Marjane's Uncle

Marjane's uncle is extremely significant to the graphic novel. His name is Uncle Anoosh. Before she learned of her Uncle Anoosh, she was disappointed because she was competing against one of her peers, Laly (I wouldn't call Laly a friend because Marjane told Laly that her father was probably dead since Laly's mother told Laly her father was on a trip) whose father was a hero. Laly's father was thrown into prison and tortured during Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's (the son of the deposed Reza Shah and simply known as the Shah) reign. Marjane was bitter because her father was not a hero. Shortly after Laly's father comes to visit Marjane's family, she learns of her Uncle Anoosh. Uncle Anoosh was in prison and for the first time in thirty years, Marjane's grandmother was reunited with all six of her children. "I had a hero in my family... Naturally I loved him immediately" she says. Her uncle decided to stay the night and tell Marjane about his stories. When he was eighteen years old, his uncle (Marjane's grandfather's brother) liberated the Iranian province of Azerbaijan and his uncle named him his Secretary. However, his father (Marjane's grandfather) remained loyal to the Shah and declared his son and brother a traitor. After his uncle was caught, Anoosh ran away and came back to his mother and father after a long and tiresome journey that lasted days in the snow on foot. Because the Shah's soldiers were still looking for him, he decided to go into exile in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (or the U.S.S.R.). He swam into exile (which is ridiculous). In the (now former) Soviet Union, he got his doctorate in Marxism-Leninism (or Dialectical Materialism). he eventually got married and had two children. He divorced his wife because she didn't have a heart. After he separated from his wife, he decided to go back to Iran under disguise and a false passport. However, he was soon discovered and thrown into prison for nine years!

Character Description

The character I want to focus on for this post is the main protagonist, Marjane. I chose her because I found it really easy to connect with her. On page 6, she says she "was born with religion." I took this as she was born into a religious family. I was also born into a religious family. I was also born into a religious family. She also has an identity crisis of sorts right after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 when it becomes mandatory for all women and girls to wear the veil. She says she "really didn't know what to think about the veil. Deep down I was very religious but as a family we were very avant-garde." At first she saw herself as the Last Prophet. She had a code by which she lived by. During and after the Revolution, she found herself becoming a revolutionary. She saw herself as Ernesto Guevara. Her family gives her a lot of books, which she reads. She learns about the "children of Palestine. About Fidel Castro. About the young Vietnamese killed by the Americans. About the Revolutionaries of (her) country" (page 12). Her favorite book, however, was "Dialectic Materialism." She loved being able to visualize Karl Marx (he looked a lot like God) and the great Descartes. She wants to go demonstrate for the Revolution. She says (which I wholeheartedly agree with) "For a Revolution to succeed, the entire population must succeed." It is the reason the American Revolution succeeded. It is the reason the Nazis came to power. it is the reason the Cuban Revolution succeeded. It is the will of the people. What the Revolutionaries do with that will is what determines whether it is right or wrong. After this, she learns of the ordeals her grandfather suffers. First he was a Prince (his father was the Emperor who was overthrown by Reza Shah). Marjane's Grandfather then became Prime Minister for Reza. After that, he became a Communist after studying and talking to intellectuals in Europe. Because he became a Communist, he was often thrown into prison. On some occasions, they put him in a cell filled with water. She did an experiment by taking a bath for a really long time to try and experiment what her grandfather experienced. The event that really influenced her was the family's maid (Mehri) and how she was treated. Mehri had fallen in love with the neighbors son. However, because she was illiterate (since she was the maid/servant), Marjane wrote all her love letters for her. Marjane's father eventually found out and went to tell the boy that he was corresponding with the maid, not a daughter of his. The boy, of course, said that he didn't want to be with her anymore. When Marjane asked why they couldn't be together, her father said that people must stay within their own social classes. Because of this, she and Mehri decided to sneak out and go protest.

My mum never...

My mum never went to school in the United States of America before this semester. This semester she is taking a social psychology class with Dr. Potterton. She goes every Wednesday evening from 1800- 2100. On Wednesday's, my classes end at 1340 so I am able to go with her and sit-in in her class. Dr. Potterton is gracious enough to let me do that. I think part of that has to do with the fact that I have taken three of his psychology classes before and did extremely well in them. He was also nice enough to loan me an extremely good book titled Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer (a book I HIGHLY recommend, by the way). Anyways, it is really exciting for my mother to be back in school (and to be in school in the States for the first time ever). She really wants to do well so she is asking for my help and advice, which is a HUGE flip-flop in our lives. I'm usually the one asking for the help and advice (when I'm not stubborn enough to ask Mum for help). It's like teaching a young child about how to study. I find myself using techniques and advice I have acquired along the way in my education. Important skills that I took for granted like how to study and how to take notes. Luckily she's a fast learner. I have to teach her that there is a system and a method. What I am essentially saying is that she is seeing everything on a micro level. I am trying to show her how to look at it from a macro level. The best way I can explain is in football terms (surprise, surprise). In football, coaches give the playbook to their players. The players have to learn the whole playbook, especially the quarterbacks. But how do you learn a 500 page playbook in a matter of weeks? How do you learn a new, different playbook every time you get a new coach? That's 500 pages of new plays and new terminology. Well it's actually simple. Instead of learning every single play, you learn the system and concept. Every single play is different and called differently. But each play fits into the system. For example, "Right Wing 46 Sweep" means "Right Wing" formation, the runningback in the 4 position is going to get the ball and go through the 6 hole and he's going to Sweep (which tells the quarterback to toss the ball, not hand the ball, to the runningback, and also tells what the offensive line to do as well). Now with that base play and system in general, I can make a play up off the top of my head and my players should know exactly how to execute the play. For example, when I say "Right Wing 32 Trap" my players should know that the runningback in the 3 spot is going to go up the 2 hole on a Trap play. Same concept in school. Don't learn every single individual thing. Learn the system and the rules and learn how to exploit it. Learn what to look for. Key words and key phrases show you what to look for. One thing I really enjoy about my mum being in school (and what she also enjoys) is that we get to spend some quality time together. We don't get to see much of each other. We spend Monday nights studying together and watching Monday Night Football together and we get to go out together just her and I, and not the rest of our family. That's special to me.

I am...

I am an enigma. I was born in California, but my mum was born in the United Kingdom and my dad was born in Fiji. I love sports, football being my favorite. My favorite football team is the Oakland Raiders. My second favorite sports are motorcycle racing, specifically it's premier class, the MotoGP, and hockey. My favorite motorcycle racer is Valentino Rossi. My favorite hockey team is the San Jose Sharks (of course). Manchester United and team England are my soccer teams. Naturally, I despise Barcelona, Lionel Messi (although he is pure magic with the ball), team Argentina, and especially Diego Maradona and his bulls**t Hand of God cheating ways. It should be noted that Batman is way more bad-ass than Superman. I also love to read. I love reading spy thrillers and philosophy. I also like history books, specifically from the World War II era. But generally, I like reading most everything. My favorite movies are The Godfather movies (excluding the third one, of course, because it's garbage), The Departed, Once Upon a Time in America, and a few others. Outside of my favorite movies, I like many others. I am not a fan of scary movies however. I am trying to force myself to watch more, and it's been scary Hell! My favorite television shows are (not in any order) Sons of Anarchy, Law & Order: SVU, House MD, Family Guy, and Rescue Me (EXTREMELY heartbroken that the series is over). My all time favorite thing to watch (which I can unequivocally watch at anytime on any day) is America's Game. My favorite foods are Philly cheesesteaks, pizza, and RIBS! YUMMY! My music spectrum is wide. People say "in my iPod..." but I don't. I listen to Pandora for the variety. I love the outdoors. Hiking is a huge part of my life. I've been fortunate enough to hike many a beautiful place. I've hiked in the Grand Canyon. I've hiked at Zion. I've hiked at Arches. I've hiked at Bryce. I've hiked plenty in Yosemite. I've hiked in many places in Baja. Naturally, because I love hiking in nature, I love camping in nature. There is something peaceful about being disconnected from the world and all it's electronics. There is something even more special about being connected to nature without said electronics. I love to camp out in the backyard and star gaze deep into the night occasionally as well. I love the psychology and the philosophy of football. To many people, it is just a game. But it is so much more than that. Football teaches, and shows, young men the importance of teamwork, the importance of relationships, the importance of communication, the importance of accountability. It forces you to ask yourself "what am I willing to do?" and "how Great can I become?" Football will always be about the next guy and not you. Football will always be about not having an ego and checking your pride at the door. That is why I love this "game" so much.