Common theme

Throughout the term we have read and finished three novels--Catcher in the Rye, Jane Eyre, and our choice novel; in my case, Light Years. All three of these novels carried at least one common theme throughout the book. One that I saw was most evident was the common theme we talked about a lot in class, coming of age. Holden in The Catcher in the Rye struggled a lot with coming of age. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to grow up or not, and the times that he did want to, he acted in very mature ways. Such as, when he hired the prostitute; he only wanted her as a companion to talk to. Jane Eyre also struggled with coming of age. In the beginning she thought herself to be very mature and well together, but in reality she was quite the opposite. Jane Erye grew up once she was on her own, earning her own money, and especially when she nearly starved to death. Finally, Maya from the novel Light Years. She grew up immensely throughout the book. In the beginning she was very narrow-minded and thought little of the future. After experiences a major loss and having to go through grief, she made it through and grew up a lot. Maya realized that isolation is not the answer, and that she can't give up.

Graphic art

The other day we wrote in our Journals about our favorite piece of graphic are that we saw throughout our reading of Persepolis. I chose a picture that was drawn on page twenty-five. This picture included cars driving on what looked like black surface at first, like a road. After you observed the drawing more, you could see that the surface they were driving on actually resembled the tips of flame. This simple picture carries a much more complex meaning. The place was being bombed and the flames demonstrated the bombings, and the loss of many people's homes. Mr. Kunkle had spoke about how the graphics in graphic novels were just as important as the writing, but in the beginning I was very skeptical of this. After seeing this drawing, along with many others, I realized that the graphics give off a much more emotional connection to the text and what is happening throughout the story.

Light Years and Persepolis

In class we had read the book Persepolis. This book takes place in Iran and is full of a lot of information that I previously knew nothing about. Most of our class had started reading Persepolis with only the background information they learned from other classes, which wasn't much. Myself and three others, on the other hand, had a little bit more background knowledge from the choice book we had read Light Years. Light Years had taught me about the dangers in Iran and how often there is a bombing. Iranians are aware and have become expectant of bombings, but they have not become accostomed to them. Both Persepolis and Light Years made me think, how would we act and react if we lived in a place where the fear of getting bombed was constantly racking in our brains? I had a hard time imagining how I would feel or react. We watch the news every night seeing serial killers and murderers, but few of us have actually been affected by that in a personal way in our lives; whereas many Iranians encounter it daily. It just made me reflect on how different lives can be in different places of the world.

Persepolis

The graphics throughout Persepolis express a lot about what is going on and the emotions felt throughout the characters. An example of this artwork is on page eighty-nine in the book, it seemed to be a a picture of cars fleeing their homes at first glance, but if you look further at it you see that the artwork between the cars resembles fire. The people were fleeing because of bombings, this fire shows the reason and makes it seem more realistic and life threatening than the reader could imagine. I enjoyed reading this because it was something new and filled with a lot of information that I had not know before reading. I think you should continue keeping Persepolis as a part of the curriculum because it is a new way of reading and students will learn a lot from it.