The Key to Stupidity

“The key to paradise” is what Iranian government offers to young boys if they are lucky enough to get killed at the war. The government promises that if they die at the war, they will go to paradise, where there will be a lot of foods, women, and houses made of gold and diamonds (Satrapi 99-102). These fourteen to fifteen years old boys, which mostly come from poor families are too naive to understand that they are being told a lie by the government. They voluntarily joining the Iranian army, and going to battlefields with one hope that they will get a much better life in the paradise. The main reason the government does such an awful way to convince these young boys into military is because they need more troops to help them fighting Iraq in the battlefields. Therefore, the government uses every possible way including sparing people's life for their own self-interest.

The book of Persepolis, especially the chapter about provocation done by Iranian government reminds me about the same issue that happens in my home country, Indonesia. Some Muslim extremists believe that by killing people outside Muslim, especially Christians will get them into heaven. Surprisingly, these immoral people do exactly what their deviate belief tells them to do, which is to kill non-Islamic people. Even though they have to spare their own life by committing suicide with bomb as what happened in one of Kuta's night clubs in Bali on 2002, which killed more than two-hundred victims; they are not afraid of death because by doing this they are sure of going to heaven. This such a belief is a mind blowing real life's reality for me given the fact that I thought every religion teach their fellows to do good in this life. Moreover, they are even teaching and spreading out this belief to the innocent children. Honestly, I am really sad knowing that there are people who do such a bad thing to these innocent children as the next generation. I believe that children are presents from God as the creator to be take care of instead of being exposed to do evil. In conclusion, I hope that someday these people would realize their evil and come back to the right path of life.

Forgiving is Everything

On the book of Persepolis, Marjane wants to give his friend, Ramin, a lesson for the evil that have been done by his father, by beating up Ramin with some nails. Ramin's father is a secret police in Shah's regime who kills and tortures a million people. Luckily, Marjane's action has been stopped by her mother, and she tells Marjane that Ramin has nothing to do with his father crime. Her mother also tells her that she has to forgive people's mistake because as humans, they do not have rights to judge other people's mistake (Satrapi 44-46).


I realize that the hardest thing to do is to forgive one's evil. How can we easily forgive someone that have hurt us so badly? However, after reading this book I have learned something from Marjane, which I think everyone should know about. Forgiving one's evil will eventually bring peace to our heart. As Marjane forgives Ramin's father evil given the fact that her uncle, Anoosh, is killed by one of those secret police in the Shah's regime, she feels really good after she lets her hatred toward this person go (Satrapi 46). I really appreciate Marjane initiative to forgive people who have done evil to her family. This kind of mentality is what we need to build our society to be a better one in the future. There are too much hatred and bitterness going on right now. Therefore, we should stop this hatred right now by forgiving people's mistakes and spreading the peace. Marjane's story is a really good example that teaches us to forgive people's mistake. In conclusion, I hope that people could forgive each other, and together we will make this world a peaceful place to life.

There is Nothing I Cannot Do

Marjane Satrapi believes that she is a someone special. As the age of six, she is sure that she is a prophet, and every night she has a big conversation with God to discuss her future to be a prophet. She wants to be a prophet for three good reasons; to love the poor, to maintain the justice, and to be a wrath of God at the same time. However, her friends, her teacher, and her society in general seem to be skeptical about her aspiration to be a prophet. And the only person who believe in her aspiration other than herself is her grandmother (Satrapi 6 – 9).

I relate Marjane's experience to my personal experience about how society shapes our thoughts. I came from Indonesia two years ago to pursue my higher education here, in The United States. On the first quarter at De Anza, my English was so bad, and I was skeptical about finishing the college due to the lack of my English skill. Meanwhile, my friends kept telling me that I would not able to graduate from college if I do not improve my English skill. I had tried to improve my English skill in many different ways, such as, read more books and write more essays; however, in the short run these efforts seem to be useless. I was really down at some point to think how am I going to graduate from college with this little skill of English. Fortunately, there are people who still believe in my potentials which is my lovely parents. They told me that I can do anything through hard work; they also encouraged me to not give up easily when I face a problem in life. I felt really good at that time thinking the fact that my parents put so much confident in me. They knew that I will graduate from college with good grades. I would say that sometimes society affects the way we think about our self; they have always skeptical about our potentials because they do not want us to achieve it. "You are the only one that creates your reality” (The Secret), I believe that there is nothing impossible for people to make their dreams come true. Therefore, do not let your society judge on what are you becoming, but you are the one who choose it and will make it happen.

Comment on Rachmawi and Mellisa's presentation

I though the presentation by Rachmawi and Mellisa about torture is the best presentation so far. I really like the way they present their presentation, especially to the fact that they have chosen a really good video clip of Guantanamo Bay to support their presentation. The video clip brings the audience the feeling in a great scale of being in the Guantanamo Bay.


This four minutes video clip shows the audience how human rights are being violated and how cruel guardians treat prisoners of Guantanamo Bay. Rachmawi also states that, “They [prisoners] are allowed to pray; however, the guardians keep kicking them from behind in order to distract their concentration” (Rachmawi). I believe that when it comes to praying to God, the soldiers have no right to distract them because it is a human rights one posses that were given by God, as the creator. They also have done a magnificent job connecting to the book Persepolis by giving specific examples from the book about Marjane Satrapi's experience. Upon finishing their presentation, Rachmawi and Mellisa did a really good job by linking this issue to our present government which lead by Barack Obama. Our president, Barack Obama will close Guantanamo Bay as soon as he takes the office. I believe that Barack Obama has made a wise decision regarding this issue; I think he is going to bring this nation to a better future, for he does aware of the rights that were given by God to human being.

Comment on Allison and Jenny's presentation.

The presentation by Allison and Jenny of the book Pedro and Me was very good. I really like the way they present their presentation, especially to the fact that they summarized all of important events that happen in the book. I have read this book back in summer quarter when I was taking EWRT 100 with Mrs. Patton. In my opinion, this is a really good book which describes a value of friendship between Pedro Zamora and the author itself, Judd Winick. In this book the author tells his experience being a person who is selected to participate in MTV's reality show, The Real World: San Francisco. And later on, he meets a guy in this reality show as his roommate named Pedro Zamora, a homosexual guy who has HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, Winick also tells about the exhausting pressure he gets from living in the house knowing that they are being documented. However, Winick makes a good friends, especially with Pedro, because they love to do same thing, and they share same feelings despite of having different background. “But mostly because we were not really the stereotypes our background or TV made us to be” (Winick 112). Their relationship become closer as Winick knows that Pedro only have limited time to live due to his chronic disease. Meanwhile, Pedro does not waste his limited time by having fun, instead he promotes AIDS awareness through seminars and lectures to the public, especially teenagers. This book is one of the best book I have read in my life, for it shows me the love and care of Judd Winick to Pedro in order to support Pedro fighting his situation. In conclusion, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. I really like this book not only because of the comic-strip-novel that makes this book easy to understand, but also it teaches me the true meaning of friendship.

Comment on Miho's presentation.

I really like Miho Ogura's presentation on Wednesday about social class system in another country other than in Iran. She described how people are classified in the society based on their social status. For instance, in India there are four social status which consist of Brahmins, Kshatrya, Vaisha, and Shudras (“Social class India”). She also described that even in The United States, we do have social class based on the income. People who make more than $200,000 a year, such as CEO and politicians, are considered the highest class, while people who make up to $7,000 a year are considered the lowest class. However, social class in The United States is rectangular instead of pyramid shape meaning that through hard work and higher education anyone is able to be in higher social class. For instance, now I as part-time worker make $20,000 a year, by the time I get my Bachelor Degree and work in a big company I would make up to $70,000 a year. This tells us that in The United States I can move from one social class to the other social class. Social class system in The United States is different from the one in India. As I have mentioned before that social class system in The United States is rectangular shape meaning there is a huge possibility for someone to any class they want. Meanwhile in India the social class is pyramid shape meaning people cannot mobilize from one particular social class to a higher one. In other words, people who are born in Shudras (laborer) social class cannot move to a higher social class. Furthermore, in India those people who have high social status; such as, Brahmins and Kshatrya which consist of Kings, Priest, and Warriors, have more privilege and are not allowed to marry people below their social class. This regulation is made in order to preserve their honor being in a high social class. In conclusion, I would say that I am really lucky given the fact that I live in The United States where opportunities are open wide for those people who want it and willing to work hard to achieve it.

Persepolis 2: Life is a choice

Persepolis 2 is the continuation of Marjane Satrapi's fascinating story being a child who grow up in Iran. After fleeing from Iran in order to avoid the war with Iraq and the Iranian extremist government's regulations, Marjane explains her further experiences living in Austria in the Persepolis 2. Her difficulties being an immigrant in Austria and her struggles adjusting to Iranian's culture after she decides to go back to Iran after living in Austria are two main ideas of the story. Marjane explains that it's hard for her to adjust and to be accepted in the Austrian's culture due to it's too westernization culture. For instance, as a child who grow up in fundamentalist country like Iran Marjane has always wanted to have a freedom; however, as she witnesses her friend, Julie, is having sex with a guy whom she just met once, Marjane feels that the freedom seems to be much more affluent than she has expected. As Marjanes states, “ …. the party was not what I imagined, in Iran, at parties, everyone would dance and eat, in Vienna, people preferred to lie around and smoke” (Satrapi 34), she encounters much adolescents more than she can tolerate. After realizing herself miss her family and her motherland's culture so much, Marjane decides to go back to Iran. However, after living in Austria for four years, she faces a new challenge: adjusting back to her own culture. Moreover, some of her childhood friends treat her differently and even excommunicate her from the society due to her experience having sex before married with her boyfriend (Satrapi 149). Therefore, she has to be smart and strong in order to be familiar with her own culture once again.

Relationship to Persepolis 1:
After reading Persepolis 1 and 2, I realized that ones might admire other people's culture so much. However, One would never forget their original culture, for it is a reflection of who they are. As in Persepolis 1, Marjane has always wanted to live her life in accordance to a westernization culture. For instance, she likes listening to punk music, wearing Nike's sneaker, and admiring an American rock star, Kim Wilde (Satrapi 126-134). Unfortunately after her parents sent her to Austria to flee from the war, she has difficulties in Austria adjusting to it's culture which is too westernized. She is not aware of being western is more than just listening to punk music or wearing jeans. She discovers that westernized means much more than she has expected when she was in Iran. In conclusion, after she realizes that westernization culture is not for her, she goes back to her motherland, Iran. "One can forgive but one should never forget" (Marjane).