Monkey Bridge, by Lan Cao, is the story of two Vietnamese refugees, a mother and daughter, trying to live in America in 1979. The novel showcases the difficulties of emigration and transition for different generations while giving beautiful descriptions of the Vietnamese culture itself. But more than this, Monkey Bridge is the story of a teenage girl trying to make amends with her traumatized mother.
When I first read about “The Accident [that] had been diagnosed as permanent” which consisted of scar tissue which spread across Cao’s mother’s face, I assumed that it was somehow symbolic of her mother’s permanent state of distress while living in America. But upon finding out at the end of the novel that the scar was actually caused by “Clusters of bright yellow flames [that] burst through a high-explosive mix of gasoline a jelly” (251), not a kitchen flame which “caught on a silk scarf loosely wrapped around her neck” (3), I think that the scar actually symbolizes the inner torment she carries with her always because of the shame from her father’s actions.
One thing that I thought was interesting was the way Cao’s mother seemed to be two different women (if not more). She is a haggling French-educated woman in Vietnam who believes in the healing power of charms and astrology, while being a grocer in America who is always worried. Also, she cannot speak English well and relies on her daughter to do it for her (example of apartment rooms), but writes beautifully of her homeland in exquisite imagery (example). Also, Cao’s mother is enthralled with motherhood but seems very bitter over wifehood, although she left herself three years to mourn the death of her husband.
Lan Cao stresses the differences between the United States and Vietnam in the book as well. “In the United States, there was no such thing as ‘one wrong move.” She describes the states as a place of limitless possibilities where people can rewrite their endings (example) and even sometimes their beginnings (example).
One thing that seemed very important to be me was the symbolism of the sea horse. Vietnam is described as “a long twisted peninsula hanging on the caost of the South China Sea like a starved sea horse waiting for happier days” (150). And then her “mother’s silhouette cast a faint sea-horse curve against the dark window-shine” (161). And even later her mother describes her own body “hunched and twisted like the sea-horse shape of Vietnam itself” (174). Finally Cao ends the book by stating “Outside, a faint sliver of what only two weeks ago had been a full moon dangled like a sea horse from the sky.” I’m wonder why this theme reoccurred so much throughout the book. Possibly because Cao wanted to show that her mother was also a symbol of her homeland. The narrator is uncertain of the history of her country but respects it, but is also ashamed of it, like her mother (example of ashamed of country, example of ashamed of mother, scar?) She also has trouble leaving her country’s past and tries to get it back because she has been taught her soul is there, and she has been taught that she and her mother share the same DNA and karma.
The mother-daughter relationship of the book was the most intriguing to me because I don’t really relate to it. My mother and I have a very close relationship in which we talk about everything, but Lan’s only link to her mother is reading the “papers” that she writes late at night which she thinks she is forbidden from. The relationship seems very close when the two describe it, but also very distant as well. They know and love each other and are willing to make sacrifices, but they have a lot of trouble talking about what they feel and want. Finally, Cao’s mother feels that she must kill herself just so she can provide freedom for her daughter. The mother daughter roldes are reversed because Lan is forced to take care of her mother after the stroke and even before this, Lan had to become “the keeper of the word” (37) and her mother became a child (35).
The title of the novel confused me for a long time because the idea of a monkey bridge is not introduced until page 109. Even then it is not until much later that we can see the significance of a monkey bridge. A monkey bridge is “how rivers are crossed by boatless peasants” (179). And I believe they are a true symbolism for the “one wrong move” idea. Almost as if life is a giant river which with must cross and our choices create a thin path, almost impossible to cross. One wrong move and we can fall off, like Lan’s mother.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Persepolis--Close Analysis
Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis, was written to explain the middle east in a simple way to the western world. The author shows the similarities between the cultures so that we may understand her better. Satrapi then shows a captivated audience that some of the major conflicts in the Middle East have been caused, and made bloodier by the industrialized nations.
The cultural similarities between the Middle Eastern and developed nations are explained through many allusions throughout the novel. Characters in the novel play Monopoly, dress in punk rock clothes, and sing to American music. All of these cultural activities are from the western world but have been melded into the story so that we may understand that Iran is not as backwards as many Americans expect it to be. While this is true, westerners can also see what a huge impact the industrialized nations have on the rest of the world. One of the two refugee boys who spend a few nights at Marji’s house tells her “At my house, we have all the Star Wars stuff” (91). This cultural similarity seems almost paradoxical because although the boys are familiar with the hit movie, they are also refugees in a warring nation. Satrapi also hints to the reader that this book is aimed at the developed nations in the pictures; the two spoiled boys are wrapped in a blanket with white stars on it while Marji has a blanket with strips, reminiscent of the American flag (91)
Marji is not excited that her parents are going to Turkey until they tell her that all the “‘hip stuff’” (126) from the west that enter Iran are from Turkey. After hearing this Marji lists off the things she would like that we would expect American children to ask for on a daily basis; she wants “a denim jacket, a poster, no two posters, one of Kim Wilde, and one of Iron Maiden” (126). These allusions make the characters, especially Marji, more understandable, and it is thus easier to empathize with her later.
After making Marji relatable to the reader and showing that the cultures are not as different as one might expect, the author demonstrates that industrialized countries actually fuel the strife of the Middle East which inhibits the region’s development. For example, Britain fueled the revolution just so they could get Iran’s oil reserves: “You just give us the oil and we’ll take care of the rest” (21) a British aristocrat says to Reza, the revolutionary and future king. Even before this Satrapi, shows her claim graphically when she says that her people have endured tyranny from many sources including the “modern imperialism,” under which she shows Uncle Sam and a man holding the British flag (11). Marji’s father explains the suppression of Iran by America with the logic that “All that interests him [Jimmy Carter] is oil” (43). Mr. Satrapi says this after the U.S. president refused to give the Shah asylum in the United States, even though the U.S. had supported the Shah before.
Satrapi then explains that some industrialized nations did not only start the wars, they made them more bloody and gruesome by giving money and weaponry to both sides of the war. “Our torturers received special training from the C.I.A.” (50) Mohsen casually explains. And later, at the hospital, a doctor explains to the Satrapi family that “The Germans sell chemical weapons to Iran and Iraq. The wounded are then sent to Germany to be treated. Veritable human guinea pigs” (122). With this statements melded into the story, Satrapi is trying to tell her audience that her nation is not the only one with sins.
With evidence that Iran’s actions and tyrannical government was fueled by developed nations and that Iran’s wars were made worse because of democratic countries, Satrapi is trying to stop the world from thinking that the Middle East is a backwards region.
The cultural similarities between the Middle Eastern and developed nations are explained through many allusions throughout the novel. Characters in the novel play Monopoly, dress in punk rock clothes, and sing to American music. All of these cultural activities are from the western world but have been melded into the story so that we may understand that Iran is not as backwards as many Americans expect it to be. While this is true, westerners can also see what a huge impact the industrialized nations have on the rest of the world. One of the two refugee boys who spend a few nights at Marji’s house tells her “At my house, we have all the Star Wars stuff” (91). This cultural similarity seems almost paradoxical because although the boys are familiar with the hit movie, they are also refugees in a warring nation. Satrapi also hints to the reader that this book is aimed at the developed nations in the pictures; the two spoiled boys are wrapped in a blanket with white stars on it while Marji has a blanket with strips, reminiscent of the American flag (91)
Marji is not excited that her parents are going to Turkey until they tell her that all the “‘hip stuff’” (126) from the west that enter Iran are from Turkey. After hearing this Marji lists off the things she would like that we would expect American children to ask for on a daily basis; she wants “a denim jacket, a poster, no two posters, one of Kim Wilde, and one of Iron Maiden” (126). These allusions make the characters, especially Marji, more understandable, and it is thus easier to empathize with her later.
After making Marji relatable to the reader and showing that the cultures are not as different as one might expect, the author demonstrates that industrialized countries actually fuel the strife of the Middle East which inhibits the region’s development. For example, Britain fueled the revolution just so they could get Iran’s oil reserves: “You just give us the oil and we’ll take care of the rest” (21) a British aristocrat says to Reza, the revolutionary and future king. Even before this Satrapi, shows her claim graphically when she says that her people have endured tyranny from many sources including the “modern imperialism,” under which she shows Uncle Sam and a man holding the British flag (11). Marji’s father explains the suppression of Iran by America with the logic that “All that interests him [Jimmy Carter] is oil” (43). Mr. Satrapi says this after the U.S. president refused to give the Shah asylum in the United States, even though the U.S. had supported the Shah before.
Satrapi then explains that some industrialized nations did not only start the wars, they made them more bloody and gruesome by giving money and weaponry to both sides of the war. “Our torturers received special training from the C.I.A.” (50) Mohsen casually explains. And later, at the hospital, a doctor explains to the Satrapi family that “The Germans sell chemical weapons to Iran and Iraq. The wounded are then sent to Germany to be treated. Veritable human guinea pigs” (122). With this statements melded into the story, Satrapi is trying to tell her audience that her nation is not the only one with sins.
With evidence that Iran’s actions and tyrannical government was fueled by developed nations and that Iran’s wars were made worse because of democratic countries, Satrapi is trying to stop the world from thinking that the Middle East is a backwards region.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Persepolis--Reader Response
Persepolis was an incredibly interesting read. One thing that troubled me was the allusions I didn’t understand because I am not exceedingly familiar with the history of the Middle East.
One thing that was incredibly interesting, to me, was the similarities between the Iranian culture and the American culture. Marji is forced to deal with house bombings, the loss of loved ones, and a continual internal struggle with religion, but she also relieves her stress by singing “We’re the kids in America” (134). Although some of her problems happen to children in America as well, they are amplified by the fact that her country is at war and going through a revolution. Marji goes to parties and wants American pop culture to be part of her life, but also demonstrates against the government as a child, and has to read all about her country at a young age to understand the woes of the world.
Satrapi’s relationship with her mother perplexed me. Her mother is willing to risk imprisonment trying to bring home a poster for her daughter, and yet Marji commits an “act of rebellion against my mother’s dictatorship by smoking the cigarette I’d stolen” (117). As a very non-rebellious child, who has grown up with next to no problems, I find it very difficult to relate to the narrator’s actions. I was able to understand Marji’s anger at others however, I don’t know how she could not be angry at someone who says, “‘He killed communists and communists are evil’”(46) as if killing them for political reasons makes it ok.
Satrapi’s use of graphics also intrigued me. I like that she partially explained her love of comic books by saying, “my favorite was a comic book entitled ‘Dialectic Materialism’” (12). The graphics mainly helped me to add drama with image instead of through literary imagination.
Overall, it felt like Starapi was trying to get us to think twice about what people say. She even seems to second-guess her beloved father when she draws him with a satanic snake around him as he promotes enjoying a “new freedom” (43).
The book didn’t seem to make conclusions, it only made me examine human nature, and helped me to understand the hardships in the Middle East. Satrapi makes the readers hate Western Civilization because Germany uses Iranians as “human guinea pigs” (123), and Modern imperialism shows the British flag under a text saying “tyranny and submisiion” (11).
During discussion I would like to see the class discuss why Satrapi sometimes chose to narrate with a voice bubble and a picture of her talking, and sometimes with a caption. She possibly did this to stress an emotion in the pictures with captions.
One thing that was incredibly interesting, to me, was the similarities between the Iranian culture and the American culture. Marji is forced to deal with house bombings, the loss of loved ones, and a continual internal struggle with religion, but she also relieves her stress by singing “We’re the kids in America” (134). Although some of her problems happen to children in America as well, they are amplified by the fact that her country is at war and going through a revolution. Marji goes to parties and wants American pop culture to be part of her life, but also demonstrates against the government as a child, and has to read all about her country at a young age to understand the woes of the world.
Satrapi’s relationship with her mother perplexed me. Her mother is willing to risk imprisonment trying to bring home a poster for her daughter, and yet Marji commits an “act of rebellion against my mother’s dictatorship by smoking the cigarette I’d stolen” (117). As a very non-rebellious child, who has grown up with next to no problems, I find it very difficult to relate to the narrator’s actions. I was able to understand Marji’s anger at others however, I don’t know how she could not be angry at someone who says, “‘He killed communists and communists are evil’”(46) as if killing them for political reasons makes it ok.
Satrapi’s use of graphics also intrigued me. I like that she partially explained her love of comic books by saying, “my favorite was a comic book entitled ‘Dialectic Materialism’” (12). The graphics mainly helped me to add drama with image instead of through literary imagination.
Overall, it felt like Starapi was trying to get us to think twice about what people say. She even seems to second-guess her beloved father when she draws him with a satanic snake around him as he promotes enjoying a “new freedom” (43).
The book didn’t seem to make conclusions, it only made me examine human nature, and helped me to understand the hardships in the Middle East. Satrapi makes the readers hate Western Civilization because Germany uses Iranians as “human guinea pigs” (123), and Modern imperialism shows the British flag under a text saying “tyranny and submisiion” (11).
During discussion I would like to see the class discuss why Satrapi sometimes chose to narrate with a voice bubble and a picture of her talking, and sometimes with a caption. She possibly did this to stress an emotion in the pictures with captions.
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