connection, or a memory. In “How To Tell A True War Story”, by veteran and author Tim O’Brien, stories were used to help keep the author sane after fighting in a brutal war. In “Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran”, written by Azar Nafisi an author and activist, Nafisi explains how escaping reality through works of fiction helped her keep her individuality and sanity during a time of great struggle in her homeland of Iran. Opposing these two authors ideas is Martha Stout’s, a clinical psychologist
argues about how both parties are misleading and conspiring against each other. Azar Nafisi also talks about power relations in her memoir “Reading Lolita in Tehran a memoir in books”. Azar is Muslim who host a book club with her friends as they talk about literature and are able to be themselves without the power of authority or presence of man in the room. The fact that there are hidden transcripts shows that Azar may be herself at home, but in public must be covered and be an obeying woman to
Thurman, and Azar Nafisi wrote about this type of knowledge in their essays: “Homo Religiosus,” “Wisdom,” and “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” respectively. Each of these authors has a different view of what knowledge is exactly, how it can be achieved, and what it means to have achieved it, but each author takes on the view that the concept of knowledge should be viewed from a social stance. Armstrong refers to this uncertain knowledge as “myth,” Thurman refers to it as “wisdom,” and Nafisi refers to it
Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” by Sherman Alexie, and in Azar Nafisi's, “From Reading Lolita in Tehran.” Both Alexie and Nafisi were shaped by the societies into which they were born, turning to literature to escape from the confinements of their existence. Sherman Alexie is an Indian who works with students openly in the Catholic school system to help the students of the reservation find their own way into the world, while Azar Nafisi, a native of Iran, works with her most trusted and brightest
and different aspects such as their overall messages, styles and textual structures. These literary works include, “I Have a Dream," by Martin Luther King Jr., "Cairo: My City, Our Revolution," by Ahdaf Soueif, and, “Reading Lolita in Tehran," by Azar Nafisi. Oppressed individuals created ways to bring awareness to their hardships in order to fully express their beliefs. These texts all share a specific message which is to propel a social movement by peacefully protesting and forming a united front
generations of Native Americans would use storytelling as part of their culture whether it was an activity to pass time or to bond with the family and their tribes. In Azar Nafisi’s “Selections of Reading Lolita in Tehran”, she uses various literary works to share different experiences with her students. Different books were discussed by Nafisi to give the students insight on the world outside of their own. Whereas Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” defines the purpose of a war story while telling
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
Azar Nafisi, the narrator of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (2003), is a self-centered, self- righteousness character who, according to her claim, has very little contact with other Iranian people in general. (p. 11, 74, 186, 169) Being “very American” (p. 175), in several incidents she finds herself in a great distance of what others acknowledge as custom, ordinary or natural. (p. 32, 98, ..) Bear that in mind, she also admits that “events in [her] mind have become confused” (p. 89)
trouble. Only when subordinates are among themselves can they discuss how they really feel about their superior which would be an example of the hidden transcript. Azar Nafisi wrote, Reading Lolita in Tehran: a Memoir in Books, a book about her life as a teacher in Iran. Nafisi decided to teach an all- female class in her home. Nafisi quotes one of her students who explains why she had to lie to her father about taking the class, I lied What else can one do with a person who's so dictatorial he
or meditation, it becomes easier to reach your goals of becoming open-minded. Azar Nafisi’s “Selection from Reading Lolita in Tehran” describes the struggles she and her students face and how they use literature to escape from their atrocious life. Similarly, “Wisdom” by Robert Thurman explores the idea of reaching a nirvana-like state where people become aware of their surroundings and the nature of themselves. Nafisi and Thurman state that once people have attained the knowledge to reach an utopian
rulers themselves—in chaos, people cannot convene, they cannot organize or seek change because all change requires cooperation. Only in education, reform and cultural awareness do people find a weapon that can be utilized as agents of change. Azar Nafisi, in her multiple roles as educator, culture agent and dissenter put a foot forward in the process of proving that dissenters can organize, educate and inspire and, in the process, serve as a liaison of change for those who live and experience her
follows a particular set of morals and ideals. An individual’s own identity, as a result, is dependent on many varying factors of their lifestyle in these culturally regulated regions. In the stories, “Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran,” by Azar Nafisi, and “The Naked Citadel,” by Susan Faludi, the authors depict the impact made on an individual’s identity by male-dominated communities prejudiced against women. The discriminations described in these stories contribute to the creation of cultures
Book review: Title: Reading Lolita in Tehran Author: Azar Nafisi "و لنا في الخيال حياة" - Through Imagination we live (an Arabic proverb). In Iran during the late 1990s is a setting of a private book club in Tehran, where Professor Azar Nafisi, author of the book, meets weekly with seven of her most prominent female students to discuss banned western literary work. Azar Nafisi writes her memoirs, shedding light on the transformation of the self through literature, the book discussions are no longer
Being a writer and a former American literature professor, Azar Nafisi lived in Iran and stayed during the Iranian Revolution from about the 1960's to the 1980's. Her memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, explains the hardships and struggles during the revolution with literature. Using American literature to explain how she was coping, works like The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, Lolita, and Washington Square came up in her novel. Through these American novels, she started a group with young women
As revealed in Azar Nafisi's book Reading Lolita in Tehran, Iran's radical religious and political views are the driving force behind the domination and maltreatment of the country's people. Throughout the book there are many examples of this oppressive treatment which is enforced because of strict religious convictions. Nafisi compares the oppression happening during a tense period of revolution with various works of fiction that mirrors what is becoming life in Iran. The tyrannical treatment
therefore there was a lot of hypocrisy. Throughout Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi explains her resistance to the restrictions that were placed on all the women in Iran at the time. In a photograph that Nafisi had, there were seven women in front of a white was and “according to the law of the land, dressed in black robes and head scarves” revealing that these women
Many people might say that freedom is defined by these famous words of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The United States of America was founded on these principles; however, freedom is not something people get to enjoy all over the world. Ironically and rather absurdly, many Americans don’t
women’s rights and westernization is one of complexity. Azar Nafisi shows in her essay, “The Veiled Threat,” that the answer to the question “who is on which side of the Iranian modernization war?” tends to change given varying circumstances. Although many assume the disagreement in Iran is a definite issue with all Iranian women pitted against all Iranian men, Nafisi shows that men and women, Muslims and seculars, members of
meaning that all people deserve equal rights. A topic of debate is whether or not people should be given or demand these rights for themselves. In the selections, “I Have a Dream”, by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, “ Reading Lolita in Tehran”, by Azar Nafisi, and “A Eulogy for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”, by Robert F. Kennedy, the topic of equal rights being given or demanded can be explored. Freedom is one of the most valuable elements of the human experience, but doesn’t require a person to demand
the story and begins to make them think in ways unimaginable before. As Azar Nafisi explains to her students, an artist “appeals to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives; to our sense of pity, and beauty and pain” (Q.T.D in Nafisi #).