting that he might’ve felt a deep and emotional connection with Evans as they have gone through a traumatic event together during the First World War. Even though the nature of their friendship is relatively ambiguous, it seems to “extend beyond platonic heterosexual camaraderie.”

I wonder if his greatest remorse is the fact that he couldn’t openly confess his love for Evans? Or that he wasn’t able to accept his sexuality and instead decided to repress them? However, this takes a toll on him because of his repetitive compulsions of constantly seeing Evans in his hallucinations. This relates to Freud’s idea of “victims of fate”, in which the same things repeatedly happen over and over again, and the victim has a particularly negative repetitive compulsion to repeat it. They are also unable to control their repressions so they are compelled for motives that they may not even be able to understand. This makes me think of our Sociology class where we discuss that in modern day, we create these institutions to help find solutions for those who struggle with their sexuality and their repressed desires. In Sociology class, we talked about support groups and mental institutions who could help those who are suffering to deal with their sexuality. I also wonder if Septimus feels guilty about “lying” to Lucrezia as a result of his repressed homosociality and the guilt he feels for harboring feelings which are beyond his control.

Even during modern time, I think that many still struggle with understanding and expressing their sexuality because it is a very complex component of a person’s identity. Homosociality or homoeroticism is something that many cultures still don’t accept as heteronormativity is still prevalent in our society today. Heteronormativity can be defined as social institutions and social policies which reinforce the idea that sexual relationships ought to exist between men and women. These norms cause humans to constantly repress certain desires they might have and often cause discrimination between social groups divided by sexuality.

I think that reading Mrs. Dalloway has made a bigger contribution to our ASTU class and being a global citizen because we are constantly expanding our knowledge on different writing styles and how they differ depending on the social, cultural and political context. We are also viewing different events which have happened throughout history which allows us to uncover counternarratives and different perspectives. Hence, giving us a broader understanding of the world and the changes which have contributed to how we perceive the world we are currently living in today.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a novel written by a Pakistani author named Mohsin Hamid. The novel was published in 2007 and uses techniques of a frame story – a literary technique which serves as a companion piece to a “story within a story”. Hamid uses dramatic monologue to emphasize the protagonist in the story, Changez hence he places more emphasis on the stories Changez is narrating to the mysterious stranger he is conversing with. The story in a nutshell is about a Pakistani man (Changez) who speaks with a mysterious stranger at a café where he narrates his story about life living abroad in America as he is a stellar student who goes to Princeton who got himself a nice job at a company named Underwood Samsons and falls in love with a Western woman named Erika. However, his relationship took a downfall and his life falls apart after the terrorist attacks of the 9/11 tragedy.

Throughout the novel, Changez creates a “fable of infatuation and disenchantment with America” and he embodies the persona of an American. He has adopted it as part of his identity to only find out that his love for AmERICA might not be what he expected it to be. Interestingly, when doing some research on Hamid and his thoughts on The Reluctant Fundamentalist, he pointed out that he described himself as a “mongrel” and describes his writing as “a novel which can often be a divided man’s conversation with himself”. I particularly enjoyed reading this novel because I have never read a novel which made use of a dramatic monologue in such a way which was very entertaining and mysterious. As I love reading mysterious books, this really caught my attention as the suspense constantly builds throughout the story to only find out that my suspense doesn’t reach up to a climactic point. Hence, I thought the novel’s anti-climax at the end was somewhat odd and dissatisfying. Even though it didn’t exactly give me closure because so many questions were unanswered, I thought it was a very careful and deliberate choice which Hamid made.

I think that reading The Reluctant Fundamentalist has made a bigger contribution to our ASTU class in terms of being a global citizen who is aware of their surroundings and applying them to different contexts around the world. This novel has brought up a key event in history which not only affects the United States but affects other countries worldwide as an example of a security threat and the consequences. Being a global citizen allows us to view these problems by understanding multiple perspectives and being open-minded to what’s happening in the world around us every day.

During the classes that we spent analyzing the Reluctant Fundamentalist, we are reminded of the 9/11 tragedy which served as a focal point of the novel. As we dived deeper into the story told by Changez and the 9/11 crisis, a lot of our discussions in class were centralized around the “master narratives” and “counter narratives” in the 9/11 crisis. Due to the fact that this novel is a post 9/11 book, it reflected certain significant things about America’s culture including its dominance and power in the world. Why, you may ask? It is done through “master narratives” which have been presented loudly to the rest of the world in social media, newspaper, articles online, speeches, movements, etc. In ASTU class, we learned that “master narratives” are generalized and the largest ideas which depict what MOST people think about an event and the biggest way in which remember these events. Basically, it’s what ends up on Wikipedia.

The 9/11 is a representation of the morning of September 11^th on 2001 where there were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks in the United States. An estimated amount of 2973 people died that morning, however there has been a lot of discourse regarding the consequential effects of the event, as there has been massive health effects where over approximately 80,000 people suffered from respiratory health problems because of the chemical and debris exposure. After 9/11, the United States placed their suspicions on al-Qaeda – an Islamic militant organization. This caused the United States to react by declaring the “War on Terror” and invaded Afghanistan. When I think about these events, I understand it through considering the “master” and “counter narratives” of 9/11. I personally think that the “master narrative” of 9/11 depicts it as a catastrophe which is incomparable to what other countries in the world might face as there has been an abundant amount of discourse regarding the post 9/11 era. Through this “master narrative” it has created a symbol of America being victimized on that day. As I am sympathetic towards those who had lost their loved ones during that day, I felt a certain kind of unease. I don’t mean to personally offend any of my fellow American classmates but, I didn’t quite understand why everything that happens in America has to be exposed in a way that seems like it’s bigger than it actually is. America seems to always get the crown and microphone to dominate other countries and make statements about certain things, however what gives them the right to have so much of this power and say?

Also, during our discussions we were talking about the scholarly conversation of memorial services and portraits which were put up on bulletin boards, lampposts and hospital walls. Scholars were asking the question, “why them?” What makes these victims obituary worthy and who would be able to get their number and picture printed on newspapers? This emphasized the “victimization” of America in a way which completely turned against those who were Arabs or Muslims. It left me wondering, what makes the lives of those who were lost in 9/11 more important in comparison to those killed in the Afghanistan war post 9/11? Aren’t there innocents who were killed in that war? In sociology, we often talk about how norms are socially constructed, what we are normalized into thinking in society is a product of human interaction and assumptions. In the post 9/11 era, we produce a culture which is constantly afraid of a terrorist attack through this “culture of fear”. In my opinion, I consider the Arabs and Muslims or people of colour as the “counter narrative” because their side of the story never seems to get told or turned into a public phenomenon recognized worldwide. Often, this is due to censorship or also because those in power get to decide whose stories get to be published and whose stories remain untold.

In Political Science class, we recently discussed the security and insecurity after 9/11 where the emergence of al-Qaeda has been symbolized as the new “evil” by America and lead to massive increases in American military expenditure. Even until today, Afghanistan barely operates as a state because they had the longest war with America which caused America to have power over Afghanistan. Within our ASTU class, the “master” and “counter narratives” related to Sarah Polley’s documemoir where Sarah was the only one who had the power and ability to decide whose narratives were told and which parts of the narrative she wanted to emphasize. She also got to decide whose narratives were less relevant or important, for instance, Harry’s perspective and side of his personal story was never told because it was what Sarah chose. The Reluctant Fundamentalist kept reminding me that the 9/11 incident represented a turning point for Arabs and Muslims who lived in America. In the post 9/11 era, they suddenly became discriminated and interrogated in a way which reminded me of Persepolis and those who were against the Shah. It has even come to the point where they made accusations and assumptions about those who were discriminated against.

A historical event which I am familiar with and hold very close to my heart is the May 1998 Riots in Indonesia.  The “master narrative” of this tragedy were “incidents of demonstrations, mass violence and civil unrest of a racial nature that occurred throughout Indonesia”. These riots were said to have been triggered by rising economic issues including mass unemployment and food shortages. The main targets of these riots were ethnic Chinese where there is an estimated amount of more than a thousand people who died and there were at least “168 cases of rape and material damage valued at more than 3.1 trillion Rupiah. However, the “counter narrative” of the riots were those who were Chinese Indonesian where until today, we are discriminated against because we are a permanent minority and if any Chinese Indonesian has attempted to rise in political power, they would be challenged through demonstrations and the majority would want to overthrow their power at whatever cost. Even today, it is an extreme challenge for Chinese Indonesians to express their voices as we are often neglected.

“One can forgive, but one should never forget” – Marjane Satrapi

Written by Marjane Satrapi

For a brief amount of time, our class explored into the historical political struggles of countries and the stories which were told which gave voices to the voiceless allowing them to retell their traumatic experiences. We heavily focused on Persepolis, an autobiographical graphic memoir written by Marjane Satrapi published in 2003 (English Translation). The historical context of Persepolis was during and after “the Islamic revolution” in 1979 and the Iraq-Iran war. Satrapi depicts the details of her childhood up until her pre-teen years through black and white comic illustrations in order to enhance the message of her text. She focused on “visual literacy” and attempted to allow readers to comprehend the codes and contexts of language through pictures and spoken verbal communication in the dialogues within Persepolis. Satrapi’s intended message as mentioned in the introduction of Persepolis was “to show the West’s perception of modern Iran as an Islamic Fundamentalist country filled with fanaticism and terrorism…..” however, that was far from the truth. She wanted to ensure that those Iranians who lost their lives in Prisons defending freedom; who died in the war against Iraq, who suffered under various repressive regimes; who were forced to leave their families and flee their homeland should NOT be forgotten.

When reading Persepolis and discussing it during class, I felt as if we were really able to see through the black and white illustrations; the gutters and the positioning of the panels to understand what life was like under repressive regimes. It brought me back to the central theme of “memory” and how Satrapi was narrating a personal story and her purpose also served as a voice for a collective group, which was the people she wanted to make sure weren’t forgotten. This nicely tied in relation to Sarah Polley’s documemoir, the “Arts of Resistance” exhibition curated by Dr. Laura, and Rigoberta Menchu’s resistance literature autobiography, I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian woman in Guatemala. All the previous works we have looked at in ASTU has been a really beneficial contribution to my knowledge and understanding about stories being told under different contexts, time periods and varied styles. I particularly enjoyed reading Persepolis and watching the film in my own time as I was so drawn to the black and white illustrations and her use of colloquial language making it much easier to understand what Marji (Satrapi as the protagonist in Persepolis) experienced. I learned about insights regarding the Islamic Revolution and life growing up in Iran. Even though I have heard many stereotypes regarding Iran and the Middle East in general, I wasn’t fully aware of the Islamic fundamentalists which were quite brutal and depicted a symbol of oppression and conflicts which rose from authoritative power.

In contemporary culture, the issue of labeling Iran and other Middle Eastern countries as the source of terrorism and terrorist attacks is evident and often comes into conflict with social norms of what is acceptable and unacceptable in society, for instance; wearing the veil. In addition, Satrapi intended to represent Iran through giving her personal insights and stories in order to disprove the stereotype of Islam being seen as the “Axis of Evil” after the 9/11 crisis in New York. President George W. Bush’s speech built in stereotypical images of how North Korea, Iran, and Iraq were part of the “Axis of Evil” saying that these countries threatened the peace in the world. Hence, the media eventually adopted this stereotype until today causing more accusations towards these countries. This made me think about the stereotype assignment which I completed for sociology where we had to watch a Ted talk by Adichie and she mentioned that “by showing a group of people as only one thing, over and over again…and that is what they become.”  The implies the danger which the media has influence over in the circulation of ideas within our society.

Whereas on the other hand, in some countries such as China, Iran, and Myanmar there are authoritarian governments who control what kind of information comes in and comes out of the country regarding the circulation of media and information in the country. For instance, Persepolis was censored in Iran and the government made sure that it was banned and Iranians wouldn’t be able to purchase the book or watch the film. This related to what I learned in my political science class regarding the impact of the media and how it served as a check on the executive power of the state and it determined how citizens perceived the politics and the state. Relating to what I learned in political science, I wondered if Iran during the Islamic Revolution adopted a fascist or totalitarian ideology where they used mass media not to inform the public but to confuse and divide them between the resistance and those who were with the regime.

Coming back to Persepolis, Satrapi published this comic book in France where there was a debate regarding whether or not women should be able to wear the veil in public places; hence she stereotypes Islam as oppressive against women and she attempts to go against this anti-Islamic fervor. Another modern example of issues which resonate with Persepolis would be the implementation of the law where they banned facial coverings in public in 2017, Quebec. Apparently, the Canadian province is excluding public workers from wearing the veil and “obliging citizens to unveil while using public transport or government services”. Philippe Couillard (the premier of Quebec), mentioned that this law was enforced due to issues linked to communications, identification, and safety because they are in a free and democratic society. He stated “You speak to me, I should see your face, and you should see mine. It’s as simple as that.” However, the Liberal government failed to see the kind of effect it would have on citizens living in Quebec who are obligated to wear the veil due to their social practices. The enforcement of this law caused hate crimes to increase by 253% between 2012 to 2015 where Canadian Muslims were targeted. Reading this article made me upset as it contradicts what the government said earlier about being a “free and democratic society” however they are not allowing those who may be Islam or Muslim to wear express their freedom by giving them the choice of being able to choose what they wear and when they wear it.

When reading Persepolis, I definitely felt like Marji’s struggles and the trauma she faced throughout her life was extremely challenging to relate to. It feels as if Marji’s life is a world away and is a true depiction of the terrors of war. I wonder how I would feel if I woke up every single day to the sound of gunshots, screaming, and explosions. Not only did she see, hear, and breath chaos during a considerable amount of her childhood but she faced oppression, inequalities, death, tragedy, and trauma. However, on the bright side, I thought that Marji portrayed a strong heroic image of women empowerment and an adolescent who was fearless, not being afraid to express her feelings or opinions. Satrapi’s courage to be able to write and publish this book inspired me as she took a risk in showing herself to us to beautifully narrate her story of what life was REALLY like in Iran.

One thing that I could think of which somehow related my experience to Marji’s struggle was Muslim Indonesians who discriminated against Chinese Indonesians. In my country, I am seen as a Chinese Indonesian and felt somewhat discriminated against society because I wasn’t allowed to wear certain outfits or clothes which were more revealing. My parents would always remind me to dress appropriately to ensure that I wasn’t catching attention or drawing trouble in my direction. Another example I could think of was some of my Muslim friends who also attended International schools, were more privileged and educated allowing them to be more expressive of who they were and how they wanted to present themselves. However, they didn’t wear the veil because they didn’t like it and only wore the veil on special occasions. They personally felt like they were neglected or looked at in a peculiar way which made them also feel discriminated against the majority of society who were also Muslim but wore the veil.

Persepolis was an eye-opener for me because I wouldn’t have necessarily thought about the political and social concerns which were affecting people in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran. Satrapi allowed me to understand the representation of religion, war, and symbols of oppression within her country but also reminded me of the memories of joy she had during her childhood. In contemporary culture, some of these issues are still evident and are hard to overlook when the impact of the media is extremely influential to our generation and our perception of others. However, we have to constantly remind ourselves that stereotypes do not define a society. As Marji shows us, she has her memories of the war and revolution which may emphasize the loss of many loved ones and her struggles of oppression, but she also emphasized the moments which are well cherished with heroic images of her family members.

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