Persepolis Book Club Second Week - Aidan

Hi everyone, sorry that I won't be able to make it tonight, but I will be out sick. I'm going to go ahead and post my notes for this week's questions below I hope y'all have a great meeting tonight and I look forward to joining you again next week. For context: I read up to The Croissant on page 223

1.) What do we know and understand about the main character’s sociocultural background/ identities?
  • She has a strong sense of political awareness and understanding
    • This is heavily entwined with and fostered by her connections with her family
  • She has a love of music and self-expression and pursues both of these interests throughout a time when her expression could be dangerous or illegal
    • Her family is aware and supportive of these interests, even going so far as to smuggle her posters and clothing back from Turkey
  • She grew up during several conflicts and wars in her home country
    • Her response to this was to seek and speak out for justice, truth and safety for her and her family

2.) How does your own sociocultural background and identities and literacy or schooling experiences compare/contrast to the main character?
 
  • She knows several languages and often reads to educate herself
    • I know only one language and, while I love to read, I learn best when I can discuss something or hear someone talk about it
  • I have had a relatively consistent, secular schooling throughout my life
    • This resulted in me experiencing only one or two major cultural perspectives in what I was taught
    • She was educated during multiple political shifts that brought extreme changes to what was taught each time, in addition to this, she received education in multiple countries and multiple schools with varying degrees of religious influence from different religions
    • This combined with her love of reading led her to learning from a wide variety of cultural perspectives

3.) How do you reflect upon your positionality in relation to the characters in the novel? 

  • Beyond my gender and sexuality, which have always been rather easy to gloss over for me, I have never had to hide or change the way I present myself to feel safe or comfortable in the world, Marjane has
  • I have much less worldly experience than her and have spent most of my life in the US

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