Jim's Characteristic

Jim cared less about anything as a result of the lose and sufferings of his own family who disappeared one by one. Even though he was like a confused person, he had still some hope in life, and this had been the reason why he finally embarked the journey of finding something meaningful in his life. Apart from the community of strikers in Torgas Valley, it was Mac who had influence him very strongly because Jim consider Mac as person who was close to him than anything else. Because Mac himself was an opportunistic person, he did also inflicted with this attitude to Jim who was just following him like a student. Jim eventually became as heartless as Mac to those who was around him. This could be seen in Steinbeck's book, In Dubious Battle. There was one particular event when Jim's ruthless become apparent. One of those young kids who were accused of burning  Mr Aderson's barn were caught. Mac beat the kid up to the extent where he bleed, and when Mac asked Jim how he felt he reply that it was Mac had done a tremendous job. The growers where brutal the those who were against them like Jim, Mac, and other strikers. Similarly, Jim's heartlessness towards them had begun to manifest itself gradually.

Rough Draft on In Dubious Battle

         Throughout history, human beings are known to have faced different struggles that sharp their life in one way or another. By the same token, it’s true that every battle has a reason that initiated it. In Dubious battle, we see that a group of workers organize themselves to fight for their rights to towards earning a better wage. In this stunningly thrilling story of In Dubious Battle, it could be discerned how easily a man might become rebellious against anything that threatens his very own existence and life. As a result of this, he fights for his God-given rights whenever he feels that it was taken away from him, and struggles to regain his right at any cost even if that means he has to face death. Nothing scares him at all. But that is when he is awake and knows about the absence of his missing rights. When he is awake, he plans to win and becomes victorious if he has firm determinations. Thus, he seeks the help of others. People like him who might also be in the same situation as him. This was what John Steinbeck’s book, In Dubious Battle, was all about. Together, Jim and Mac embarked a journey to change some of the hardship and sufferings. As a result they organized a group of people who were like them so as to face their oppressors. Jim’s dying enthusiastic and feelings about life gets better when he meet Mac.

Jim lost all of his family, and this tragically left him a feeling of depression. First, he lost his father who had worked in a slaughterhouse. And then his mother died while he was in jail. Describing the tragic of his father’s death to Harry Nilson, the man who gave Jim the opportunity to join the Pary, Jim said that his father was “caught a charge of buckshot in the chest form a riot gun” (6). Like everyone else, Jim appears to have sympathy for his father, and because of the heinous job that he had to do, Jim says, “My old man, my father, was slugged so much in labor trouble that he went punch-drunk” (6). Perhaps, his father’s situation has also desolated Jim’s feelings about life. He was not happy at all. As a matter of fact, the low spirit he got from the lost of his family caused him to dislike and hate the life he was leading before he met Mac.

It was only after he met Mac when he felt a change of life and became happier than ever before. Jim knew very little about the world around him before he departed from his place where he used to live to join the Party, a group of strikers. As soon as he joined in, he became a close friend of Mac. During their introduction, Jim was given an opportunity to do some typing. Jim said to Mac appreciatively, “I like doing it, Mac”. Jim continued to elaborate his feelings a bit further and said:

I don’t know why. It seemed a good thing to be doing. It seemed to have something meaning. Nothing I ever did before had any meaning. It was all just a mess. I don’t think I resented the fact that someone profited from the mess, but I did hate being in the rat-cage (20). 

That little chance of typing relieved Jim a heavy burden, and it seems that is when he felt a bit confident about his personality. The confidence he obtained  appears to have erased his fears and hopelessness from his heart. From there on, Jim even became enthusiastic about elevating his involvement in joining the Party, and he eagerly said to Mac, “… What I’d really like to do is get into the field. I’d like to get into the action” (21).  In addition to this, Jim along with Mac went out towards the Torgas Valley so that they could both participate the strike against the farm owners who were causing impediments to the likes of Jim and Mac. In this seemingly long journey, Jim was fortunate enough to have Mac as his mentor. He learned a lot from him. Before Mac, Jim was just like an inexperienced child lost in a vast land where he can never return tragically. He honestly admitted his amateur when Mac asked him whether he knows about the Torgas Valley by saying that he had “…only been out of town four or five times in my time” (25).

During his stay with Mac, Jim attained a brotherly treatment from Mac. Mac paid lots of attention to Jim, and watched him very closely, especially more about his activities. For example, whenever Mac sensed tiredness from Jim’s face, Mac would advice him to get a rest and sleep so that he could get the energy he need to work (49/66).  Sometimes, Jim would try to leave from the company of Mac to do some work, and since it’s dangerous to be alone out in the Valley Mac  advice Jim to be extra cautious, “… From now on be careful, and don’t go away form the crowd very far. If you want to go someplace, see you take about a dozen men with you” (91).  Mac hinted to Jim how easy it would be to kick them out of Torgas Valley if one of them is seen alone because both Jim and Mac were considered as foreigners who do not belong to the Torgas Valley. As a result of this precious and extra caring by Mac, Jim admired the noble work and treatment he was getting from this gifted fellow. Therefore, Jim became obedient to Mac thereby doing whatever Mac ordered him to do without any hesitations.

On the other hand, it’s questionable whether Mac was an honest mentor and friend to Jim because Mac seems to have a split personality. At one time, he treated Dick, and Joy the same way he treats Jim now. But that behavior changed as soon as Joy arrived in the Torgas Valley where he was killed. Mac obviously forgot the partnership that he had with Joy when he was capable of doing things in his way. Before Joy’s corps was taken to the cemetery to get buried, Mac tells the strikers, who were around him, "We’re going to throw the dirty radical in the mud….” (178). Anyone who is honest about their partnetship with other would never utter this sort of words because a friendship is greater than anything else. As a result of this, it’s highly possible that Mac had some sort of ulterior motives which was not visible for others  see it that easily. Mac was using anything that he approached to just gain his interest even if that means taking the soul of an innocent person.

Difficulty Paper

I enjoyed reading In Dubious Battle. It’s a book about Farm Workers and their struggle to attain a better life. The book is a bit hard to understand because its timeframe is quite different from ours. Most of the books that are available today are, in most cases, related to technology, economy, health and politics because today's people have special interest on these subjects, and I think that is why authors have chosen to stay on the same subjects. Thus, it becomes hard a person like me to fathom the subject of a book that was written about 75 years ago, especially when the book's subject had to do with farm workers. I found it difficult to grasp what the book is narrating, which may have happened during that particular time when the book was in a writing process or even before that. Even though the author of the book tries his best to give a vivid description on every iota of the book’s content, but then it was had for me to get a clear picture of how life was during that time, and the sort of oppressions the Farm Workers had to face and how they fight against this injustice. It was the first time I read a book on Farm Workers and their struggle, so the subject was new to me and this is were my confusion stems from. Fortunately, reading and exploring the UFW website eases  a bit on my understanding of the book because that website itself is related to a current event and how the Farm Worker are still suffering on the hands of some farm owners. 

Another aspect of the book that I found it hard was the language of the book, especially that of the characters. As we know languages evolve with time just like everything else. In Dubious Battle, there are too many slogans that the characters used in their conversations at different times. For example, one of the conversations that I struggled in their meaning was a talk between Jim and an old man called Dan. He, Dan, appeared to be an aggressive person, and he said to Jim, “I was in the north woods when the Wobblies was raising hell.” Dan continues to brag himself and said to Jim, “I’m a top-faller” (52). To understand the Wobblies and what sort of “hell” they were raising, I scrutinized the conversation between Jim and Dan by reading and re-reading slowly and carefully. It seems to me Dan is referring to a well-organized group who changed some difficulties. I also thought the “raising hell” that Dan was talking about had to do with a successful strike made by the Wobblies in which they have regained some of the rights the group felt was missing. There are several passages in the book like this, and any passage that I couldn't comprehend, I had to read and re-read it several times so as to make sense out of it because that usually the closest and best solution one could get.

First Formal Paper: Rough Draft

Did you ever feel the sweetness of growing up in a peaceful environment? Could you possibly imagine what and how your life would be like if it were missing the most essential element during your childhood. Perhaps you wouldn’t have dreamed to live in the land of opportunity, The States. As we have become to learn from experience, peace is the key ingredient of life. A stable and comfort life is impossible to exist without the flavor of peace. When peace happens to disappear, revolutions begin and people start to protest against those whose they see as the hijackers of their rights, the right to live in peace and freedom. This was what Marjane and her family had been going through during the Iranian Revolution. Marjane saw and witnessed the Iranian Revolution that came into being as a result of the then Shah regime. In those hard times, she became a dedicated young girl who cared about others thought in the process she lost her faith in God and things that had religious tones such as the veil.

Marjane Satrapi, born in Iran, was compassionate little girl. She was very young when the Iranian Revolution started, which finally overthrew the Shah regime. Marjane’s earlier life was pretty much inspired by the Revolution. When the Revolution started there was already a widespread social unbalance. Some people were very affluent while others were poor. It was a time when the rich looked down upon the poor. For example, Marjane, who was born to a rich family, witnessed how the poor were treated by the wealthy. Before she even went to elsewhere, she realized the social inequality within her own family after having seen how a very young poor maid was dealt with. Mehri, the maid’s name, was not allowed to eat food with the family on the same table. She had to eat on a different table (6). In another incident, which further awakened Marjane’s conscious on the subject of social differences, was when Mehri, the maid, felt in love with a boy who hailed from a socially upper class family. Because of her poorness, her love was impossible to accept unless she pretended to be Marjane’s sister. And she exactly did that. Unfortunately, Marjane’s father disheartened when he heard the intimate love between his Mehri and her lover. To clarify the situation, he wanted straight to the boy who the maid was in love with and informed him about the reality of the maid, that she was not actually his daughter, but his maid who just works at his house. That was when Mehri lost her love forever. On the other hand, Marjane felt disappointed to hear and see how her own family was treating the girl who was there to work for them. She tried to argue and reason her father with this issue. Her father said, “You must understand that their love was impossible”. And he added, “Because in this Country you must stay within your own social class”. Still, with her good sense of compassion towards the poor, and to that of Mehri in particular, Marjane was dissatisfied by her father’s response, and she cried in frustration (37).

With all these vexations in her mind, she soon started to loose one vitally important thing, her faith in God. For instance, in Persepolis, Marjane proclaimed she already knew that she was a prophet when she was only six years old (6). As a last prophet, according to her, she had the desire to make and bring a change that was beneficial to her society. Then all of a sudden, something came that broke her heart and psychologically affected her. It was when her beloved Uncle Anoosh got executed by the then Islamic Revolution in Iran. Anoosh was everything to Marjane. He was the only person that she consider as a hero in her entire family. She profoundly cared and adorned this man. In a way, her Uncles was her teacher, for he taught her some historical roots about himself that also have some connections with her family, which was why she was so proud to have a man like that in her family (55). When Anoosh was executed, Marjane dismayingly depressed. It felt as though a beacon of light that was guiding her through a dark night was shut off. It was the biggest impact that struck her heart so hard that she eventually disclaim her trust in God. She supposedly got mad and shouted at God as if God was indeed responsible the death of her Uncle (70). That was the last time she mentioned God in her book.

Another major problem Marjane has had was the veil. This pieces of clothes that women use to cover up themselves was introduced by the Iranian Islamic Revolution as part of their effort to re-enforce the religion. Marjane didn’t appreciate the idea of covering herself with veil, however. Instead of accepting the veil as part of her own religion, she despised it in an indirect way. For example, the comic pictures found in Persepolis indicate how Marjane isn’t feeling comfortable with the veil like her school friends. While others seemed to enjoy it, Marjane was complaining against it. Apart from its religious tone, another problem why Marjane disliked the veil was that she believed it was too ugly. As a matter of fact, she depicted herself as the, “monster of darkness” at one scene in Persepolis where she is wearing the veil. In reading Persepolis, especially the part that pertains to the “veil’, I discerned that in her refusal of the veil, Marjane’s intention was to point out that wearing a veiling during a hot day is like a torture. But Marjane did fail to provide other peoples’ perception on this issue. She appeared to think only about herself. For example, Maysan Haydar who also uses the veil, have had a it different opinion than Marjane when it comes to the veil and its purpose. In her essay, “Veiled Intentions: Don’t judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering”, she described the veil to be modest. Haydar is now 25, and she has been wearing the veil for “half of her life”. While Marjane abhorred it saw it as a burden, Haydar appeared to have enjoyed it because if she were in the same position as Marjane, she wouldn’t have been able to cover herself with the veil for half of her life.

Thought Marjane faced some difficulties in her effort to make some changes, she was still too young to do anything as we have seen from her age and the sort of struggle he faced. But because of the sense of motivational guidance she received from her revolutionary spirit, she continued to be steadfast in what she believed.

Works Cited

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York. Pantheon Books, 2003.

Haydar, Maysan. “Veiled Intentions: Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering.”

My Idea Paper

In my Idea Paper, I would like to focus and write about Marjane and the sort of life she had undergone during her childhood, especially the troubles that she had faced as she was growing up. I will also try to explore about Marjane’s revolutionary spirit and her attitude towards others. I will use and apply the Reader Response Theory in my Formal Paper. Furthermore, I’ll give special consideration and scrutinize the causes that struck Marjane’s heart, which eventually forced her to depart from her faith. A sufficient example of this is when Marjane supposedly shouted at God because she was upset upon the execution of her beloved uncle by those who were controlling Iran at the time, namely, Islamic Revolution.

Faith is a good source of inspiration for millions of people. It’s the very thing that drives the life of those people day in and day out. They live because of God, and they may even die because of Him as well. Therefore, I think it's safe to claim that Marjane was among those people who believed in God. She believed in God to the extent where she thought and considered herself as a Prophet from God. She even reached at a high level where she narrated in Persepolis to have conversed with God. If this was the case, and if it were true, then why did Marjane choose to abandon her faith? Is it possible to say that her uncle is more significant to her than her own faith in which she is claiming to be born to?

Another vital point I’ll investigate is the veil and why Marjane was agaist it because it’s symbolically a religious piece that Marjane would have embraced it without any doubts instead of distancing herself from it. I’ll use some of the materials given to us by the Instructor as my source as well as some of my own posts from the book itself, Persepolis. In addition to this, I’ll try to get more sources from the Internet in order to be able to back up the claims I have to make in my Formal Paper.

How Marjane dealed with authorities

Marjane was a young girl when the Islamic Revolution started in Iran. Despite of her age, she was actually well aware about the dangers of what was going on around her such as the brutality of the soldiers towards those who protest against the restrictions that were impose on them by the Revolution. Another important event Marjane knew about was, among other things, the consequences that a person had to face when he or goes against some of the rules of the Country. In spite of all these, Marjane acted as a mature girl though she was young. She didn’t care much about what the authorities dictate upon her when she was at school. And even though she spent most of her life at her parent’s house, her rebellious behavior was actually apparent whenever she went to school. She dealt with her schoolteachers, and principals in a rebellious way. It all started when Iraq invaded Iran. During this time, students were introduced something they haven’t experienced before. Every student had to beat and hit hard his or her chest in support of the Iranian troops that were fighting the Iraqis.

In one occasion, Marjane narrated from one of her teachers as having said, “Welcome girls of Iran. The war has taken the flower of our Nation’s Youth!” (96). Perhaps this was to encourage students to be a bit more enthusiastic in their support of their Country’s troops by hitting their chests as hard as they could without even feeling the pain that comes with it. After a short while, Marjane and her schoolmates treated this chest beating as a “torture session”. They rebelled against the target of the chest beating, and have decided not to take it as serious as they were supposed to. Instead, they turned the “torture session” into a laughable matter; especially for Marjane it was an amusingly funny moment thereby driving some of her teachers mad. She said that, “every situation offers an opportunity for laughs” (97). But, in a visible way, this must have been out of the borders of her school’s rules because Marjane and her classmates were later suspended from their school for one week as a result of their undisciplined behavior. The suspension was meant to be a time of reflection for Marjane and her peers to see and correct their mistakes. But Marjane didn’t learn a thing or two from this suspension by the authority her school. Moreover, she became dauntless when she realized that Neda, a friend her, died as a result of an explosion that hit Neda’s house one a Saturday (142). Marjane was out for a shopping that day, and this news devastated her. After this incident she was no longer afraid of no one. Finally, with her dauntless heart and rebellious behavior, Marjane earned herself the event that cause her expulsion from school after she had an argument with a teacher over a bracelet Marjane wore. This was strictly for bidden, but Marjane would careless, and when she was asked to hand it over, she fought over it, and eventually punched the school principal (143). This was why she was sent to Austria by her parents because it was no longer safe for her to remain in Iran with this situation and because the of different tensions that were going on at the time.

Though it’s hard to predict what I would have done, I must say that if I were in Marjane’s position, I would have respected my teachers even if that meant doing something that I abhor. This is because I would have known the reasons why one goes to school. A school is not a place to rebel. It’s rather a place to learn, and reflect; a place where people go to expand their philosophical and intellectual means of life. I understand how hard it might have been for Marjane to keep her attitude cool, especially when dealing teachers. But still, I can’t bring myself in defying the rules that are set by the authorities of my school. If I were to rebel against them and their rules, then I would have chosen not to come that particular school or any other school that I deem not worthy my time.

The impact of the Wine Chapter

The Wine Chapter is all about having fun for Marjane and her entire family including her uncle, and her grandmother. It was her uncle who invited the family to the Party so as to “celebrate the Birth of Marjane’s cousin”. Everyone was there to entertain and amuse him or herself. And since they were all in a tough time because of the changes that were taking place in Iran such as the Revolution and the war between Iran and Iraq that came after it, this Birth Day Party was a much needed panacea because it obvious gave every participant of this Party a short moment to forget what was happening around them, the scenes of blood, pain and killings. Even thought the Party may have been short, it was certainly a moment of pleasure, a moment of joy and a moment where everybody had experienced a peace of mind. In an effort to draw the readers’ attention on the importance of parties like this, Marjane said that, “without them it wouldn’t be psychologically bearable “ (106).

As a reader, I could picture myself how hard and unbearable it’s to live in a life that doesn’t have the essential ingredients that makes one forget all these drastic changes such as witnessing some of your own relatives get tortured and executed them later on. This particular scene best illustrates the conflicting sides between the government’s unbreakable rules and its own peoples’ immortal desire to go against those rules. It also symbolically brings in front of the reader an illustrative picture between life and death, which might construe some of the facts faced by the family of Marjane and her other relatives. I could easily see this picture myself without any barrier as I read the Wine Chapter. In addition to this, I do think this section is central to this novel because the whole novel’s purpose was to convey a message to its reader, and it’s this very message what allows the reader to easily dissect, understand and discern the sort of conflict between the then government of Iran and some of its people who were against some of its rules. The family of Marjane was a prime example of such people.

Apparently, this Birth Day Party was for them like a miracle. A remedy that was meant to heal their wounded minds and psychological illnesses. Unfortunately, this healing miracle didn’t last that long. In fact, the consequences they received as soon as the Party came to an end was much more painful than the short time they had enjoyed with it. In a way, drinking an alcohol was “strictly forbidden” in the eyes of the Iranian government at the time (105), yet Marjane’s uncle intentionally broke this law when he had chosen to held a Birth Day Party and invited his close relative to come and celebrate with him thereby putting at risky everyone’s life, the life of Marjane’s father in particular. He was almost got killed by one of the Guardians of Iran when Marjane and her family were pulled over on their way home. The Guardians suspected that he may have been drunk because of his breath. Marjane's father completely denied this accusation, however (108). But the Guardians refused to believe his denial, and were so tough on him. Even one of them, seeing and depicting Marjane father’s tie as a “Westernized piece of trash” went on to the extent where he pointed his gun at the throat of Marjane’s father (108).

Perhaps, if it were not Marjane’s mother who beseeched the Guardian with her angelic voice to let her husband go, he would have been killed at the spot without any hesitation because it’s a well known fact that almost all soldiers have no mercy at all. It’s especially so when soldiers get the feeling that someone is guilty of something they see it to be wrong, and this was exactly what Marjane’s father was going through. Not only the Gurdians inflicted fear in the hearts of this family, but they also threaten to do further investigate by going to Marjane’s home and search alcohol related stuff (109). The Guardians intended to come to Marjane family’s home and search. Meticulously Marjane’s father was able to spare himself and the family from another dreadfully fearful event because truthfully the Guardians were merely greedy soldiers who needed some bribery, and they disappeared after they found themselves with some cash (110).