Lolita In Tehran '

From the book “The Giver”, I have noticed an important message that the author wanted to tell us – The importance of freedom.

At the march on Washington, he 1963 he delivered his “I Have A Dream” Speech. In this speech he says “I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”(http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm)the. The people that helped him overcome this obstacle were the members of the Civil Rights Act. They overcame this obstacle by protesting, even though they got in trouble, and they were tortured. They were still hated by many but they still fought for

Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr. all fought against slavery and segregation. In the year 1955 Rosa Parks’ decision on not giving up her seat had a big impact for a small action. On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “I have a dream” changed the way that the world saw their way of treating enslaved people. In the year of 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which stated that all slaves in states that are still in rebellion are freed. All of these events of courage helped set equality for all races. Nobody should be segregated from anyone else because everyone should have an equal and fair chance to be like everyone else. We should not let any dilemma get in the way of us expressing how we feel on the problem. We should not stay quiet and speak up for what is right, no matter the cost we can make a change. People have lost their individuality by changing how they are because they are afraid to be an outsider. Being different is the single best way to change for the best and find better ways to go about a

Having freedom is what makes the people who they are as humans, and what they are meant to be. Freedom is simple as saying small and easy things, "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows" (Orwell 84). Before anything else, freedom is the most important thing they can all have, because without it,

William E. Gladstone states” Justice delayed is justice denied.” Meaning when justice is not served in a timely manner, it means you receive any justice at all. In the” I have dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. he talks about the injustice people of color were receiving in the 1940s-60s. “Cairo: My city or Revolution” by Ahdaf Soueif tells of a family who lives under the rule of a dictator. And the story “Lolita in Tehran” by Azar Nafisi and talks about a woman in Tehran being discriminated against because of her gender. All of these texts give us instances where people were being denied freedom. I believe that freedom should be demanded rather than being given.

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Believed in achieving equality through peaceful demonstrations: “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred” (King, pg.3 ¶.1). He felt that equality had to be gained through honorable, civil ways otherwise those fighting for equality were no better than the slave owners. We can see this best when he says, “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence” (King, pg.3 ¶.2). MLK felt that it was in the best interests of all parties for black to integrate into society. A couple of his quotes that show this best are, “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood” (King, pg.4 ¶.6). and “I have a dream that one day in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” (King, pg.5 ¶.2).

Leaders such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and W.E.B. Dubois faced discrimination to stand up for a cause that was bigger than just themselves. But a problem the whole nation slacked on. To be able to have an identity other than race was important to them all and for everyone else. And just because the activist was black does not mean the message does not relay to all races. In all, the root to every racial problem was inequality and injustice.

People would not seek for freedom unless, they do not have enough freedom, or they are

Martin Luther King Jr. stood for peaceful resistance during the civil rights movement. This idea, although many thought it to be ineffective, rose to connect to the heart of many non-believers of civil rights. When Rose Parks refused to give up her seat and when bus's were boycotted in Montgomery the white community, although not in the most joyous way, picked up maids and

freedom from want. However, these freedoms are not true freedoms as they are reliant on a

Freedom should be demanded, because not everyone listens when you ask for something, if anything people would laugh at these people who want freedom and not take them seriously when they do ask for freedom. If people take a stand and demand what they really want and show they want it and fight for it there would be people standing up with that one person too, then there would be an uprising on how people need freedom and demand it even more. A great example would be the the day Martin Luther King Jr. took a stand and said his word on how there needs to be freedom and how it must be demanded in order for us to get it, the day the pastor took a stand and demanded freedom for his people (blacks) and as he kept saying his word and talking about freedom for the blacks more and more people agreed with him and took a stand. It is a great example of how freedom should be demanded and not given.

How the idea of rebellion was treated by the authors? The idea was treated by the authors because all the characters in the stories did something they wasn’t supposed to do for example in the story “Lolita in Tehran” the girl knew she wasn’t allowed to wear bright clothes or nail polish but she still did it anyways. The other story “Persepolis 2” a woman had to spend a whole day at the committee because they could see her red socks, women’s wasn’t allowed to wear what they wanted because they couldn’t bring attention to them self if they did they would be killed or whipped.

“I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny.” - Charles Dickens If man has no option to deny freedom, that makes freedom demanded. Freedom is not given but always demanded.

Curiosity is the basis of learning. Many countries don't allow curiosity because with curiosity come awareness, and they don't want their citizens to question the government's ways. In Reading Lolita in Tehran, the quote “Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form” that Nabokov said means that curiosity is awful, and relates to nafisi’s memoir because the women don't have a lot of freedom and no one can speak their mind. The quote justifies the Islamic communitie’s limitation on curiosity and free speech; since curiosity is bad then no one will want to learn new things and no one will question the government.

The novel “Reading Lolita in Tehran” has related and influenced me in various ways. After all we come from the same religion which is why we can relate so much, emphatically the book is about a young women seeking herself with the help of little young girls. Basically their book is about women's rights. A long history of the Ancient time where they had a similar issue like this with the society being sexist. Therefor, in tehran they believed that these girls can't do anything since they're not “capable” Which is why they can't have book by their choice. This novel reflects on an independent woman being bold and courageous enough to go the extremes of doing something that is not allowed in the country she is living in. I can relate to quite a few things and I feel like I have a slight better advantage of an understanding compared to other people due to the same religion we share. Nafisi writes about before, during, and after the Islamic Revolution in Iran.