Carmelo: Day 6 Response

Bashkim response:

In Persepolis Marjane's obstacle is mainly herself and idea of not giving into the Islamic power. In the book she stopped by The Guardians because she is wearing a denim jacket with skinny jeans and Nike shoes and a button with Micheal Jackson on it. The Guardians were a women that worked for the Islamic government making sure women were properly veiled and had the correct clothing (page 133). Marjane wanted to be hip, modern, and this was not the opposite what the Islamic government wanted. Another obstacle Marjane faces is her age, she is only twelve at this time and could not do much to help or protest against regime. Her main focus is school but she is frown upon by the teachers and principles because she is pretty much a rebel, she does not wear the proper uniform and speaks against the war when the teachers are saying good things about it.

Having to learn everything on my own in theatre and also a leader for the techies i had to learn how to be better than not only the students but also the teacher. I was basically the director's technical director for shows, i designed and built the sets and taught all the students how to build it. Being a technical director for two years i learned that i am not always right and there will always be someone out there better than me. Instead of trying to be better than someone i learned how to team up with that person and better both of us, i also took this concept in class, if i saw someone that was better at a topic than me i would ask that person to teach it to me or explain it so i could understand it too. I guess what i am trying to say is, there will always be someone better than you, you just need to learn how to take the initiative to not be better but be equal and learn from one another.

Carmelo response:

Conformity happens around us all the time, we unknowingly conform to groups. I am sure we all have said at one point we are not going to conform to a group, we're going to be different and stand out but in reality you are conforming, your are conforming to the group that wants to be different. I know sounds a little weird but it is true. I remember freshmen year, the group i conformed to was a group of "rockers" they loved playing guitar and listening to rock music, and unfortunately they were also pot heads and coke heads. I myself never did any of those drugs and was not planning to. At the time i did not really have a social life, i went to school and home, so i only talked to my group in school. It was not until after sophomore year that i conformed into another group, the theatre kids. These were real friends, non of them did pot or coke and all of them cared about each other. Yea we sometimes skipped class but it was all good intentions for the theatre. This was my positive group, the group that made me who i am today, my group that wanted to be different.

I think Majane needs to find a group that also wants to be different, a group that IS different. Even when she tries to conform to try and be a fourteen year old, they made her feel different because she was not fourteen but still only twelve. Its not until she moves out to Austria that she meets a group that is a different as her, her group that wants to be different. Only problem is Majane does not want to be different, she wants to be the same as everyone else, she wants to be hip and cool and follow the latest trends, but not knowing that to be all of that she just has to be herself and people will them conform to her.