I'd like to focus on how Marjane Sarrapi reflects on her novel for a moment
In class today we watched interviews with her and she says this:
That her story was not meant to be focused on that she was a woman growing up in middle eastern society...but that it's a human experience. More importantly it's her experience.
This speaks volumes to me that she feels this way. Especially with knowing how culture is for women in the middle east.
Now I'd like to focus on her relationship with God.
I mean...She wants to be a prophet at first. She wants to be a servant of God.
But God begins to disappear.
Is it perhaps because her faith in humanity also begins to disappear?
After her uncle is executed, she even tells God to "get out!"(70)
I feel as if after this instance that Marjane rejects God because to her she is like an imaginary friend. He is even represented as a visible figure in her graphic novel.
She could have had him present, just having several scenes in which she spoke to him in a prayer-like manner, but she chose to have him take a physical form.
It's interesting to think about how a child's mind might have been so vivid. I'm sure the decision to portray God as a physical being was a creative decision, though.
Once Marjane lets go of her "faith" in God, she seems to begin to look more within herself for comfort.
She becomes a strong spirit who projects her beliefs outwardly. She has expectations for the world around her.
It's interesting that despite the terror going on around her, how much she still claims her heritage.
And then she has to leave...her parents send her to Vienna.
I feel really bad for her in this moment, because she seems to feel so alone. Like there is always some barrier between her and content.
In class today we watched interviews with her and she says this:
That her story was not meant to be focused on that she was a woman growing up in middle eastern society...but that it's a human experience. More importantly it's her experience.
This speaks volumes to me that she feels this way. Especially with knowing how culture is for women in the middle east.
Now I'd like to focus on her relationship with God.
I mean...She wants to be a prophet at first. She wants to be a servant of God.
But God begins to disappear.
Is it perhaps because her faith in humanity also begins to disappear?
After her uncle is executed, she even tells God to "get out!"(70)
I feel as if after this instance that Marjane rejects God because to her she is like an imaginary friend. He is even represented as a visible figure in her graphic novel.
She could have had him present, just having several scenes in which she spoke to him in a prayer-like manner, but she chose to have him take a physical form.
It's interesting to think about how a child's mind might have been so vivid. I'm sure the decision to portray God as a physical being was a creative decision, though.
Once Marjane lets go of her "faith" in God, she seems to begin to look more within herself for comfort.
She becomes a strong spirit who projects her beliefs outwardly. She has expectations for the world around her.
It's interesting that despite the terror going on around her, how much she still claims her heritage.
And then she has to leave...her parents send her to Vienna.
I feel really bad for her in this moment, because she seems to feel so alone. Like there is always some barrier between her and content.
You raise an interesting point about how Marji looks for comfort within herself as the book continues, and as she moves away from God. I wonder, too, if she finds comfort in the secular things in life (her material possessions, the music, etc.)--they seem to take up more space in her life as the book unfolds.
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