Persepolis, Meaning of Title

While reading Persepolis I continued to wonder why the title was Persepolis. The book has talked about a child growing up during the Islamic Revolution. After looking up what Persepolis was, I realized that it was a city located in what is known now as Iran, but was known as Prussia until the 1900s. Persepolis was the capital during the Prussian Empire. I then carefully re-read the introduction to Persepolis and dwelled on why Satrapi named her book Persepolis rather than something that reflected her life or the Islamic Revolution. Maybe Satrapi wanted to reflect on Iran's past, before major changes and the Revolution. Perhaps she wanted to honor her land by what is known of it's time of wealth and glory, during the Prussian Empire. Before it changed and been accused of evil doings. "I believe that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremist" (Satrapi).

http://www.livius.org/pen-pg/persepolis/persepolis.html

The Single Story at Abu Ghraib (Prison Experiment)

While watching Standard Operating Procedure I found it interesting how much information was not interrupted through the pictures. The story we interrupted through the pictures was the humiliation presented and the unethical actions that soldiers may have taken. The film present the need for information, the reason behind these actions. We find out that these actions where in fact not done by every soldier. Mainly the younger and uneducated soldiers where the ones that resorted to these forms of humiliation and torture. They were given orders to soften the prisoners up but they were not interrogating the right people. Instead, they were treating innocent civilians bad. Civilians that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I compared the actions in the prison similar to those in the Stanford Prison Experiment. How when presented with a authoritative and evil situation people will act that way. Even the most sensitive and nice people will act with authority and if their authority is not respected they will force their authority through torture, humiliation, and fear.

http://www.prisonexp.org/

Lynndie England and Abu Ghraib

While researching more on Abu Ghraib I also decided on researching more on Lynndie England. She was the girl posing in a majority of the photos. I found an interview that CBS News had with her and she talks about how she was given specific orders to "soften up" war prisoners before they were interrogated. I find this interesting, that even though England claims she was given direct orders she poses in each of her pictures. Smiling and grinning, I would say that England was enjoying her time taking these pictures. She looks as if she were taking these pictures and planning on posting them on her Facebook. Even if she was given direct orders why would she taking take these pictures for display? This unethical judgement by England and her superiors have been reviewed by many. Yes interrogation is a must during time of conflict. It gives information that is needed but the method that information is gathered is much more sensitive case.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=617137n

Genre of Death and the Maiden

Throughout our in class discussions we have talked about genres and where we would place our readings. Ariel Dorfman's book, Death and the Maiden could have faced the same criticisms as Jerzy Kosinski's piece, The Painted Bird. Criticisms regarding the truthfulness of the story and if the author's story regards their own experience or someone else's. Death and the Maiden is setting is explained , "The time is present and the place, a country that is probably Chile but could be any country that has given itself a democratic government just after a long period of dictatorship" (Dorfman). Upon doing some research on Dorfman, I found that he was exiled from Chile during a time of General Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Paulina, a main character, also had direct ties to a dictatorship; it could have also been Pinochet's dictatorship. She was a survivor of torture and destruction set on by the dictator. "Approximately 3,000 Chilean residents are known to have been executed or "disappeared", more than 27,000 were incarcerated and tortured. Many were exiled and received abroad" (PBWorks).

Both the author and main character have possible relations with the time period of dictatorship. We could ask ourselves if Paulina is a real person related to Dorfman. I believe that this book could be set in the genre of realistic fiction. The events that tie the main character and the author are very similar, just like in The Painted Bird.

http://sbmstagemanagement.pbworks.com/w/page/5387000/History

Kalmuks and the boy

Throughout the book the boy compares himself with the people in his surroundings. His main comparison that he continues to assess is the color of his skin and hair. There are events in were he is shameful of having black hair and darker skin. He explains how he thinks German soldiers are decedents of God. He recognize fair skin and blonde hair as respectable traits; in the towns that he is found in. Then, when he first sees the Kalmuks he compared them to his own skin and hair color. "For a moment, as I looked at them, I felt great pride and satisfaction. After all, these proud horsemen were black-haired, black-eyed, and dark-skinned. They differed from the people of the village as night from day" (Kosinski, 185). For the first time the boy had seen a group of people that were similar to him, but that view changed quickly. Kulmuks are a group of Mongols that lived in Russia during WWII, and had aided the Soviet Union during WWII. The Kalmuks were part of the Soviet regime, until the Cold War when Stalin thought otherwise and were exiled back to Mongolia. Soon the boy started to despise the acts of the Kalmuks. "Now I understood everything. I was black. My hair and eyes were as black as these Kalmuks'. Evidently I belonged with them in another world" (Kosinski, 185). I have a feeling that through the end of the book the boy will compare his color to of those in his surroundings. He has the notion that dark color is bad. The racial mentally that was set in Eastern Europe during WWII was strong. This goes to show how discrimination of groups have been always present, they are the source of conflict and differentiation.

http://sgforums.com/forums/1728/topics/427615

Religion in The Painted Bird

I found it interesting during the last reading how much religion was mentioned. Jerzy writes about how the boy lived with the Garbos for a bit and he would normally get beaten and almost killed during certain times. He would visit the church on a weekly basis, since he knew the priest was a good man and would not hurt him. The church always fascinated the boy, how God's presence was always sensed in the churches. I was surprised that even as a Gypsy in a community filled with Garbos (German spies) that the boy would be able to visit the church. During WWII Hilter would compare his work to God's work. "Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord" (Walker). That anyone without blue eyes and blonde hair was not worthy of praying to God. This discrimination leads to him being ostracized in the church during the mass.

http://nobeliefs.com/hitlerchristian.htm

Selfish Monetary Value

I have noticed that a reoccurring theme throughout The Road of Lost Innocence, is the importance of monetary value and selfishness in it. Since Cambodia is in such economic despair being poor and lacking money to buy essential living accommodations is very common. People end up resorting to human sex trafficking as an income of money. This business that was created ruins the lives of many little girls in Cambodia and Thailand, and for what? Parents end up selling their daughters to the brothels just to keep themselves alive. This form of selfishness is what corrupts any nation. An example of this selfishness displayed follows, "A while back, I met a mother who would go to a brothel to get the money her ten-year-old daughter earned for her. [...] she retorted, 'She's my daughter. I carried her for nine months; I suffer to give birth to her.' [...] Another time we were talking to a man who had raped his own daughter. 'Her mother is beautiful and she attracts all the cooks in the village. So to hurt her, I raped her daughter, who's pretty too'" (167-68, Mam). This moral fiber that influences the men, and women of Cambodia, is the corruption. In this book, a lot of personnels that are supposed to be a method of help and comfort are corrupt. Government officers, religious figures, parents and officers tend to be the most common clients to each brothel. The corruption destroys any faith in Cambodian women and children. The only person in this book that isn't selfish, in any way, is Somaly. She gives away money that was given to her to her parents and friends, and isn't worried about herself. Somaly endangers her life for the safety and future of these little girls. She collect charity money and donations just for the sake of others. The problem of human trafficking isn't only present in Cambodia, it is present in every country. Here is some knowledge about statistics over Cambodia's human trafficking problem.

http://www.catwinternational.org/factbook/Cambodia.php

Saving the lives of thousands

Back in 2009 Somaly Mam was nominated as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. This path of heroism, as been long and dangerous, but rewarding for many. As Ayaan Hirsi Ali states in the Introduction to The Road of Lost Innocence, "Somaly Mam's story is an account of the lowest kind of human depravity, but it is also a testimony to resistance, and to hope. [...] She is living proof that one woman can change the fate of others" (xv). She endured a lot of horrendous events as a teenager, but has kept her head high throughout these events and has prevailed in our current world. I believe if she had never left Cambodia to live with Pierre, in France, she would not be where she is right now. Pierre supported her throughout her goals when they returned to Cambodia. His employers were educated about the surroundings many young girls where living in, ones that were almost identical to what Somaly had experienced. Her path of inspiration and knowledge continues to impact the lives of many as she runs her own non-for-profit organization to educate and save many from human trafficking.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1894289_1894268,00.html

I believe that it is stories, like Somaly Mam's that inspire many to reach out and make a difference. Non-for-profit organizations such as Somaly's give a second chance to many, they range from animals to human in all kinds of unethical surroundings. They also give the chance for inspired listeners to make a difference in this world of ours.

http://www.facebook.com/somalymamfoundation

The Sorrow of War

"The Sorrow of War" clearly depicts the result of the Vietnam War. The war was fought in Vietnam, therefore impacting Vietnamese people even more than just the loss of countless lives. Culture, landscape, society, and traditions were all devastated by the war. Kien has lived through the war as a solider and as a veteran. Even though the war was over memories and flashbacks continued to haunt Kien. Even though he physically survived the war he was mentally lost. His relationship with Phoung had been forever changed, not only because the course of time but because of war. The war affected Kien, he continuously narrators his stories but in the middle of his story he jumps to a flashback. I think that Kien wants to go back to his childhood, with Phuong, before his mother and his father died. He doesn't want the burden being one of the only men out of his platoon's comrades to survived the war. Kien writes, "What remained was sorrow, the immense sorrow, the sorrow of having survived. The sorrow of war" (Ninh, 193). Kien displays in this passage that no one is a survivor of war and if one survives, it is a burden they have to live with for the rest of their lives. Here is a link explaining the after effects of the Vietnam war. That even after 25 years, the war continues to impact many Vietnamese people.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/041700-106.htm

Two sided story for 9/11

I find it appropriate to read the story of Muhammad Atta, this week. With the ten year anniversary of September 11, just among us this last Sunday, this story gives us a chance to see the opposing side of what happened on September 11, 2001. Many have to read, to what may have caused such events. At the beginning of the story Muhammad may have seemed like a normal man going along with his business on a normal day, but sure enough this was not a normal day for millions. The man that was in charge of the hijacking of Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center.

"Purify your heart and cleanse it of stains. Forget and be oblivious to the thing which is call World. Muhammad Atta was not religious; he was not even especially political. He had allied himself with the militants because jihad was, by man magnitudes, the most charismatic idea of his generation. To unite ferocity and rectitude in a single word: nothing could compete with that. [...] If you took away all the rubbish about faith, then fundamentalism suited his character, and with an almost sinister precision." (Amis, 3)

The world may never know this man's specific intentions and reasoning. This just goes to show that even a highly educated man can be influenced to fabricate evil.

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=757

Yes, we as Americans are very patriotic to our country, but we can not be subjected and caught in the single story. There is always two sides to any story; some informative and some emotional. In conclusion, I do have to say Sept. 11th will be a date that Americas continue to remember for centuries.