White teeth chapter week of 3/13

This week we read chapters 17 through 20 in the book white teeth. These were the final chapters in the book which "wraps up" the story. I think the ending with the mouse symbolizes that there are no happy endings and that nothing will ever truly be wrapped up in life. I think the Author was trying to convey that there are cycles that life continuously goes through in which nothing will ever be tied up. The end of the story mostly hints to the beginning of the book with a lot of similarities between the two. The fact that Sammaad and Archie end up similarly as friends as they were at the beginning.

white teeth chapter 10 Archie's character development

In chapter 10 we first see conflict and character growth in Archie's character. Archie is usually a non confrontational character who usually is weak compared to other characters. Archie and Samad argue about history of the great Indian Mutiny. Samad gives his interpretation of what happens and Archie believe the history book more. When Samad argues with Archie, Archie does not back down which is unlike his character. Before this scene Archie was more of a static character that doesn't change or develop at all and now he seems more dynamic. 

white teeth chapter 8-9

These chapters start out with Samad deciding what to do with his affair. He realizes what he is doing is wrong and against his religion. He decides the best way to deal with his problems is to send his child back to Bangladesh so they have their "roots". Samad is proud of him but Alsana is worried about his safety. Millat the son who was sent to Bangladesh was caught on tv burning books. When Millat comes back his mother burns his books. I think the point of this section was to explain the cultural difference between Bangladesh and here. We can see these difference through Alsana and Millat and how they act.
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White teeth chapter 1-7

The story white teeth follows two war buddies, Archie and Samad, after their lives after the war. These chapters focus in on the importance of cultural differences. The school meeting shows that there is difference between Samad and the majority of the other parents. There is a tying theme for all the cultures which is their teeth. Mr Hamilton mentions during the war the only thing he could see in the dark was the white teeth of his enemy. I think this part is ironic because you usually see all the differences in your enemy but in this situation the only thing a person could see was something that made them similar.

Persepolis 80-240

This section continues with Persepolis growing up during the midst of the war. She gets shipped off during the majority of this section because her parents don't want her to get in trouble in Iran. A major concept seen through this is juxtaposition.On page 102 we see an example of this when the author shows first a picture of children getting shot with "the key of paradise" around their necks and then a picture of Marjane dancing at a party with her friends. The two pictures both had children with flailing arm movements and was shown to contrast what rich vs poor were going through during this time.
 

Persepolis 1-79

This week we read pages 1-79 of Persepolis. I think an interesting topic from the book was how the culture dealt with class. The author does not really understand the differences in class because she is a child at the time. It is an interesting perspective because you see how big of a deal class is but it's hard for a child to understand that some people are viewed as better than others. The scene where the maid falls in love with the neighbor boy shows that their society has marrying within ones class is so ingrained the boy decides that he no longer wants to be with her at all when he learns she is poor.

Understanding Comics page 1-137

This week we read the first the first five chapters of the book Understand comics by Scott McCloud.  The most interesting thing this reading addresses is how important perception is to us. Comic books point out how often we use perception with out noticing it. We do it different ways also, like filling in context from one part to the next.We realize that there is a logical step in between actions that was taken. Another way is we realize that things that may be exactly the same or very similar can be very different, like how McCloud explained that lines can symbolize many different things in different context, when a pipe has smoke coming out or when a garbage can has a foul odor. This both use the same lines but with the context in the drawing we can make connection that ones referring to the smoke and the other is referring to trash.