The Leavers, by Lisa Ko, is a book about Deming Guo, whose name is changed later by his adoptive parents to Daniel Wilkinson, and his coming of age as the child of a immigrant parent. Deming’s mother Polly “leaves” him at an early age, and he is signed away to the foster care system. During the novel the reader learns of many hardships Deming endures as a result of this troubled childhood, including issues with gambling and school. At one point, Deming’s addiction got so bad that he had to borrow $10,000 from one of his best friends, Angel, and lost it all. Following this, Deming had to leave school at SUNY Potsdam because gambling began to cause his grades to drop.

The hardships Deming faces throughout the novel can be attributed to his shaky upbringing and give a good look into the issues children face in the United States foster care system. Though Deming was relatively lucky and was adopted by relatively well-off parents, many children in the system are not as lucky, and face many more problems because of it.

The goal of foster care is generally “reunification with parents” (Adoption.org), but in many cases, including Deming’s, this cannot be done, which “creates a risk” (Adoption.org) for some families and children. Children in foster care generally suffer from “some kind of trauma” (Adoption.org) and experience negative effects because of it. Though this trauma does not always occur while in foster care, and generally occurs prior, some foster families are not equipped to raise the child through this trauma. In this case, the child is prone to developing “serious issues like drug abuse, mental health issues, anger management, and other serious problems” (Adoption.org).

Again, in Deming’s case, he develops a very serious gambling addiction, and the book brings light to the issues foster children experience, especially from parental separation, through this addiction.

Cited Sources:

Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. Little, Brown, 2018.

Ward, Sara. “What Are the Negatives of Foster Care?” Adoption.org, Gladney Center for Adoption.

In The Leavers Novel, written by Lisa Ko, it is a story about a young boy by the name of Deming Guo. He is an American/Chinese young boy who was born in American by his undocumented mother Polly, she is an immigrant working at a nail salon in New York. Deming after being born was sent back to China in order for Polly to save enough money to care for her son, he later returned to the United States. Around the time of Deming being eleven years old, his mother disappeared from his life for about two years due to her immigration status not being complete.

When reading The Leavers novel, you get a sense of what immigration centers are like when you’re not a United States citizen. When Polly was gone for two years out of Deming’s life, she later explains to him how she was in a detention camp due to her immigration status. Even though the novel is fiction, you can see details described about detention centers that are clear examples of today. “Two hundred women slept in two person bunks grouped in eight rows of three bunks each. None of us had any money and we couldn’t get any, unless our families knew where we were” (p.295).

You see that detention centers for immigrants look like ones described in the novel, in an article “Conditions in Migrant Detention Centers” you can see that these detention camps “[are] overcrowded [with] children and adults behind metal cages and reports of filth, illness, and untimely deaths.” The novel brings awareness to the issue of these centers that are in the United States, in the novel Polly the mother, was in a Texas detention center by the name of Ardsleyville. She wasn’t able to make calls as an example of what takes place inside these centers.

From the same article “Conditions in Migrant Detention Centers,” in 2019 details came out furthermore on the center’s conditions and how the mental health of these people was very much suffering. “One visiting physician described “extreme cold temperatures, lights on 24 hours a day” at a CBP facility in Texas. Members of Congress who visited a Border Patrol facility in Clint, Texas, reported being told by detained women that they were told to drink from toilet bowls due to a lack of running water.” The novel The Leavers gives a small glimpse of what the typical non-documented immigrant has to go through and what detention centers do to these people when not being documented properly.

References: 

“Conditions in Migrant Detention Centers.” American Oversight, 20 Jan. 2021, www.americanoversight.org/investigation/conditions-in-migrant-detention-centers. Accessed 5 Mar. 2021.

Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. Chapel Hill, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2017.

Persepolis holds value in both its film and novel versions, though each impact consumers in unique manners. These differences can be categorized into plot, characterization, and design elements.  

The graphic novel format of Persepolis begins with an opening chapter titled “The Veil” in which Marji is shown as a young girl in 1980 wearing her own veil (IvyPanda). In contrast, the film begins with Marji in adulthood in which she is shown folding a veil over her head (IvyPanda). The graphic novel is told in patches and highlights selected events while the film portrays more of a flowing narrative (IvyPanda). However, there are certain ‘chapters’ that get left out, including “The Letter” and “The Jewels” (IvyPanda). Additionally, while the book tends to give very detailed accounts of the story of Marji’s first love, this is not nearly as present in the film (IvyPanda). The final scene of the film is not present in the novel at all and depicts Marji taking a cab to the airport; when the cab driver asks where she is from, she responds ‘Iran’ (IvyPanda). 

Characterization is another aspect of the film making process that differs across formats of presentation. For example, the film excludes several characters that are present in the graphic novel. This includes the women who insult Mali and Marji’s mother at the grocery store, Mali and her children, and Mr. Satrapi’s maid (IvyPanda). Additionally, Markus (Marji’s first boyfriend) has a reduced role in the film in comparison to his very extensively described impact and presence conveyed in the novel (IvyPanda). The cab driver is the only character that appears in the film but is not present in the novel (IvyPanda). 

The final aspect that makes the film presentation different than the graphic novel are elements of design. While the novel goes into detail and incorporates extensive buildup of climactic dramatization, the film sacrifices this for use of other effects (T). In producing the film, certain scenes (and thus, characters) have been cut from the narrative. In doing so, the film utilized this extra time by prioritizing the events and themes in Marji’s life that had the greatest impact on her development (T). While the scenes that were cut bolstered these themes and added new ones, such as class separation and failure of independence, they were not necessary for the story of Persepolis to be told effectively (T). Production of film also allowed for the addition of sound, music, and real-time comparisons of shots by using dissolves rather than being limited solely to still shots, as is the case with a graphic novel (T). This helps to guide consumers of the film through the process of making comparisons and connections rather than assuming that they will make them on their own (T). The use of color is also a significant difference between the two modes of conveying Marji’s story. In the film, we see color used to distinguish both a temporal element of present time as well as a personal sense of identity development in which Marji no longer sees the world in black and white schemes. This is supported by Marji identifying that she is from Iran when confronted with the cab driver’s inquiry–a drastic difference from her response given in Vienna in which she told a group of peers that she was French in order to attempt avoiding backlash.

References 

“Persepolis; The Book versus The Movie.” IvyPanda, 16 Oct. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/persepolis-the-book-versus-the-movie/. Accessed 26 Feb. 2021. 

T, R. “Persepolis Analysis: The Differences of a Comic Book Turned into a Movie.” Classic but New, 9 Nov. 2013, classicbutnew.wordpress.com/2013/11/09/persepolis-analysis-the-differences-of-a-comic-book-turned-into-a-movie. 

When reading stories about Islamic extremism and the chaos it can cause it is important to not blame this on Islam itself. Extremists do not represent true Islam and believing this is racist and xenophobic. Every time an Islamic extremist event occurs many right-wingers jump to blame Islam and ignore the real causes: colonialism, and corrupt governments.

Colonialism is a big part of Islamic extremism and since we live in a country that caused it, many tend to ignore this. One example of this is western countries designing borders not based on the difference of culture. After WW1 Western countries like the United States, UK, and France had power over the globe, and after leaving the middle east destroyed with a world war they were tasked to redraw the border boundaries. The result was an extreme failure, the westerners redrew countries based on their own agenda. This ended up splitting ethnic groups into multiple countries down the middle and mixing high tension groups. This then leads to high tensions, civil wars, and loss of identity. Imagine how our population would react if a foreign country came in and split and mixed the United States, Mexico, and Canada all into multiple countries not based on identity. We wouldn’t blame “Christianity” for the problems caused, would we?

Another problem is corrupt governments in the middle east. Most governments have puppet leaders appointed by foreign governments to run their own agendas, not the peoples. These leaders have implemented western laws into nonwestern countries, which causes issues. This would be like if a foreign country like china appointed a leader and started using their laws here. Our citizens would be outraged and the same thing is happening in the middle east. While watching and reading films like “Persepolis” it is important to not blame Islam for the extremism and to take into account the factors I have highighted above. Actions of some cannot discount an entire relgion, if that applied then Chirstantiy would have been “cancled” during the Crusades.

WC:

Massoud, Mark Fathi. “Don’t Blame Sharia for Islamic Extremism – Blame Colonialism.” The Conversation, 8 Apr. 2019, theconversation.com/dont-blame-sharia-for-islamic-extremism-blame-colonialism-109918.

By Tarek Osman (@TarekmOsman). “Why Border Lines Drawn with a Ruler in WW1 Still Rock the Middle East.” BBC News, 14 Dec. 2013, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25299553.

In Week 7, we are reading a book titled Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. This book deals with the effects the Islamic Revolution brought being told through Satrapi’s eyes as a child. This revolution brought many changes to Iran, not only to the country, but the culture there as well. One of the main changes in culture that it brought was the wearing of a veil.

After the Islamic Revolution began, one of the customs that was being enforced was the non-optional wearing of a veil. A veil is a piece of cloth that is used to cover the upper body region, such as the head, shoulders, and face in some circumstances (Merriam-Webster). The veils’ purpose is so that you can tell the difference between a man and a woman along with managing a man’s urges (“A Brief History”). Wearing a veil was new to most, as previously it was determined upon a person’s choice, but after this revolution began, the option was taken away. This was shown in Persepolis when it says, “Then came 1980: The year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school. We didn’t really like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to” (Satrapi 3). This shows how the women were forced to wear the veil even though they were given no reason as to why, much like the children showed in this quote. Women were being forced to wear the veil regardless of what their views were, and if they chose not to wear it, they could face consequences by the government. Some of these consequences included getting assaulted or beaten if a woman chose to defy the order and not wear a veil (Knipp). These consequences were to install fear into the women if they chose not to follow the oppressive order by the authorities put into place during the Islamic revolution.

The main issue with this requirement to wear a veil was that it took away any choice that a woman had over their body and their own views. The government authorities used this requirement to wear a veil to show their power. This is shown on, The Conversation, when it says, “The hijab became a tool for implementing the government’s strict religious ideology” (Mirdamadi). Due to this, it sparked numerous debates on whether women should wear a veil. This led to things like protesting the veil, or an illustration for those who were pro-veil wearing. This was demonstrated in Persepolis when it states, “Everywhere in the streets there were demonstrations for and against the veil (Satrapi 5). This quote and drawing along with it show how women during this time could have two completely opposite outputs on the views that were being enforced upon them. Some of them agreed that women should wear a veil, and others felt as though they should not be obligated to wear one. This was part of the problem with forcing all women to wear a veil as it should be a choice, women should have the option to do what they feel is best for them, whether that is to wear one all the time, some of the time, or not wear one at all.

This concept of the authorities forcing all women to wear a veil regardless of their beliefs connects to a previous concept in our class of “the master” and “the slave.” In this situation the authorities from the Islamic Revolution would be considered “the master” whilst the women would be considered “the slave.” This is because the authorities can tell the women whatever they want and force them to do things and regardless of what the women think, it does not matter, or their voices are not heard. The authorities hold all the power over the women, and if they are continuing to force them to wear the veil, they do not have a clear path of being able to do otherwise or change it.

Overall, this forcefulness of the authorities with wearing a veil sparked many debates among those affected by it. There was questioning as to why they were forced to wear them in the first place, why the were able to make the women wear them, and whether women should follow this order and wear the veil or not.

Works Cited

“A Brief History of the Veil in Islam,” Facing History and Ourselves, A Brief History of the Veil in Islam | Facing History and Ourselves. “The Other Side of the Veil: North African Women in France Respond to the Headscarf Affair,” Gender and Society. Accessed 20 February 2021.

Knipp, Kersten. “Why Iranian authorities force women to wear a veil,” DW, Deutsche Welle, 21 December 2020, Why Iranian authorities force women to wear a veil | Middle East| News and analysis of events in the Arab world | DW | 21.12.2020. Accessed 20 February 2021.

Mirdamadi, Moujan. “How Iran uses a compulsory hijab law to control its citizens – and why they are protesting,” The Conversation, The Conversation US, Inc., 08 February 2018, How Iran uses a compulsory hijab law to control its citizens – and why they are protesting (theconversation.com). Accessed 20 February 2021.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Pantheon Books, June 2004.

“Veil.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/veil. Accessed 20 February 2021.

In Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, The story goes with Satrapi’s autobiographical writings. The story is based on the period of the Islamic revolution, which was between 1978 and 1979. Shah had been getting his power steadily before the revolution. The problem was that he rejected the main religion of the country and offended many people. After the revolution, the country’s power went to the group with strict religious rules, and anyone against the group is charged with strong punishments. Shah lost power in 1978 as he was killed, and this helped people make the revolution, and the new group taking governments was big celebrations for Iranian people.

In 1980, with strict religious rules, the narrator had to wear a veil at her school. There were many social inequalities with the changes. As the narrator grew up watching her family’s strong movements on movements, she wanted to change the world to a better place with social equalities. The narrator is very outspoken and standing up for wrong things, so she is eventually expelled from the school. By realizing that Iran is not the place to live for her, she moves to Vienna. However, she has a hard time there and moves back to Iran for her family, who she needs. Eventually, she moves back to Europe again.

Iran has really conventional rules and laws in the society, possibly it is because of the hates of western culture what Shah tried to take to the country. Shah did a bad job because he did not listen to the people of the country. However, these strict rules and laws of conventional religions do injustices in society, and people have to be objective to see every individual equal. It is what Satrapi is aiming for.

Work cited

Persepolis Introduction, shmoop, 2021, https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/persepolis

Persepolis begins in the days immediately following the Iranian Revolution of 1978–1979.  The throne of Iran was taken over by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1941. He initiated the White Revolution, which was a regime of radical modernization. His monarchy led to rapid urbanization and westernization under an oppressive one-party regime, and sparked concerns over democracy and human rights. The program was economically successful, but the advantages were not distributed evenly, creating several problems in Iran. He and his government were accused of denying political opposition, hoarding oil exports revenues, and pushing Wester technology, concepts, and ideals to be accepted by the people. This monarchy left many citizens angry and feeling powerless. 

The Iranian revolution began in January 1978 when a newspaper report about Islamic scholar Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–89) incited students in a religious school in Tehran(the capital of Iran) (Afray).  Khomeini criticized and opposed the government led by Pahlavi, sparking a period of protests, repression, violence, and mourning among thousands of Iranians. Security forces fired on a large rally in Tehran’s Jaleh Square the morning after the Shah(the title of the monarch of Iran) proclaimed martial law. At least 100 were killed and the incident was referred to as “Black Friday” (Maloney). As Pahlavi fought back, protesters were killed by the regime’s soldiers, who were then considered as martyrs, or people who died for their religion. 

After all of the protests, the Shah fled and the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Rena Pahlavi was replaced with a theocracy led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in February of 1979. Khomeini quickly applied strict religious beliefs in power. Because of the stringent rules and a constant fear of the religious law-enforcement patrols, we see how the main character Persepolis, Marjane, feels restricted living in Iran’s Islamic religious Republic. Iranian women were required to wear the veil, and Western music and alcohol were banned (Afray). Khomeini became Iran’s political and religious authority for the next 10 years and the story of Persepolis describes the life of a girl going through these drastic changes in her childhood life. 

Works Cited

Afary, Janet. “Iranian Revolution.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 Jan. 2021, www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution. 

Maloney, Suzanne, and Keian Razipour. “The Iranian Revolution-A Timeline of Events.” Brookings, Brookings, 7 Feb. 2019, www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/01/24/the-iranian-revolution-a-timeline-of-events/. 

(these links are really helpful, especially the timeline of events that took place during the book of Persepolis >> https://libwww.freelibrary.org/programs/onebook/obop10/docs/Persepolis_timeline.pdf )

For week 7’s class, we cover Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical series Persepolis, which centers around the Islamic revolution (otherwise known as the Iranian revolution). During the Iranian revolution from 1978 to 1979, the uprising occurred much like any other uprising in history. Before the revolution, the monarchy in power in Iran known as the Shah had been steadily accumulating power. The first cracks in the regime appeared when a group of scholars published open letters which were openly critical of the regime and protests against the Shah mounted up during its first year (Maloney and Razipour).

The cycle of violence that often springs forth from even peaceful protests can prompt further escalation of tensions between a ruling state and an oppressed people. Anyone who has remotely glanced at the history of the United States should be familiar with the Boston Massacre, a protest against British colonial rule which resulted in the deaths of protestors and spread popular opposition to colonial rule among the American people at the time.

Many of these events are central to popular revolutions. In an attempt to control the effects of protests, people are killed by the ruling government, and the atrocities result in further protests. This cycle creates a feedback look of ever-accumulating popular support until a state is overrun. Such a sequence of events exactly transpired in Iran during this revolution when students protesting the Shah were killed in early months of 1978 (Maloney and Razipour).

Unfortunately, contemporary conflicts in Iran have lead to the nation’s portrayal by Americans as a hotbed of terrorism and religious fundamentalism, and Marjane Satrapi addresses these perceptions from her perspective in the introduction of Persepolis. She writes: “since [the revolution], [Iran] has been discussed mostly in connection with fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism. As an Iranian who has lived more than half of my life in Iran, I know that this image is far from the truth. That is why writing Persepolis was so important to me. I believe that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists” (Satrapi, Introduction).

Such a statement reinforces the idea that it is important to consult the people who lived through such an important and widely studied social shift. Instead of analyzing the results of the revolution from a western lens, we should instead view it in the context of the lived experience of someone who witnessed it and came of age during it. Without a diversity of voices surrounding an event, we are doomed to allow the victors to write the history books.

Sources:

Maloney, Suzanne, and Keian Razipour. “The Iranian Revolution-A Timeline of Events.” Brookings, Brookings, 7 Feb. 2019, www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/01/24/the-iranian-revolution-a-timeline-of-events/.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis, Pantheon Books, 2004.

Katouzian, Homa. “The Iranian Revolution of February 1979.” Middle East Institute, 29 Jan. 2009, www.mei.edu/publications/iranian-revolution-february-1979.

Chinua Achebe’s renowned story, Things Fall Apart, details the life of a Nigerian man (Okonkwo) and his small village in the late 1800s as they experience the effects British Imperialism, such as changes in culture and religious life. Achebe wrote his novel to highlight the “Nigerian side” of the story to disprove and shed light on the unbelievable bias and outlandishness of European depictions of African people and cultures throughout their imperialistic exploits.

Within his story, Achebe gives light to many culturally significant ceremonies and religious beliefs held by Okonkwo and his people. For example, the novel dives deeply into the spiritual lives of the Igbo people, citing their gods Chukwu (a Supreme God) and Chi (Personal God) on multiple occasions to highlight the great significance in moral and political life that these gods play. This is seen when the Oracle of the village tells Okonkwo that his adopted son, Ikemefuna, must be killed as it was the will of the Gods. After hearing this, Okonkwo accepts her words and kills Ikemefuna himself, using the words of his Gods as a justification of his actions (Achebe, Chapter 17).

This Igbo religion, where the Gods speak directly with the people as Divine entities and tells them what actions must be committed, clashes heavily with the British Christian faith brought to them. The British Imperialism seen within Achebe’s novel is one that mirrors other examples of British control across the world, which often end in religious clashes.  Such rebellion against colonizers and their religions was seen across Central America, as Hernan Cortes attempted to “cleanse” Native American religions. This was met with resistance as well, as seen when native Cholulans refused to burn and give up their idols to adopt Christianity after they had been massacred by Cortes’ hands.

Struggles faced by the Igbo people against Christianity and the agents of it are highlighted by Achebe through their burning down of a Christian church within Okonkwo’s village by the native people. With this, we can see the Igbo people rejecting British rule and their “true” God. It is important to recognize these struggles as throughout European literature, Nigerians and Africans in general were described as “savages” and “beasts” that lacked society and culture, when the exact opposite was the truth. These people simply wanted to preserve their way of life and the culture that  had guided them for generations from a tyrannical foreign power.

Sources:

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Publishing Group, 2019.

Things Fall Apart (1958) written by Chinua Achebe is set in a small fictional village (Umuofia) in Nigeria in the late 1890s during the beginning of the European colonization of Nigeria (Kenalemang, 2013). The text was written in response to European novels that portrayed Africans as inhuman beasts who needed European help towards enlightenment and proper civilization. Achebe depicts pre-colonial Igbo society as imperfect, but still rich in culture, religion, and social practices. He does this in order to show how Igbo society was changed as a result of colonialism, both positively and negatively.

Before diving into this story, it is beneficial to note some of the changes that accompanied British rule in Nigeria such as implementation of Western education, the English language, and Christianity. “New forms of money, transportation, and communication developed; and the Nigerian economy became based on the export of cash crops” (Falola, “Nigeria as a Colony” para. 3). In fact, because there was such a significant emphasis placed on these crops, many Nigerians all over the country were forced to move to work as tenant farmers or had to acquire new skills altogether and work in cities as artisans, traders, and wage earners.

There emerged two tiers of government: local and central. Local government was based on the concept of “indirect rule” in which traditional chiefs were left in control, though they were subject to guidance from European officers while colonial citizens typically experienced their own colonial authority. Central government was more powerful than local authority and was run by the governor-general who was ultimately held accountable by colony secretaries based in London.

The British implemented a divide-and-rule policy in which Nigerian groups were kept as far removed from each other as possible in order to prevent any united rebellion against British authority. In order to influence Nigerian culture as much as possible, British authorities continually attempted to spread Western education and Christianity throughout Nigeria which spread rapidly in the south but were more heavily resisted by Muslim leaders in the north.

In order to prevent any radical means of obtaining reform in Nigeria, the British conceded to many political reforms during their rule until Nigeria became independent in 1960.

Falola, T. O., Ajayi, J.F. Ade, Udo, Reuben Kenrick and Kirk-Greene. Anthony Hamilton

Millard (2020, December 8). Nigeria. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Nigeria

Kenalemang, Lame M. (2013, January 11). “Things Fall Apart: An Analysis of Pre and Post

Colonial Igbo Society”. Karlstad University. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:648320/FULLTEXT01.pdf