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.