Reading Lolita In Tehran

Throughout both Nadia’s childhood and adulthood, external forces such as religion and a society unaccepting of women’s independence force her to grapple with cultural pre-conceptions and thus forge her own identity which grants her personal freedom. Hamid sets up the novel to provide a foil for Nadia’s

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel that provides insight into a young girl living in Iran during the hardship of war. Persepolis takes place during the childhood of Marjane Satrapi. It gives a background of the Islamic Revolution and the war in Iran. Satrapi attempts to guide herself in a corrupted world filled with propaganda. She tries to develop her own morality concerning religion, politics, and humanity. Satrapi was blessed enough to have high class status and parents who had an open mindset about the world around them. Thanks to her slightly alternative lifestyle, she is able to reconstruct gender norms that society has set by depicting the different ways women resist them. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others” by Lila Abu-Lughod is an essay detailing the misconceptions surrounding the veil. Through this essay we can see how colonial feminism, the form of feminism in which western women push for a western way of living on their third world counterparts, has shined a negative light on cultures all around the world - particularly Islamic women. The essay shows how women who don’t conform to American societal structures are labeled as women who urgently require saving. Through this essay one can develop a thorough understanding of the veil itself and the many representations it holds to different entities. Although in Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Satrapi

Abayas, shailas, burkas, and chadors: all are forms of veiling in the Middle East, and all are perceived as symbols of oppression and patriarchy by the West. The veil worn by a Middle Eastern woman is striking and beautiful in its simplicity and elegance. The hijab, the most common form of veiling, leaves only the face visible with the neck and hair completely covered. Onlookers are in awe at the mystery and symbolism associated with the many veils created out of fine, exotic silk. But such notions of oppression and patriarchy often associated with veiling are not only inherently biased and ironic – it would be interesting to explore the symbolism behind a mini-skirt or a pair of five-inch heels, no? – but they are also inaccurate. Although veiling has most definitely been used in the Middle East as a “mechanism in the service of patriarchy, a means of regulating and controlling women’s lives” (Hoodfar, 5), it has also been used as a mode for rebellion and self-expression. Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian woman who grew up during the Islamic revolution, resisted the regime and the universalizing nature of the veil in the hope that she could maintain her individual identity whilst communicating her political ideologies. By examining the way in which the veil is represented in Satrapi’s graphic memoir, Persepolis, while also considering the history of veiling in Iran, it will become evident that the veil is not just a political tool used by male chauvinists; it also presents an

Nafisi showed how women are oppressed constantly “They came from different backgrounds, the regimen that ruled them had tried to make their personal personal identities and histories irrelevant. They were never free of the regimen definition of them as Muslim women” (83). This shows that there is women who have the courage to stand up against the outline of the freedom of wearing makeup, dressing nice, and being social. This is important because nothing will ever change if they don't fight back for what they want and believe in. Nafisi undoubtedly showed that these Muslim women deserve freedom, they are going through the social hardships that many people, races, and communities go

In Nahid Rachlin’s memoir, “Persian Girls”, the author describes her life in Iran and later in America as a woman, refusing to accept both Muslim and Iranian cultural norms. This plays an important role in the lives of many characters, choosing the sometimes hard decision to break apart from cultural standards. Characters that are faced with this difficult choice include her brothers Cyrus and Parviz, her older sister Pari and Nahid herself.

Freedom is anyone’s opportunity to make decisions. Therefore, freedom should be demanded. Nothing you ask for is just distributed to you. Freedom was not voluntarily given up to people. You have to endeavor everything in life.You, yourself, may not have worked for freedom, but someone did. Everything came about with a price, whether it was small or large. Freedom is something that should be demanded because there is a struggle for everything you want in life.

Lolita wanted to commute freely, express herself freely. She didn't want to have to worry about the men that could not “help themselves”. She did not want to look down anymore. Reading Lolita in Tehran, is a direct perspective of the daily life of a middle eastern women. They discuss the restrictions, rules, and regulations she has to follow or otherwise get punished. Oppression is not biased between culture, or geography. It comes in all forms, and is the spark that ignites the forest fire of freedom. There is so much power in unity, I refuse to believe attaining freedom should be your job to achieve, though I can see how people would find this statement true. Being “free” is on you, so people expect you to fight for what is yours, but some people never gather the courage to fight and stand up for themselves, leaving others to have to do it for

Satrapi shows how femininity and gender ideals was used as an encouragement to support the revolution objectives. The revolutionary leaders needed a motive to make people strongly believe in the revolution, religion and gender was used as the main motive and to strengthen the passion. For instance, in Persepolis, women were depicted as guardians of the nation since they are understood to be the careers of tradition through motherhood. The Islamic regime used the cultural norms and turned women into a symbolic cultural base. Over the course of Persepolis, we see other different examples used by Satrapi like her teachers who seemed brainwashed by the Islamic regime Ideas (96). Fae Chubin’s “When my virtue defends your borders” shows how the 1979 revolutionary leaders’ speeches emphasized that women chastity and devotional motherhood are pivotal to the protection of the nation, its independence and its future. He uses the post-revolution interviews, speeches and writings by revolutionary leaders in the context of a historical review of gender politics and gender discourses in Iran by looking specifically into the ways in which gender is narrated and how traditional notions of femininity in the Islamic gender discourse became reconstructed and contested through those narrations. As an example, one of the revolutionary leaders Olama, said “this shameful unveiling… this basin-shape cap, the cast-off of the foreigners, is a shame to the country of

This novel is undoubtedly worth the read. In a world where the state of mind is to conduct a distinct group of citizens in a society a different way because of their gender, the recognition Hosseini provides to the reader throughout conveys a message that can make you open your eyes about other countries and how they are looked upon unlike myself who lives in the United States. Hosseini focuses on compassion and potential on Mariam and Laila’s story. They both live in anguish with Mariam being both verbally and physically abused all her life, to being compelled into a marriage she did not want. Lalia lives life at first better than Mariam, though being enforced into the same marriage and the abuse. The author in my opinion accomplishes his

“I wanted to be an educated, liberated woman. And if the pursuit of knowledge meant getting cancer, so be it. (73)” This quote signifies just how challenging it is to be a woman in 1980’s Iran and this is the exact situation main character, Marji is facing. She has dreams of being a independent women, yet society and gender roles around her make success for women a challenging feat. Gender roles are forced on Marji and Iranian women through the hijab and women’s roles in both society and war.

From merely the last two decades, women have begun to show out in society with their vast achievements and accomplishments. In the early days of the Iranian revolution, a young woman named Azar Nafisi started teaching at the University of Tehran. However, in 1981, Nafisi was expelled from the University of Tehran for refusing to wear an Islamic veil. Seven years later, however, she did indeed resume teaching but soon resigned in protest over the increasingly cruel punishments of the Iranian government toward women. She dreamed of working with students that carried a great passion for learning. In Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi and her seven students join together every Thursday

Throughout history, oppression has been a common thread between all cultures and nations. These forms of oppression may vary from arduous lifestyles, as demonstrated in A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul, to suppression of rights and disregard for women, shown in Karnak Cafe by Naguib Mahfouz, The Innocence of the Devil by Nawal el Saadawi, and The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa. All the characters from these works, particularly Nefissa, Zabeth, the Mirabal sisters, and Zaynab, experience various forms of oppression and fight for their rights, peace, and prosperous lives, all while either losing or maintaining hope.

Azar Nafisi uses the power of western literature to illustrate to her seven women students the importance of connecting books to fictional imagination. She wanted to challenge her students to discuss "the relation between fiction and reality." (Pg 6) Women in Tehran, when the Iranian revolution began, had little or no freedoms out of their houses. Nafisi took an enormous risk by inviting these seven women into her house to discuss literature. If caught she and or her students could face jail time because the books were banned in fear of conspiracy against the new revolutionary Iran. In the memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, the extreme risks these women take are due to the reoccurring theme of oppression throughout the story. As each day

Still, that did not let Offred fall under such oppression. Similarly, in Reading Lolita in Tehran, women living in this Islamic society ruled by Ayatollah Khomeini could not express enthusiasm or style. Simply living your life the way you want was an offense. Nafissi recalls a moment when one girl was taken to the principal's office because “her nails were too long” (Nafisi 58). Something as small as having long nails held immoral standards by society and, if caught with, would only lead to trouble. There’s nothing wrong with having long nails and yet girls end up punished if they have them not just because it’s perceived as unethical in their society, but also because what are they? Women. Women chained and broken, constantly living their life oppressed, controlled and degraded by men who arrogantly felt superior towards them. They would find wrong in anything they’ve done just to push them to a corner and leave them helpless and trapped. Nafisi however, did not stand for this as she continued to quietly fight against the cultural norms and traditional gender roles in hopes of attaining freedom. Nafisi, along with many other women painted their nails bright colors and dressed in gaudy shirts under their long, black dress to protest against the sexist and unjust laws. They may be oppressed, but that did not stop them from seeking freedom. The women in both novels have gone through similar

The characters portrayed by Leila Aboulela to a great degree vary vastly in their levels of religiosity. This novel showcases a wide spectrum of Muslim identities. Most of the devout believers follow Islam, as they are constantly expressing their faith, thru means of prayer, recitation or other adorations. These religious members are accepting of veil culture, because they have more to value than materialistic objects and western culture. For instance, the young school girls that wore tobes, while Najwa skirts to university. Also, the servants she had back home, as she would be coming home from a party at dawn, they would be make their absolution, “A light bulb came on. They were getting ready to pray. They had dragged themselves from sleep in order to pray. I was wide awake and I didn’t,” this quote from the novel, illustrates a young Najwa understanding the basis of Islam and the importance of prayer (Aboulela, 32) However, this is an evident class divide, illustrating that those with wealth are more secular and those with less are humbled towards their faith. In her time in London, Najwa befriends woman at the local mosque and develops an interest her recitation. Her realization and locality to religiousness triggers her spirituality.