marjane satrapi’s persepolis, fall 2019
“Image is an international language. When you draw a situation—someone is scared or angry or happy—it means the same thing in all cultures...It is more accessible.”
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cycle 5, class 3 10/9,10/10
We’ll begin today by setting the context of our next narrative, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, an autobiographical graphic novel showing the childhood of one girl living in Iran after the Revolution in 1979.
Questions for today:
How did the novel come to be written? What events led up to the Revolution in 1979?
How is reading a graphic novel different from reading the short fiction we’ve been reading so far this year?
We’ll also make a list of subjects about which you’ll eventually write a theme statement and an essay:
Class, Correcting Western Misconceptions, War, Nationalism, Modernity versus Tradition, Coming of Age, Maturation, Freedom, Confinement
We’ll finish class by watching the video below, History of U.S. Intervention since 1953.
HOMEWORK: I’d like you to read “The Veil” and “The Bicycle,” pages 3-17. Comment on the style of the drawings in your notes as well as the following questions: Who is Marji? How would you describe her? Which pane is most striking to you as telling a powerful story in and of itself? Why do you say that?
cycle 5, class 4 10/11,10/15
Satrapi, Persepolis: The word and the image working together to tell the story; Sometimes the image undercuts the word, sometimes the word undercuts the image
HOMEWORK: I’d like you to read “The Water Cell,” “Persepolis,” and “The Letter,” pages 18-39.
cycle 5, class 5 10/15,10/17
Satrapi, Persepolis Discussion; Today we’ll also watch just a little of the film version of the Comic Book.
HOMEWORK: I’d like you to read “The Party,” “The Heroes, and “Moscow.” You should know that this selection of the novel contains a few upsetting images of torture for which the novel has been banned in various places around the world. One of the things we’ll think about is why Satrapi includes such extreme violence and torment. I ask that you treat these particular panels with the maturity and seriousness they deserve.
cycle 6, class 1 10/18,10/21
Satrapi, Persepolis; I’ll also set the Persepolis essay assignment, a major grade for the first semester, counting for two essay grades.
HOMEWORK: I’d like you to read “The Sheep,” “The Trip,” and “The F-14s,” pages 62-86. Also, please watch this video about the Iran/Iraq War in the 1980s so you have a sense of exactly what is being discussed in the book.
cycle 6, class 2 10/22
Let’s begin the class by reviewing some of the subjects Persepolis treats. What themes emerge at this point in your reading?
We’ll then review the function of body paragraphs and introduce thesis statements, culminating in a group effort to write a thesis and a body paragraph in class.
HOMEWORK: Please continue reading Persepolis, making your way through “The Jewels,” “The Key,” and “The Wine,” pages 87-110.
cycle 6, class 3 10/23,10/24
Satrapi, Persepolis Discussion
We’ll also put on the board how I usually go about getting launched for writing an essay.
HOMEWORK: Come to our next class having finished Persepolis.
cycle 6, class 4 10/25,10/28
Satrapi, Persepolis Discussion
Today’s class is a chance for us to wrap our discussion of the novel. Ultimately, what does the text have to say about your chosen subject? How do you incorporate that theme into a killer thesis for your essay? I’ll try to help you with that today.
cycle 6, class 5 10/28,10/29
Persepolis essay workshop:
Writing Introductions and Conclusion
Connecting your body paragraphs with word and logic glue
Team teaching assignment for Harkness discussions
what's due?
Persepolis Vocabulary Quiz - 10/4, 10/7
Short fiction in-class assessment - 10/8
Trailer assignment - 10/11
Persepolis essay DRAFT - 10/28, 10/29
Persepolis essay FINAL - 11/4
Sample Persepolis thesis statements
Team Teaching Harkness discussions begin - 11/4
current text to bring daily
texts to buy now
persepolis Study Links
General questions for most short stories
"A Rose for Emily" Study Guide
What is a story of initiation? See Updike, "A&P"
Questions for Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades"
ongoing extra credit
Required reading can at times feel like drudgery. And while it's important to do the reading I set for the class, I fully recognize that you'd rather have a say in what it is we read. Unfortunately the freshman curriculum has little student choice built in, so your ongoing extra credit gives you the opportunity to read an outside text in your own time at some point during the semester. I'm very happy to reward you with additional course credit if you take it upon yourself to read a text outside of class and meet with me to discuss it. A few things:
(1) This must be a text you've never read before.
(2) It should be imaginative and of recognized literary merit. The text must be approved beforehand.
(3) The amount of credit awarded is variable depending on the chosen text and how our follow up conversation goes.
(4) While you may read as much as you'd like, I will only award extra credit once per semester.
enjoying literature
“In the realm of narrative psychology, a person’s life story is not a Wikipedia biography of the facts and events of a life, but rather the way a person integrates those facts and events internally—picks them apart and weaves them back together to make meaning. This narrative becomes a form of identity, in which the things someone chooses to include in the story, and the way she tells it, can both reflect and shape who she is. A life story doesn’t just say what happened, it says why it was important, what it means for who the person is, for who they’ll become, and for what happens next.”
