Day 4: Chris

Ashly Response:

In "The Complete Persepolis" Marjane and her family are all going through hard times dealing with the revolution going on. They all are facing violence, murder, fear and paranoia. Together as a family they are trying to bring about a change so they won't have to deal with these problems. Bringing about a change isn't such a easy task in their situation, as it seems as if they fighting a losing battle. I have to say I do admire their spirit for trying to get a change when there isn't one in sight. I feel I fought for a change of ways within myself during my high school years. I was labeled as trouble maker in the eyes of my teachers and wanted to be known for something much more positive. The same as Marjane's family are labeled as imperialists simply because they want to live their own life under their rules. I think me and Marjane's family just needed people to understand where we were coming from instead of just placing a label on us. For me as time went on I slowly changed the minds of my instructors by doing my work and learning a bit of self control. I like to believe with time comes change and I think if Marjane and her family continue fighting for what they believe in, the change they are looking for will eventually come. I don't think they have made a bad decision on going against what their administer wants to do, if anything they deserve an standing ovation for not sitting around and being a push over. I wish more people would speak on how they felt instead of sitting around and accepting things as they are since there is always room for change and improvement. Compromise as well.



Nataila Response:

I feel that the romance within that part of the book could have been possible if the boy put aside the pettiness of social class. Social class should not delicate how us as human beings see each other. For you see there's much more to a person than their rank in society and even though many believe they aren't placing judgment on someone they are. We as a people start using social class as early as middle school and it transfers over to high school. Names such as nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, etc are all forms of social class. This keeps us in our comfort zone when we are with our group and many of us don't want to go outside of it. When I was in school I tried my best to meet as many people as possible and be as friendly as I could. I was looked at as popular, but I didn't discriminate against anyone and was cool with many different groups of people. I feel without social classes people can connect with one another better. Many people have a lot more in common with each other than we like to believe since we don't take the time out to actually approach someone and start a conversation. Even when we first meet someone we make dozens of impressions and judgments without knowing the person for more than ten seconds. This is the same in adulthood as we start to accept this way of a lifestyle. It causes us to hide our true self from other people since we have that fear of being judged developed at such an early age. I think over time we can learn to break this habit and eventually accept each other whole heartily without hesitation.