What connections did you find between issues in the work and your own culture(s) and experience? Family and Extended Family Greek Culture: -Dominant figure – The Father – Very important -Open family – Always big dinners, people come around unannounced -Feeling secure/safe in the culture – Very open, leave your doors open at night -Traditions – Very important (Christmas, easter etc. ), Family always has to be together -Same Household/ area – Same house through the generations, passed on Similarities and Contrasts with Iran: Statuses of Marjane’s parents – Both intellectuals, make joint decisions – However, ultimately the father tells the rest of the family ‘how it is’ -A lot of people do come over to Marjane’s house – open and welcoming family – Felt unsafe – Because of the war, they felt they couldn’t work with the culture -Traditions – don’t seem to be very evident – war acted as a barrier toward tradition of the culture.
However, they had to wear the veil as a forced tradition. -Same Household – Grandma frequently seemed to be around the house – Her uncle came straight to the house after coming out of prison. Trusting relationship with her grandma (only one who knows about the book) – Shows they are close and frequently see each other. Freedom vs. Rebelling Greek Culture: -Father figure – strict to daughter, very protective over her actions.
Contrast to the way he treats son, more relaxed, “father son” relationship, teach them “how to be a man” -Mother – tried to help daughter, hid stuff from father so that she could be free (see friends), tries to give freedom to learn – Knows what it feels like to be undermined by the father -Daughter action – tries to rebel because they are given less freedom to start with then sons -Role of woman – Can’t talk back to the male, very rude, never done in public – Woman rebel at home (secretive) -Freedom is given to a certain extent to girls; nowhere near as much as the boys Similarities and Contrasts with Iran: Father figure – seems a lot calmer, relaxed, very open, he tells her how it is and what is going on during the book. – Seems closer to father then mother, puts her to bed -Mother – very close, she gives her freedom to wear and do what she wants (e. g. earing the western clothing) – allows her to go out when other parents seem to be a lot more strict in allowing their children to go out -Daughter action – she tries to rebel because she already has freedom, takes advantage of the freedom given to her, she goes to protest with her nanny without telling her parents. – Not as rebellious as Greek girls because her father and mother and not as strict. – “In spite of everything, kids were trying to look hip, even under risk of arrest. ” (p. 12) -Parents role – they are “freedom fighters”/ intellectuals so they have to allow her to do the same as they do or they would be standing for nothing -Role of Woman – makes the decisions with the father cooperatively and talk about it with Marjane together -Secretive – They feel as though they have to hid their family and the way they live because of the situation at the time (covers the windows with black-out) – Contrasts because Greek families are very open and not afraid to show families how they are. Friendship/School/Religion Greek Culture: Religion in school – very important, says prayers in the morning – used to be compulsory, but now if you don’t believe you don’t have to take part -Have to learn about the Greek history – Have to learn Latin – Certain subjects you have to learn -Friends – “You pick your friends, you can’t pick your family” – because you get to choose, you should be respectful, make a good choice; their image is a reflection of you -Friends – Parents always want the kids around at their house to have them around – Did not mind having their company -Friends since very young, friendship stays strong, contact Similarities and Contrasts with Iran: Religion – Very important in the culture, they have to say prayers and do religious study – She wants to be a profit and so this shows how much of an impact religion has had on her life even at such a young age. As well as her talking to God. -Have to learn about where the Shah came from – They try to influence a whole population that God choose the Shah and people believe it, showing how much of an impact religion has on their culture. -They ave to learn about the history of Iran during school time. – Certain subjects you have to learn. -Friends – never at the house, they always play outside. It appears as though her parents never really meet her friends, not as big of a deal/don’t seem that important. – Appears as though parents do not think they influence each other, as much as Greek culture. – As if “we are friends because we go to the same school and you live in my neighbourhood”. Friends – however, you can see that she wants to keep a good friendship with ____ after he leaves – shows she does actually care After looking at the three main ideas, the aspect of Marji’s character that I identify the most with would be the Family aspect. I feel as though family is very important that you follow in their footsteps, even if this is done unconsciously, (like she does by tying to protest). My parents have a co-relationship in which they make decisions together but when it comes to a main thing, it tends to be my dad that “tells it how it is”, like in Marji’s family.
I am also close to my grandparents and I know that if my extended family was to be in trouble my parents would help out in any way they can, like they did with her uncle. I feel as though I was not as surprised as others when it came to the way Marji, the little girl, acted. I feel as though if I was in the same situation as her, I would not adapt well to it like hers and I too would be trying to protest instead of sitting around and seeing what happens.
