Persepolis And Death And The Maiden Analysis

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Just about every individual has two sides, the one they show to the world and the one that they keep to themselves, their immediate family, and their closest friends. While the extent of the difference may vary from one person to another, there is that change or that bit of contrast in almost everyone. The most common difference is someone who is more reserved and more properly behaved in public while more open and more comfortable going against the grain within the privacy of their own home or with familia company. This can often cause internal along with external issues with one’s identity as individuals feel as though their “true selves” are not being represented to the world.
Both Persepolis and Death and the Maiden address the topic of …show more content…

For over ten years, Paulina had internalized these problems, putting on the face of a composed and normal woman. When the suspected man, Roberto, was staying overnight at Paulina’s house, she practically assaulted him ordering that she and her husband get a confession out of him. However, when she got her husband to go out and get his flat fixed she put on the persona of a calm, collected, and under-control individual. While we do not get an outsider’s perspective, as these are the only three characters in the play, it is suggested that were there others, they would not expect anything close to this from her, they would not think of her as the type to tie a stranger to a chair in the middle of the night and gag him with her panties (Page 19, Dorfman). Paulina is characterized as being insane and crazy, however some may argue that she is simply looking for closure when it comes to her past trauma as she says that all she wants from Roberto is a confession. Obviously it is not enough to say that any assumptions we make are what Dorfman intended as much is left open to interpretation, and maybe that is how he wanted it. We do not know if it was Roberto who raped Paulina, nor do we know the true extent of what happened to Paulina while she was help captive. The one thing that …show more content…

Half the Sky by Kristof and WuDunn took a more pathos based approach using emotion and true anecdotes to address the issues of women’s oppression around the world. One such story was about a girl that was kidnapped and forced to be a sex slave for a brothel only to escape and get to the police but then be jailed and sold as a sex slave to another brothel. While this is obviously not a common occurrence, it happens and people do not address it nearly as much as they should. These things are happening around the world, sex trafficking occurs in all nations, including the U.S., and for people to deny its existence or its important is pure negligence. These women are forced to fear their owners and have to put up a show in public acting as though nothing is going on as there is usually the threat of personal or family harm from the brothel owner. In private these women can break down and hate themselves but when with clients they have to again put up an act. How is this different than what society forces people to do in that they are having to put on an act in public and only being genuine when they are in private? Obviously sex trafficking is a much more despicable thing but that is not to say that the stereotypes society puts on each gender is not awful too. The implication that women’s bodies are designed and created for the sole purpose of

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