Selection Of Lolita In Tehran Analysis

Many believe that our mind is the source of our freedom. We see this in Azar Nafisi’s “Selections of Lolita in Tehran,” Cathy Davidson’s “Project Classroom Makeover,” and Maggie Nelson’s “Great to Watch.” Nafisi creates a world of color to escape from the darkness of the society she lives in. Davidson tries to resist standard education. Nelson discusses avant-garde artists use cruelty as a way to rebel against banality. But people are surrounded by fences that limit their individuality. The mind is not enough to overcome the environment to create freedom.

The three authors present people, including themselves, attempting to resist some restriction power. Nelson shows this with the avant-garde artists that want to resist state violence. Nelson

Since Nafisi and her students are doing these things that are considered inappropriate they are not complying with the ideals. Therefore, going against the government. Nafisi’s examples of “insubordination” show that she wants to escape the chain of her environment. In addition, Nafisi uses uses colors to reference to people, places and things. Nelson uses Bronte to show how “Reality has become so intolerable that all I can paint now are colors of my dreams.” Nelson implies how individuals only have the “color of their dreams” to create their own ideas. This act of imagination is an act of refusing the reality that surrounds individuals. The hostile reality allows individuals to reject the thoughts that the government creates. Similar to Nelson and Nafisi, Davidson also shows resistance towards a group. Davidson and her students are resisting hierarchy and standard education. Davidson states formal education does not enrich students in a “world of social networking, crowdsourcing, customizing, and user-generated content” (Davidson 55). Davidson rejects

Davidson implies that technology is a source of knowledge whether it is to network with other or to use their own skills. Davidson and her students show a clear resistance by promoting a different way of learning. There resistance is a form of them trying to obtain their own sense of independence. As stated in the text “The new global economics of work is not likely to change, and so we must. And that change begins with schooling. Given the altered shape of global labor, the seemingly daring iPod experiment turns out actually to be, in the long run, a highly pragmatic educational model” (Davidson 61). The word pragmatic shows that standard education can limit individuals from learning information that can help in the work force. Individuals are rejecting standard education by using the iPods to learn. Davidson implies that the iPods allow for education to be unlimited because it does not label individuals based on their knowledge on standardized tests. As stated in the text “As what counts as learning is increasingly standardized an limited, increasing numbers of students learn in ways that are not measure by those standards” (Davidson 61). Standardized