What was Improved, What will be Improved

Unfortunately my goals were not written on previous blog post I don't know why. Maybe I forgot to write it. Therefore I will just tell you my goals that were set when I came to America first, and evaluate those right in this post. I am getting afraid to think back on the past but it is exciting in some parts!

First and foremost, one of them was "improving English skill". I think I improved pretty much. I cannot feel it directly but I can feel that using English became more natural than before. I am getting used to it. My roommate was helpful. He can speak English fluently because he is from Switzerland which uses five official languages so he is really good at linguistic stuff. I talked a lot with him and tried to get nice accent and vocabulary from him. Even though he used cursing words and slangs most of the time but it was still helpful to improve my conversation skill. In addition, through the guitar lesson to my peer, I learned a lot. Whole lesson proceed in only English because he is Chinese, so it should be necessarily in English. 

Secondly, I had decided to "read a lot of books". However I think I didn't accomplish that one because all the books I read for two months are summer reading books, and Persepolis. Maybe it is such a lame excuse but I didn't know that I will not have time for reading before I came to US. I thought I will have time for doing other things than my class stuff and extra-curricular activities. I am busy enough to do things that I have now. So I am really going to read some books during thanksgiving break! I hope I will have time for reading at that time. I already set up the plan for reading too.




Lastly, I wanted to "make a lot of good friends". Honestly I don't know about this yet. I think most of people are nice to me and they are kind. However I don't know if they are truly my friends. I talked about this with my true friend that I met at Cheshire Academy, and he said he felt same thing with me recently. I have fun with my unsure true friends and afterwards, I easily become lonely again. It is hard to explain. It feels just weird. Once, the guy that I believed that he was my true friend and dedicated most of my time betrayed me suddenly. Since then, I am  afraid to meet new friends and new people. And nowadays, I feel it much more than before. 

On the next upcoming marking period, I will, of course, improve my English skill, and make at least one true friend rather than hundred of friends. Also, different with this marking period and most importantly, I will try not to lose my very first resolution to be a cool guy :) I feel like I am going to easy these days.

Brief Summarize of "My Grandmother in the Stars"

This poem is basically about missing grandmother. Narrator and grandmother are apart probably far away from each other that they couldn't even think about meeting again on this planet and narrator is sad about it. Narrator thinks about the things like the horse and the cow that represent her hometown or the place where grandmother lives in. She misses her hometown so much. She admits that grandmother and she are apart according to the last stanza "Where we live in the world
is never one place." and "You and I on a roof at sunset, our two languages adrift" ,but she believes that they are living in their hearts, and the moon is always lighting them.

Longing (inspired poem)

Papa went a journey to white sky
With his damp and sick skin,
With my foolish, indifferent
and half-hearted thought

However he is still everywhere around me
At the street, in my dream, even in my pocket

Papa if you are listening,
Please answer to my dim voice

Nye's Wish

     Lately I learned tons of information about Islamic culture. I totally didn't have interest in it but the more I know about it, it gets more interesting. 

     19 Varieties of Gazelle, was written by Naomi Shihab Nye, is a poetry book that shows the live of people in the Middle East, in the light of the September 11 attack and it has many different poems about her family story. 
September 11 attack is terrible tragedy that was committed by Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda. They destroyed 
landmark towers in United States such as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. It had killed almost 3000 people and caused astronomical number loss in property and infrastructure. I don't know much about the history in America, but I think because of the incident on 9.11, people in America started to recognize Arabians as a terrorists. Those stereotypes and prejudices lead Arabians to serious situation. Americans killed innocent people, treated Arabian inhumanely. Discrimination to people who are from middle east left scar on their heart and their community. In that inappropriate situation, Nye ,who is Arab-American poet lived in Arabic culture and raised by Palestinian father and American mother, wanted to show Americans that actual Arabians mind, culture, atmosphere in order to change Americans biased thought. 
     
     Firstly, if we take a look at the one of her poems that is called "My Father and the Fig Tree", it is about her father who loves a fig which symbolizes her father's longing about his home in Palestine even though he was in America for more than 20 years. He always think about a fig even when he tells a folktale to his daughter, he just sticks in that word to the story. I think this poem shows Arabians humanity. Americans regard Arabians as bad people and terrorists but they are same human as Americans. They have their family, hometown, and they feel nostalgia. Nye wanted to convey this message to Americans. In addition, another poem that is called "The Words under the Words" is talking about her grandmother who has warm heart, peaceful mind, religion, and loneliness like everybody. She love s granddaughter, tells a story, be next to granddaughter when she is sick like every other ordinary grandmother. After she died, Nye believes she would be in the stars according the poem "My Grandmother in the Stars", she keeps memories with her grandmother and misses her. All the poems have something in common. They show Arabians are the same people as everybody. 

     By writing this poems and citing this characters, Nye wanted to fix the misunderstanding about Arabians of not only Americans' but also people all over the world outside of middle east. Arabians are the people who are peaceful, kind, warm-hearted rather than scary and potential terrorist. Furthermore, she wanted Americans to stop treating Arabians unfairly and abandon the thought that Arabians are dangerous and bad. I think in order to convey that messages, it was effective way to write this poems so that she could convince people with quietly but strongly because sometimes the pen is stronger than the sword. 

Grandmother's Personality

I think Nye's grandmother is intimate person. Her caring about Nye is showed on first stanza of "The Words under the Words". When the author woke from the long fever, her grandmother's hand was covering her forehead. Thus Nye miss and think about her grandmother on "My Grandmother in the stars". Nye said, every time she thinks about the fact we will not meet again on earth, it makes her throat filled with dust. Furthermore, she said, it is never one place that we live in the world, it is our hearts and those dogged mirrors, keep flashing us moons before we are ready for them.

 Also I think Nye's grandmother has loneliness in her mind. She waits for the mails usually it is not mail but she keeps waiting, and if one comes she read it aloud again and again. She lost her husband, who was loved and nourished so much by his wife, and sense of loss came from it makes her loneliness bigger.

Discussion Question

1. All three poem is about the story of 'father'. What is 'father' meaning to author?
2. Why her father's attitude to plants was insincere when they moved to new house?

Satrapi's Message in the book "Persepolis"

Marjane Satrapi, the author of the book "Persepolis" who is an Iranian-born French novelist as well as illustrator, wrote her book about her childhood story to people who are not aware of real history of Iran and Islamic Revolution. Still there are many people who didn't learn about a world history especially about Iran, and many people don't have interest in the history of Iran. Because of those reasons, she used a way that readers could easily understand it; such as using of picture and easy vocabulary. She wanted to make readers not get bored while they read her book. Honestly, I didn't have interest and care about the country called "Iran" before I read this book. I thought Iran was peaceful place because my home country South Korea and Iran are "Diplomatic Relations" which is connected with peace making, trade, culture and economic. Anyway, let's think about this. Why did Satrapi write and publish this book in France? This is important problem. If she published this book in Iran and many people got to know about the terrifying reality of Iran, of course she would be seriously in danger. The Iranian government never let her be alive. Probably she would be killed.

Satrapi tried to convey how chaotic and painful was the reality and the hardship she undergone. She wanted to denounce all the horrible things committed by the brutal government; such as recruiting young boys to the army and making into a slaughter, serious unfairness between men and women, demonstrations and wars that led many people to die. By setting her as the main character, the readers could feel more realistic and empathize with her because they would think this book as a autobiography. Also because of her vivid descriptions and pictures of background, the readers could easily approach to the book, and Satrapi could show what she wanted to convey more effectively. I think the message she wanted to tell was "Be aware of the real situations at that time, and don't forget the hardships that was undergone by the martyrs made Iran of now." Her book plays the role of history textbook that tells the facts that should be indelible to descendants.

I think she definitely achieved her purpose. I am the one of the audiences she aimed, and at least my classmates and I became to know about the reality of that time. She wanted more and more people to know about her message and spread out. In that perspective, this book was filmed as a movie and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academic Award 2007 too. That shows her book was impressive and implies the number of people who have read or watched "Persepolis" would be large. Also, thanks to this book, I could fully understand about the real history of Iran and wrote a book review to recommend this book to others. Thus I hope this book spread out more widely and people start to recognize about the history of Iran. 

Real Hero Called Father (edited)

“KABOOM!!!” “Run!!!” “Down with the King!!!!!” Age of revolution is inevitably chaotic. Likewise  Iranian Revolution was very chaotic. Also, there is a book about that chaotic revolution. "Persepolis" is the book that was written by Marjane Satrapi who is an Iranian-born French novelist as well as illustrator. It was originally published in French, and it has been translated into several languages including English. It is divided into two books and the first book that I read is about Marjane’s childhood and the second book is about the story from her high school life to moving to France. “Persepolis” also has a film version. And it was nominated for 2007 Academy Award. The book "Persepolis" has many characters inside. All the characters play important roles in this book. Among them, I choose to write about Marjane's father. He is a brave person. He got almost arrested by government because he engaged in the demonstration and took a picture of it even though it was strictly forbidden at that time. He is also being strict and hypocritical sometimes like the incident about their maid, which make Marjane confused. However the most important thing is Marjane’s father plays a role of her hero because he always stands beside her and gives her comfort and courage to live and make her own voice.

The first reason why I think he is a hero is because he is “a hero” which Marjane wants. At first, she didn’t think he was “a hero” but later on she realized that her father was a hero. According to the book, one of Marjane’s friends said “I wish he were alive and in jail rather than dead and a hero” (Satrapi 86). Her father was martyr which means a hero died for the country. However she wanted her father to be with her rather than be a hero. Because death of father was really hard to tolerate to young girl. After Marjane listened to that, she realized. Unlike her father, Marjane’s father is always with Marjane and do her favor. He told her story of the history and about their family. Marjane was really interested in that kind of story so afterward, he kept telling her fun story next to her. In addition, when he and his wife decided to go to travel to Turkey, Marjane asked them to buy westernized culture stuffs such as Michael Jackson badge, denim jacket, newest Nike sneakers and posters of American singers. Those were highly banned products and if they were exposed, it could be lead to serious problem but he took a risk and bought them for her. That is all because he loved Marjane so much.

Another reason is because he tried to give her comfort and courage. At last of the book, he decided to send Marjane to Austria because he worried so much about her safety in this country. Of course, Marjane didn’t want to go with giving the reason she is too young to go alone. He said to her that he truly believes her that she will do it valiantly rather than convince her logically. “We adore you! Don’t ever forget who you are!” (Satrapi, 148) he said to Marjane in order to give her sincere mind of him which made Marjane comfortable and courageous. On the way of airport and in front of the door, the only person who crying was her father. Not only at the airport but also every time Marjane said that she wants to do a threatening things, he truly worried and tried to prevent it. Furthermore, when Marjane's teacher said her dream is inappropriate, he didn't care and rather he understood her. I think that beliefs of her father on Marjane made her to be outspoken and independent.

Marjane’s father is a person who gives comfort to Marjane just for standing beside. He is “a hero” and “a true father” to Marjane. He is being friendly but sometimes being strict, he even makes me curious about if there is any father like him in this world. To be honest, there are not so many of his part in this book. However his impression is big enough to distinguish. If Marjane’s father was one of a hero of country, what would Marjane’s future be?



Works Cited
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story Of A Childhood
New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2003

Real Hero Called Father

“KABOOM!!!” “Run!!!” “Down with the King!!!!!” Age of revolution is inevitably noisy. Likewise  Iranian Revolution was very noisy. And there is a book has some contents about that noisy Revolution. "Persepolis" is the book that is written by Marjane Satrapi who is an Iranian-born French novelist as well as illustrator. It was originally published in French, and it has been translated into several languages including English. It is divided into two books and the first book that I read is about Marjane’s childhood and the second book is about the story from her high school life to moving to France. “Persepolis” also has a film version. And it was nominated for 2007 Academy Award. The book "Persepolis" has many characters inside. All the characters do important roles in this book. Among them, I choose to write about Marjane's father. He is a brave person. He got almost arrested by government because he engaged in the demonstration and took a picture of it even though it was strictly forbidden at that time. He also being strict and hypocritical sometimes like the incident about their maid, so makes Marjane confused. But most important thing is Marjane’s father plays a role of her hero because he always stands beside her and gives her a comfort and a courage to live and make her own voice.

The first reason why I think he is a hero is because he is “a hero” which Marjane wants. At first, she didn’t think he is “a hero” but later on she realized that her father was a hero. According the book, one of Marjane’s friends said “I wish he were alive and in jail rather than dead and a hero” (Satrapi 86). Her father is martyr which means a hero died for the country. But she wants her father to be with her rather than be a hero. Because death of father was really hard to tolerate to young girl. After Marjane listened to that, she realized. Unlike her father, Marjane’s father is always be with Marjane and do her favor. He told her story of the history and about their family. Marjane was really interested in that kind of story so afterward, he kept telling her fun story next to her. In addition, when he and his wife decided to go to travel to Turkey, Marjane asked them to buy westernized culture stuffs such as Michael Jackson badge, denim jacket, newest Nike sneakers and posters of American singers. Those were highly banned products and if they were exposed, it could be lead to serious problem but he took a risk and bought them for her. That is all because he loved Marjane so much.

Another reason is because he tried to give her a comfort and a courage. At last of the book, he decided to send Marjane to Austria. Because he worried so much about her safety in this country. And of course, Marjane didn’t want to go with giving the reason she is too young to go alone. He said to her that he truly believes her that she will do it valiantly rather than convince her logically. “We adore you! Don’t ever forget who you are!” (Satrapi, 148) he said to Marjane in order to give her sincere mind of him which made Marjane comfortable and courageous. On the way of airport and in front of the door, the only person who crying was her father. Not only at the airport but also every time Marjane said that she wants to do a threatening things, he truly worried and tried to prevent it. Furthermore, when Marjane's teacher said her dream is inappropriate, he didn't care and rather he understood her. I think that beliefs of her father on Marjane made her to be outspoken and independent.

Marjane’s father is a person who gives comfort to Marjane just for standing beside. He is “a hero” and “a true father” to Marjane. Friendly but strict sometimes, he even makes me curious about if there is any father like him in this world. To be honest, there are not that many of his part in this book. But his impression is big enough to distinguish. If Marjane’s father was one of a hero of country, what would Marjane’s future be?

Works Cited

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story Of A Childhood

New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2003

First Draft (very not organized)

“KABOOM!!!” “Run!!!” “Down with the King!!!!!” Age of revolution is inevitably noisy. Likewise  Iranian Revolution was very noisy. And there is a book has some contents about that noisy Revolution. "Persepolis" is the book that is written by Marjane Satrapi who is an Iranian-born French novelist as well as illustrator. It was originally published in French, and it has been translated into several languages including English. It is divided into two books and the first book that I read is about Marjane’s childhood and the second book is about the story from her high school life to moving to France. “Persepolis” also has a film version. And it was nominated for 2007 Academy Award. The book "Persepolis" has many characters inside. All the characters do important roles in this book. Among them, I choose to write about Marjane's father. He is basically a brave person. He got almost arrested by government because he engaged in the demonstration and took a picture of it even though it was strictly forbidden at that time. But most important thing is Marjane’s father do a role of her hero because he gives Marjane a comfort and a courage to live and make her own voice.

unlike other fathers of Marjane’s friends, he always be with her and do her favor. He told her story of the history, bought what she wanted from Europe. Also he is a brave person. He got almost arrested by government because he engaged in the demonstration and took a picture of it even though it was strictly forbidden at that time. He really does care about Marjane and try to support her in a way that benefits her. Marjane's teacher said her dream is inappropriate, he didn't care and rather he understood her. Sometimes like the incident about their maid, he is being hypocritical so making Marjane confused. However, he is still great father of Marjane I think.

First reason why I think he is a hero is because he is “a hero” which Marjane wants. At first, she didn’t think he is “a hero” but later on she realized that her father was a hero. According the book, one of Marjane’s friends said “I wish he were alive and in jail rather than dead and a hero” (Satrapi 86). Her father is martyr which means a hero died for the country. But she wants her father to be with her rather than be a hero. Because death of father was really hard to tolerate to young girl. After Marjane listened to that, she realized. Unlike her father, Marjane’s father is always be with Marjane and do her favor. He told her story of the history and about their family. Marjane was really interested in that kind of story so afterward, he kept telling her fun story next to her. In addition, when he and his wife decided to go to travel to Turkey, Marjane asked them to buy westernized culture stuffs such as Michael Jackson badge, denim jacket, newest Nike sneakers and posters of American singers. Those were highly banned products and if they were exposed, it could be lead to serious problem but he took a risk and bought them for her. That is all because he loved Marjane so much.

He gave her comfort and courage by told her whenever you feel like to come back home, feel free to do so.


Works Cited
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story Of A Childhood
New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2003

Persepolis: Such A Nice History Record

"Persepolis" is the book written by Marjane Satrapi who is an Iranian-born French novelist as well as illustrator. It was originally published in French, and it has been translated into several languages including English. It is divided into two books and the first book that I read is about Marjane’s childhood and the second book is about the story from her high school life to moving to France. “Persepolis” also has a film version. And it was nominated for 2007 Academy Award. So it was already proved that this is good book. And I liked this book. First reason why is  it was great to learn about history of Iran which I didn’t have chance to learn in Korea. Also it was easy to read for me who is beginner at reading English book because it was comic book and didn’t use a hard vocabulary. Lastly, I really liked the viewpoint in this book.

Marjane, a little girl, is the main character of this book and she tells us her life story in her perspective as I said above. It helps to show the reality of that time in a way that is more honestly and plainly. She lived in very dangerous and strict society after the Islamic Revolution. And she was outspoken and interested in the problem of society so she always had trouble with things that were really threatening. But she kept coming out with a question of unfairness of the society, and she had learned many lessons in that process.

“Persepolis” didn’t use that really hard vocabulary. I think it’s because of little girl’s viewpoint. I am not an expert at English book reading, so understanding whole story without using dictionary is biggest goal. And with this book, I could accomplish my goal. Even if when I didn’t get it completely, the picture of this book helped me to understand. For example, through character’s facial expression, I could guess what was happening on that page.

However this was little bit uncomfortable to read in perspective of the affluent family. I think it leads to get biased information. According to the book, a poor people were recruited to army which was actually slaughter. At the same time, Marjane was at the party with friends and had fun time. In terms of showing opposite situation that emphasize tragedy, it was helpful but for some people, it might be uncomfortable I think.

I highly recommend this book. This will help readers to learn about the history of Iran without feeling bored. Even though it can be interpret as bit partial, I know it is inevitable problem for history related book, and the good parts of this book are enough to conceal that problem.

http://youtu.be/StgaphDN4Jw video review

Thesis of Book Review

I liked book "Persepolis". First of all, it was great chance to learn about history of Iran which I couldn't learn in Korea. Also it was easy to read for me who is beginner at reading English book. Furthermore, it was comic book so it was impressive enough to catch my attention. Lastly, I really liked the viewpoint in this book.