Ending for summer

I have to say, I have enjoyed being in this class and I'm really glad that I decided to take a women and war class. I have learned so much and can't believe that I haven't been taught how much women have been involved in all the wars. With the first book, Not so quiet, I believe was one of my favorites because of the vivid descriptions of what was happening. I knew women were involved by being nurses but not to that extent and then to have the parents being in such denial about how the war was really going was very interesting to me. I also learned a lot from the videos about the WASP and all the other groups and how women really did help her in the US while the men were off fighting... it is so amazing to see what an impact women had and then when the war was over it was as if they didn't do anything. I wish there was more of the women's side to history being taught in high school and college because out of all my US history classes I have taken I haven't been taught this side of the story. You wonder why it doesn't get taught in high school or more people don't know about it, and that's because a women's lit class is not required therefore not allowing anyone to know the way things really were. I feel that I have learned a lot from this class and it actually has inspired me to look more into women and how they actually have contributed to the way things are right now.
Reading Lolita in Tehran has been a very learning experience because I don't know too much about other cultures and especially Iran. I actually haven't finished it completly but plan to, but I never knew what it really meant by the vail. It's sad that the whole symbolic reason behind it was taken away by making a law that it had to be worn at all times...
Again~ I enjoyed this class a lot and was glad that it was more of a discussion than a lecture cause I believe you learn more from hearing other peoples opinions as well as the teachers. Have a great rest of the summer and I hope everyone enjoys their two 1/2 weeks off!!!!

Reading Lolita in Tehan

Reading Lolita in Tehran is about a group of Iranian women trying to find a voice. The young women in Nafisi's class are all just now learning about themselves - their likes and dislikes - Dr. Nafisi without even realizing it, has helped these girls to realize that they are important and that they have choices. In the U.S. we take our liberties for granted....reading about life in Iran during the cultural revolution is difficult for me to really understand. Nafisi stated that "disobedience was punished by fines, up to seventy-six lashes and jail terms" (167). She also commented "now that I could not call myself a teacher, a writer, now that I could not wear what I would normally wear, walk in the streets to the beat of my own body, shout if I wanted to or pat a male colleague on the back on the spur of the moment, now that all this was illegal, I felt light and fictional, as if I were walking on air, as if I had been written into being and then erased in one quick swipe" (167).
Dr. Nafisi is such a brave women and seems to be an excellent teacher. Reading her book makes me want to learn more about women in other Middle-Eastern countries.

Reading L....

I have to agree with others that have posted before me...I really have enjoyed reading this book thus far (like some others I will be honest and say that I haven't finsihed in lue of writing the paper). However, it really makes me appreciate the culture that we live in today. I can see now the simple things that I have taken for granted that are really privliges and not RIGHTS as I almost assume them to be. Its sad to see what others have to go through and have to endure in order to recieve a little of the rights and freedoms that I as an American recieve on a daily basis. I will continue reading this book to see what happens further down the line because I am so interested to know whats going to happen!

Reading Lolita in Tehran

With trying to finish the paper and the book I can honestly say that I am not completely finished with Reading Lolita in Tehran but I can honestly say that it is one of my favorite books this semester along with In Country. I am really enjoying reading this novel because it is giving me insight into a culture I previously knew little about. These lives we are reading about make me feel very lucky to be able to express myself and to not be so closely monitored. I was very happy to learn that Azar Nafisi decided to return to the University to teach. She loved teaching so much and it was sad that she allowed the regime to not only take away her right of expression but she allowed them for so long to take away the thing she loved most in life and the thing, ironically, that she could express herself the most through. It was, in my opinion, her best move to give into the veil so she could again fulfill her love of teaching. I also found it interesting that with the feeling that the war was never going to end people started to focus on their lives a little more and on the power of the regime a little less. Although the war was still going on they seemed to have moved on from it a little. I can't wait to finish the book and find out how the lives of the characters turned out.

Concluding Readin Lolita in Tehran

I can honestly say that this was not necessarily a favorite book of mine out of the books we have read for this class. Even though it wasn't a favorite, I did enjoy the fact that it provided me with much knowledge about Iran and Iranian women that I hadn't known before hand. There were a few intersting moments in the Austen section that caught my attention. One of these moments was when Nafisi describes the time when she explained one of the novels she was teaching like it was a dance. In trying to explain this comaprison to her students Nafisi actualy makes her students dance with her and I found this moment to be very intriguing. This was definitely one of the times where Nafisi really shined for her exceptional teaching abilities. Another moment that was more or less unbelievable yet educational to me was when one of the girls was sent to the office at the Universtiy because she had been reported for running up the stairs when she was late for a class. In moments like these that took place in the story, it was so hard for me to fathom or comprehend how these women dealt with these ridiculous reprecautions. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why running up stairs would be considered "un-Islamic" but it apparently was in the eyes of the man who reported her.

One theme that came to my mind most in this last section was that of love. There were so many references to Sanaz's engagement, Azin's bad realtionship with her husband, and eventually Nassrin's confession to Nafisi about having fallen in love with a man and how she had no idea how to react to it. In these moments where love and marriage were being discussed I felt that Nafisi's compassion for her students was portrayed more for the reader. The reader could see how much Nafisi, even if against her will, did care a great deal for these students. It shocked me greatly that these women were so oblivous to the fact of true love and how to react to it. They had conceptions of how western "love" was like by literature and movies, but they themselves had no idea of how to deal with it or how to feel about it. That was something that shocked me and made me sympathize for these women.

Even though this book didn't fall into being one of my favorites in the class I still respected the fact that I learned so much from it. I could never picture myself in their shoes but now at least I understand their culture and I no longer have to "other" Iranian or Muslim women when I see them here in the states. I am thankful for the understanding I have gained from this novel and I will never forget it.

More

Here's a post on a woman who went through Evin- which is the most notorious prison political and otherwise prisoners were kept.

http://www.iranianvoice.org/article1541.html

In the summer of 1988, the Iranian regime executed thousands of political prisoners. [According to some estimates, 30,000 political prisoners were executed over a few month period.] My younger brother was one of the ones killed. [She pointed to a picture of him that she brought with her. The family resemblance was obvious.] In our small city, 30 people were executed each night. The whole community was in mourning, but they wouldn’t return the bodies to the families. They buried them in a mass grave. We were not permitted to mourn. No one could visit the families or talk about what happened. My brother had a four-year-old daughter. Every day, she asked me where her father was. I told her that he had gone to the sky and at night she looked into the sky trying to find her father.


http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/mhvact.htm
I endured many different tortures while in prison. The first day I was tortured, I still remember the day, August 25, 1980-it was a Monday. I was tied to a very short bench and blindfolded with a filthy rag. Then I was flogged on my back and on the soles of my feet with a cable. Threats of rape were also used as a form of torture, not just against me, but all the women prisoners. The interrogator who threatened to rape me was the chief interrogator for section seven of Evin Prison, named Rahmani. After he had flogged me with a cable for a week and gotten nowhere, he began threatening me with rape. He kept it up for 3 months. Another form of torture I endured was known as "the scale"-my arms were twisted-one up over the shoulder and the other from underneath then bound behind my back. Then I was suspended from the ceiling and left like that for 12 hours. I still bear scars from the torture. I lost the hearing in my right ear under torture. I have also lost much of the sight in my left eye. I suffer a great deal of pain in my arms and legs. Because of the blows to my head, I suffer long periods of headaches and dizziness.
They also threatened to rape my younger sister, Nassrin Pardehshenas, who was only 18. Ultimately, they did rape her before she was executed. That was their last try at breaking her, but she was very brave. Nassrin made prayer stones from the mud of Evin Prison, on which she wrote the verses of Kosar (The Fountainhead) from the Quran. Just before her execution, she wrote a letter to her mother: "In an hour they will execute me, these miserable worshippers of the night. But as Massoud Rajavi says, we are like the fountainhead; the more of us they execute, the more we multiply." She never gave in, and walked proudly to the stake for her execution.
Ayatollah Khomeini issued a special "religious decree" that required that all virgin women prisoners be raped before execution to prevent them from going to heaven.

http://www.geocities.com/richard.clark32@btinternet.com/iranfem.html

http://www.wfafi.org/E-ZanVol7.htm


Sorry I got started on this and just decided to post all the links I found that I thougth were relevant rather than just the ones I would talk about.
~Megan~

Pictures

I also found a few screenshots from movies wher eprisoners are represented, interestingly enough, they're not very graphic so don't be afraid to click the links. Not much luck tryign to find actual photos, cause many people wis hto stay anonymous, and because not many htings collectable as evidence prolly survive to make it to google's search engine. It was just a thought I had while I was researching.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cinema.bg/sff/images-movie/Womens%2520Prison-04-big.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cinema.bg/sff/2003/eng/movie.php%3FmovieSid%3D8&h=196&w=300&sz=50&tbnid=OdkEAyZARNAJ:&tbnh=72&tbnw=111&hl=en&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwomen%2Biran%2B%2Bprison%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

http://www.cinema.bg/sff/images-movie/Womens%20Prison-04-big.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fiff.ch/photosfilms/2003/zendan.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fiff.ch/fiffbdd/fiche_film.php%3Fidfilm%3D16%26lang%3Den&h=122&w=186&sz=4&tbnid=qp-ytkYGd5kJ:&tbnh=63&tbnw=97&hl=en&start=8&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwomen%2Biran%2B%2Bprison%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2003/Oct-2003/ebadi_prison_days_141003.html

Last one is really good.
Hope these work.

Research

These are the links to what I found. Of course gorey details can be a bit scanty, but a coupel of the article sare really good. Also, tehre's one in teh library that merits looking at I put its call number down here as well.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~burnside/Iran.htm

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/washington_quarterly/v023/23.2smith.html

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&an=6FP1540659456

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=13970218

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=11122114

Title: Feminist review. Publisher: [London : Feminist Review, c1979- Description: v. : ill. ; 25 cm. Frequency: Three times a year Database: University of Kentucky Libraries Location: Young Periodicals (2nd & 3rd floors) Call Number: HQ1154 .F4465

The details, sadly, are ones Ezat Mossallanejad has heard before.
For years, he has listened to descriptions of rape, broken bones, ripped flesh and other sordid details of pain endured by survivors of the Iranian prison where Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi was brutally tortured before she died in 2003.
As a settlement councillor for the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture in Toronto, the 59-year-old has gently welcomed these former detainees of Evin prison to Canada where they've sought refuge. He has also welcomed them here as a survivor himself.
"For 24 hours I passed blood instead of urine. The flesh came off the soles of my feet. Now, after so many years, when I go to sleep, I still see the gallows and imagine that torture," he said yesterday.
Mossallanejad was a human rights activist in his birth country of Iran and imprisoned in Evin for four years. That was in the late-1970s, during the repressive regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlevi. In 1979, when the Shah was forced into exile, people ran to Evin, the foremost symbol of repression and threw open the gates to release the political prisoners. The celebrations, however, were short-lived and once the war with Iraq began and the Islamic Republic began enforcing strict laws, again the prison filled.
"I've been told by prisoners who were in Evin both before, and after, that compared to the time of the Shah, it's now like hell," he said.
Last year, 76 Iranian victims of torture came to Mossallanejad's centre for help. Twenty-six were children.
Mossallanejad vividly remembers the story of one recent prisoner. Aside from the physical torture he endured, he underwent four "mock executions," where guards would blindfold him and then fire their guns in the air. Female prisoners are often raped before being executed, due to the guards' belief that virgins will go to heaven, he said.
Marina Nemat recently decided to break her 20-year silence and describe her years as a teenage prisoner at the notorious jail. Nemat, who now lives in Aurora with her two sons and husband, is writing a book about her time at Evin, where she was held for her student activism.
"Zahra Kazemi is just one person, one person. Because she was Canadian this is why the world suddenly knows, but there are so many, many, many, many thousands from there, some who have died, some who have survived," Nemat said.
"Today, it's still happening."
http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&an=6FP1540659456

~Megan~

Favorite Book This Summer

This has been my favorite book of this summer. It has been the most eloquently written, rivoting and catching. The momoir is about these women who were not only strong enoung but smart enough to quietly rebel against an oppressive society. This book relates to us the importance of always maintaining your integrity as an intellectual, and to never let politics/religion sever you from what you feel should be known, shared and pursued.

The first section that stuck out to me was on page 13, when we find out about teh past of Mashid. The author notes that she never really speaks about or relates her experiences as a prisoner to the other women, but that whatever has happened had caused her to sustain kidney damage. This remindly me very strongly of the all the soliders, especially Emmett, we've been reading abot and their inability to communicate the singular disasters which had found them. It seems like a universal constant now, that people can't share such drastic experiences, can't put them into words, because they simply can't.

Pages 210-211 are also disturbing, mainly because I could see myself sharing in the "mirth" of these girls as they mocked one of the martyrs for the cause they all disdained. I also think it's interesting that the women were told to cover themselves and be good and as a reward they would be given many of the naughty things they were denied in this life in the next. It seems to be like that for the men. "Abstain now and you get it when you're dead." THat seemed to be the message of the religion teacher, which I foudn ot be contradictory. But I suppose this self-contradiction was one reson why the girls found little stock in the religious regime?

Secret Window

Azar Nafisi states categorically in her memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran, and in her lectures and discussions with students, “do not, under any circumstances, belittle a work of fiction by trying to turn it into a carbon copy of real life” (3). Instead she encourages her readers and her students to find “in fiction…not so much reality but the epiphany of truth” (3). What a wonderful statement this is...“epiphany of truth” (3). Avid readers cite exactly this phenomenon, albeit not often so eloquently, as the reason the written work is chosen over other forms of media (e.g. film, audio). Written fiction allows for the perusal, in leisurely fashion, of the elements of reality and, subsequently, establishes a reaction that is often more universal, more true, than would be available to an individual reacting to a “real-life” event. The created universe(s) of literature allow exploration of possibilities often denied or avoided in actuality. Invention permits exploration and evaluation of unpleasantries or societal taboos, (grief, criminal activity, lust, forbidden passion) without the consequences of true action. Fiction can also allow the imbiber to re-create, by picking up a book, a pleasant experience again and again. Fiction allows the reader (and the author) to live life at a controlled rate of impact. This is not to imply that readers are timid, but instead wish to measure and contemplate each nuance of discovery.

In a society of oppression and suppression by a hard-line conservative Islamic theocracy, the women of Nafisi’s narrative find solace and illumination in the western fiction. Ironically, the works chosen by the group are works that occupy some position of notoriety, even in the United States. Lolita, Madame Bovary, Daisy Miller, and even Scheherazade and her Arabian Nights have consistently met with controversy and censorship throughout recent history because each worl elucidates the tale of a women acting outside of “normal” societal expectations. It is fitting on several levels that these novels, tarnished as they are by the reactions they generate in conservative society, would serve as the route of escape and rebellion for Nafisi and her students. For Nafisi and her students the act of reading the works is rebellious and the choice of literature thrilling in its prohibition, but also exactly what these young Iranian women wish to explore and experience, even if only vicariously.

Reading Lolita In Tehran

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi is about the way that women were supressed during the revolutionary times in Iran. nafisi talks about the study sessions that she has with the students from the university. Through the readings the the women get back some of the power that they have lost because of all the rulings and regulations that were put on the country by the Government. The women get a chance to explore different worlds through these fictionary books. By having this study group thay are silently protesting against the restrictions that have been put by them. It is not only the veils that might seem restrictve but it is also the movies that they are not allowed to see and the books that they are not allowed to read.

Nafisi shows us that how much power does fiction have. Fiction can help us learn new ecperiences and fiction can help us go through some of the emotions that we do not know how do handle. In the Lolita part Nafisi writes how Nassrin, one of her students, stayed one day after the class and she calmly said that her uncle had "had sexually abused her when she was bearly eleven years old"(48). Reading Lolita had helped Nassrin to confront the actions that her uncle had done to her.

I have enjoyed reading this book because I have always found Islam interesting. I have always been very curious to understand how the Muslim women feel about wearing their veils. From this book I have learned that when something is forced upon you it changes the meaning of it. In this case when the women were forced to wear the veils because of the revolution many of the women felt that their rights had been taken away. There also are women who would have been wearing the veils in the traditional way anyway, but the new rules gave nobody a chance to choose. As a western liberal person I could never live that way and that is why it is so important for me to understand the situation in which these women are living. reading this book makes me appreciate the rights I have as a woman, even the right of reading a book, which we all propably take for granted ,feels special.

Reading Lolita

I am enjoying book Reading Lolita in Tehran. Because I have an interest in middle eastern culture, I eagerly was looking forward to reading the book. I do think that though Azar Nafisi has excellent writing ability, I do have a hard time following the characters because of their non-western names. They are confusing and I have a hard time remembering who is who. I also have a hard time understanding the literature that she is talking about because I am unfamiliar with the titles and have not read them myself.
I think that the title is very fitting for the book being that Lolita, the novel, is about a young girl who is held as a sexual slave by an older male.
I think that the women in Iran can easily relate to Lolita being that they are in a sense trapped in a male dominated society. Women are for sexual purposes only. To please the man and nothing else. Yassi describes this by saying that “a man has his special needs” (30).
It amazes me that women have no sexual or personal freedom whatsoever. Women are not to be seen in public without being guarded by their veil and they are “not allowed ot meet any younger men on [their] own” (32). Women are not allowed to show their individualistic beauty and talent because of the strict rules of the veil. It is proclaimed by man’s law and Iranian law that “veiling is a woman’s protection… the slogan is a charcoal drawing of a woman: her face is featureless and framed by a dark chador” (27). This shows that women are being erased from all beauty and uniqueness to a pale and boring figure. They are unable to feel comfortable and beautiful in their own skin because they are forced to cover it up. Their society also sees women as a sexual temptation. It is quoted “My sister, guard your veil, my brother, guard your eyes” (27) indicating that women are seen as sexual. It is believed that women should be only for their husband’s pleasure only. More proof that men want to remain in control and powerful… being possessive of their women as only theirs. It brings them a feeling of power and control knowing that only they can hold onto and enjoy what is seen as “ their treasure.”
The author is even aware of the girls lack of interest in themselves. When she gives them a questionnaire the girls respond with answers that not reflect their personal opinion, but rather “ dull [answers]… what was expected of them” (38). She realizes that there is no individualistic beauty being exercised amongst these girls she instead “observes that they have no clear image of themselves; they can only see and shape themselves through other people’s eyes” (38). Iranian society being projected in this novel claims that women have it in their “best interest to not be seen, not be heard or noticed” (26).
Personally, I think it’s a tragedy that women are unable to exercise their own rights and live the life that I and other western women are fortunate to have. But I also have to remind myself that this is someone’s culture, and though not everyone agrees with it, we must remember to keep our value systems and western ideas away from what some people see as a religious upbringing. Regardless, I still feel bad for these particular women because for example the author viewed the change in her society and was instead born into a society where women were allowed to work and hold independence, she had these rights taken away from her which is a big affect compared to those who were born into the system and in a sense not know any better.

lolita

I think the most difficult thing in reading this book is being able to understand that frame of mind. I cannot empathize with their situation. I can say I’ve experienced minimal conflict with my gender, but I have experienced some conflict, nothing like their lives. It’s actually really frustrating for me to read this…it makes you want to scream how ridiculous some of the situations are. They actually had a trial about The Great Gatsby. To think that this novel is required reading in high school..and that in another culture it’s banned. The things the women are punished for are so common or trivial in Western culture I honestly had to keep reminding myself to keep an open mind. I had to respect the silent rebellionThe Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby, because I don’t know if I would be able to do something like that.

Reading Lolita In Tehran

So far I have enjoyed reading this book. It makes me appreciate where I am from. I find the women in the book so interesting, especially during the trial of Gatsby - the women seemed so empowered. It was great to see the women and men of the classroom have a heated debate of morality, ethics, and government. There were still the students who were to shy and/or scared to speak up and offer their option, but many seemed to be in favor of Zarrin's opinion. Then immediately after their in-class court trial in chapter 23 we skipped to the university being shut down and the purging of uncooperative faculty and students.
I find it hard to beleive that these students were even able to read these novels in the Islamic Republic of Iran and that Nafisi was able to get away with walking the streets with an American reporter during the Cultural Revoltion.

Reading Lolita

On first impression, I thought that this book would be more literal than the others we've read. I thought it would have less symbolism and the author would present a picture of what life was like, exactly as it was. Then I wondered how she could remember every detail exactly as it was vividly enough to fill a book. I like that she admits to incorporating fiction with real events. I think fiction always points to something real that's happening behind it, and is sometimes a way of expressing truth more powerfully. I have also noticed subtle symbolism in this book. Each of the girls in the discussion group represents their way of life and thinking; they all personify different philosophies, from conservative to liberal, and in between.

Never having been outside of "Western civilization" has proven to be a handicap as I have read this book. When the author talks about the mountains and the cities, I cannot picture them. Though I have never been to France either, it was easier for me to imagine the scenery of Paris as I read "The War." To me, mention of middle eastern countries conjures up images of desolate deserts and camels, though this is obviously not entirely the case. I have also had a bit of trouble with the names, since they are nothing like ours. I've been confused about the gender of the people the author talks about, so I've had to pay close attention to this.

This book has brought up a lot of questions in my mind. I have wondered throughout about the treatment of American visitors, especially women, to Iran. I've wondered exactly how Westernized Iran became before the revolution. It seems as if nobody in the book can avoid Western culture, no matter how much they try. Even the man who wants Gatsby banned makes references to Perry Mason. With this, I am not trying to say that Iran's, or any other country's culture should be saturated with American culture, but it is inevitable that other cultures will be influenced.

Reading Lolita in Tehran

When I first started this book, it was rather difficult for me to gain an immediate interest in it just for the simple fact that there were so many references to books I haven't read. Nafisi's descriptions, however, were interesting to me which is why I wanted to continue to read. In the beginning of the novel it was so interesting the many different stories being told. There was stories of Nafisi's past and descriptions of each of the girls, as well as references to how women were now being treated in Iran, post culture revolutionary war. One thing that stood out to me the most in the first section was some of the things these women were getting punished for, such as the instance were one of the girls was punished for wearing pink socks. Those pink socks were considered to be seductive and also the story of how one of the girls was eating an apple was also considered to be done in a seductive manner. It was in reading these stories that I realized how much I didn't know much of anything about Iranian culture and as I read on about the Revolution and the war, once again I felt so oblivious to their culture.

I must say that so far my favorite section is "Gatsby" because I ascertained so much knew information about Iran and the war between them and Iraq. I especially enjoyed the scene where they have a trial about the novel The Great Gatsby that Nafisi was teaching to her class. It seemed so ridiculous to me that Mr. Bahari was trying to oppose this novel just for the fact that it spoke about the immorality of American culture. I definitley agreed with Zarrin that the book should be taken as fiction and simply used to learn about American culutre. It is not to be taken literal and applied to one's everyday life.

The main themes I was arriving at were mostly the rebellion of the students and how their rebellion was affecting the Iranian culture. The Universities were becoming places for protests among the Muslim Student Organization and the other students who opposed the nation becoming Islamic. I did find it interesting that when those two organizations were blaming each other for the future closing of Universities, that Nafisi said that they would both be to blame when the fall of the Universities came. I am excited to read the end of the novel and I am anxious to learn more about the experiences of those women especially and what they went through in that war and after it. It is scary however, when thinking that something similar to this story could very well occur in the United States. Nafisi even said she never thought that the government would ever come to forcing the women into veils, but even to her astonishment it did happen.

Reading Lolita In Tehran

Reading this novel is a very different experience from the others. I have never read a memoir in books before and it is very interesting to see how the author sees her situation in every book she reads. It makes her seem real because everyone who reads does the same thing. Reading this book we all are connecting it to our lives in many different ways. It is also giving me a better insight in the Muslim religion, which I never knew much about.

Although I had never read Lolita or Invitation to a Beheading, the book was surprisingly easy to follow. The author really has a talent for explaining these books so the reader understands why they apply to these characters lives. The time in which they are facing is very difficult to read about, but the happiness and entertainment her students brings to her life makes this book feel almost happy, until they discuss what is going on outside their safe haven. It is really hard to say I enjoy reading this book when it is about someone else's pain, but I have, maybe it is because I am learning so much that many Americans do not know and do not know that they should know.

Reading Lolita in Terhan

This book has been very difficult for me to read. It is vert frustrating to understand how a society can allow women to be so badly treated and for the women to be be left powerless to help themselves. What makes this so hard for me to read as well, is the fact that I am sort of clueless about the whole Iranian Revolution. It seems that is it so hard to draw a line between religious freedom and religious dictatorship, which seems to be winning the fight in Iran during this time. I have found some comfort with this book, in with the fact that some women are able to take some sort of action, even though it is not publicly, it is expressing their thoughts through great novels.
Azar Nafisi, does however paint a faily good picture of what it would like to be an Iranian women during this toublebed time period. Even though I feel that I understand how difficult it is for women in Iran, I understand that not voicing aganist it, may keep them more safe. Women in this society are better handled when they are kept slient. Women in this novel seem to have some sort of a voice when they are reading various novels in their "book club" or take the courage to verbally express themselves while taking literature classes at the University where Azar Nafisi was teaching.
I also agree with both Jake and Brandy, about how this book feels like we are simply reading about our own class and discussion. It makes it seem all the discussions more worth wild to read a book about Iranian women and that they themselves, no matter how neglacted in society and are a threat to society they appear to be. They still express the same issues that many people both men and women feel around the world, that forces us to question war, religion, government and to speak our voice no matter if it is heard by a classroom of college students or a entire nation.

Reading Reading Lolita in Tehran in Kentucky

Chocolypse Now is teh funnay. That is, if you've seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Apocolypse Now.

So far, I have really enjoyed this book. It is interesting to read each of the sections and see how they further both our knowledge of the characters and our knowledege of their reactions to the books. This book is kind of a memoir about the author and her students, but it also shares the insight that they came up with regarding the books they read. In a way, this book is actng like sitting in on an english class. We are drawn in with the discussions and learn from them very similarly to how we would in a classroom setting. Ms. Nafisi's work as an english teacher is really apparent in this book.

The main point I am getting from this book is how making things such as religion and culture compulsory they are cheapened and become hated even by some of those who would otherwise have a more positive attitude toward them. This book is not so much about war like we thinko of with guns and tanks, but cultural warfare like the war on drugs. Since rea ding those books and teaching them could not happpen publicly, they were forced underground to hold their classes and to read.

Does this feel like our class discussions to anyone else?

In reading Azar Nafisi's work, I was struck mainly by two major points. The first is that reading her dissection of the works by Nabokov and Fitzgerald felt just like the close reading exercises and discussions we have had for the past 7 weeks. The other point that struck me is just how little I know about Iranian culture and history.

Those points aside, I am really enjoying this book. I have had to put it down and walk away a few times just because there were moments when I was so angry at the women's treatment, and so hurt that they had to endure it. The moment that comes to mind particularly is Azar's daughter crying and scared because a classmate had fingernails that were deemed too long. The judgemental part of my screams "This is insane!" and the rational part at the same time is saying "You can't judge a culture outside of it's time and context". As much as I'm enjoying the read, I'm still conflicted on what to think. I want to cheer the women on for persevering.

Lolita

My first impressions of this novel are lukewarm. The text isn't difficult to read, and I find myself following along but I seem to get lost in all the description. This text is longer than the other ones we have read, and I have to really push myself to get the readings finished. The history of what is going on in Iran is confusing, because I don't understand all of the Islam faith or really what all of the war entailed.
One issue that is raised is the freedom of choice. It isn't the point that the author hates to wear the head piece, but the point that she is forced to wear it. It reminds me of when parents force their teens to go to church. Most people at church go because they want to, and want to express their faith. When it is enforced not only does it not mean anything to the enforced but it also lessens the value of the people who are freely there. If the scarf had such a significant importance, than I would think that they would want the people who truly wanted to wear it instead of forcing those who didn't believe in it.
Another issue is gender roles. The women are continually belittled and put down by stripping them of their rights and enforcing rules on them, but the reasoning behind the laws shows the power of the women. They are feared because of the immense sexuality. But is this a problem with the women or the men who are affected by it? Like Ashley said in class the other night...can the men not control themselves enough to see a women completley covered?
Even though this text is taking a while to tackle I am enjoying seeing how the author fights her internal battles.

7/19

On Boyles:

I was glad to read an article from a vet of any war that directly opposed the general theme we've been told and read that is general truth until now. I found this article to show that soldiers are individuals with individual experiences. You can't just take a few war veterans that happen to be able to write (hopefully) and cast that shadow of stereotype across teh entire population of people who have been to war. This doesn't exactly apply directly to the thesis of the paper, which I believe to be more akin to proving that people are bred to war than we would liek to believe, and that people who find themselves well adjusted to war situations shouldn't be shunned, as they do have a very well defined roll in our society.
There was one part of the article which caused a little bell to go off in teh back of my mind. He made a generalization on the cause of WW1 on page 56, column one. He said the war aws caused by the archdukes assasination. Perhaps my american history teachers were wrong, but I was taught that the assasination of Franz Ferdinand (not the scottish pop rock band) was merely the trigger, and that pressure due to political rivalries and bad international politics in the region had been building for some time. I feel the author was oversimplifying teh issue behind war so they could make a catchy phrase like "the reasons don't matter" they may not matter to us, removed from teh situation, but I refusde to believe that every human everywhere, esp teh ones in power, just sit around and wait for that spark to hit teh gunpowder.

My Lai Massacre

My Lai Massacre

March 16, 1968
After the Tet Offensive
It was a massacre of Vietnamese civilians by U.S. soldiers. The South Province of Vietnam was thought to be a refuge for the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam or most commonly known as the Viet Cong (VC).
The 48th Battalion that was involved in the Tet offensive was suspected to be in My Lai.
The Charlie Company 11th Brigade was sent into My Lai. The Brigade the went in was informed that all civilians were gone. The Brigade was told to attack the enemy settlement, destroy the village, and be prepared to kill anyone they encountered.
As it turned out only women, children, and elderly men were in the village. The number killed varied between 347 and 504.
The incident was covered up. It was unknown to the American public until the Fall of 1969. Letters from a former soldier, Ron Ridenhour, to government officials as well as a very detailed story by journalist Seymour Hersh uncovered the massacre. The story ran on November 12, 1969.
After investigations only twenty-six were initially charged, fourteen officers were accused of suppressing information, five officers were court-martialed, and only one convicted, Lt. William Calley. Even though Calley claimed the Captain Ernest Medina ordered him to kill everyone in the village.
On March 29, 1971 Calley was found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentence was later reduced to 10 years, in 1974 the conviction was overturned and he was released.
The My Lai Massacre fueled the disdain that already existed for the war in Vietnam. Many protests were held demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The public became angry at not only the government but at the soldiers. The term “baby killers” came to light. Calley was also looked at as a dropout rushed through boot camp and the need for well trained soldiers.





The Brigade involved
C-Company 1st Platoon
William Calley - Lt who led C-Company, the only person convicted
David Mitchell - Sgt
Ronald L. Haeberle - Company Photographer
Charles Sledge - Radio Operator - testified he saw Calley purposely kill a young child
Paul Meadlo - Private First Class - testified that he was afraid of being shot, if he didn't participate
Dennis Conti - Private First Class - claimed he was originally lost, and had to find his company
James Dursi - Private First Class
Allen Boyce - Private First Class
Ronald Grzesik - Private First Class
Robert Maples - Private First Class
Varnado Simpson - Private First Class, commit suicide citing guilt over My Lai
Gary David Roschevitz - unknown
Elmer Haywood - unknown
William Lloyd - unknown
Lenny Lagunuy - unknown
Sidney Kye - unknown
Robert Bergthold - unknown
Robert Mauro - unknown
Robert Lee - unknown
Isaiah Cowan - unknown
Bruce Cox - unknown
Harry Stanley - unknown
Charles Hall - unknown
Roy Wood - unknown
Herbert Carter - unknown
David Mitchell - unknown
Gregory Olsen - unknown
Daniel Simone - unknown

Vietnam War Timeline

Vietnam War Journal

1945 - French occupy Vietnam; Eisenhower arms France; Ho Chi Minh creates provisional government and declares independence of Vietnam

1946 - Indochina War begins

Vietnamese "Barefoot Army" run out of Hanoi

November - French shell Haiphong

1946 - US government recognizes Bao Dai's regime

1947 - Vietminh move north of Hanoi

1949 - NATO formed

1950 - Truman issues $10 million to Viet Nam; troops committed to Korea

Soviet Union and China recognize Ho Chi Minh's government and offer to arm it

1951- Ho Chi Minh creates Worker's Party

1953 - America funds 80% of war

1954 - U.S. bankrolls France at a tune of $2 million

Eisenhower's Domino Theory regarding Southeast Asia debuts

7 May 1954 Dien Bien Phu - French wholeheartedly defeated

21 July 1954 Geneva Accords signed--demilitarized zone at 17^th parallel

1955 - 1,000's year old Vietnam enjoys status as independent nation

Diem becomes president of this fledgling state

1956 - Southern Vietnam established

1958 - Communism defeats other -isms in Vietnam

Terrorist bombings rock Saigon's house

1959 - Weapons traverse Ho Chi Minh Trail

U.S. Soldier killed by wild guerillas

1960

8 November - Kennedy defeats Nixon for the Presidency

11 November - SVA unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow Diem

20 December - Vietcong formed

1961 John F. Kennedy sends 20,000 troops to Vietnam

March - Kennedy pushes American support for Laotian sovereignty

16 May - Laos conference on Laotian independence

October - Taylor and Rostow recommend "flood relief," AKA American combat troop intervention

1962 - by mid 1963, American advisers increase from 700 to 12,000

6 February - American Military Assistance Command formed in South Vietnam

27 February - Diem's palace bombed by 2 South Vietnamese pilots

American and Saigon governments promote strategic hamlet program

23 July Geneva Accords on Laos signed

22 August - Henry Cabot Lodge assumes ambassadorship in Saigon

1963

2 January Battle of Ap Bac--VC defeats SVA

8 May - SVA and police shoot at Buddhist demonstrators in Hue

June - Buddhist monk immolates self

22 November - Kennedy assassinated

End of year - 15,000 American military advisers in South Vietnam

1964

30 January - Gen. Nguyen Khanh seizes power in Saigon

March - McNamara visits Vietnam, pledges support to Khanh

2 June - Pentagon plans North Vietnam bombing spree

2 August - Tonkin Gulf "incident"

7 August - Congress passes Tonkin Gulf resolution; Johnson has absolute power over SE Asia

30 October - VC attack Mienhoa air base

3 November - Johnson defeats Goldwater

24 December - VC terrorists bomb American military in Saigon; Johnson refuses to raid North Vietnam

1965

4 February - VC intensifies attacks against Americans

7 February - Johnson authorizes "Flaming Dart" air raids against North Vietnam; namer of missions mocked by national satirists

24 February - Operation Rolling Thunder begins--American bombing of North Vietnam regulates

8 March - first American combat troops arrive to defend Danang airfield

7 April - Johnson offers Ho Chi Minh the chance to participates in developing Southeast Asia in exchange for peace; Minh underwhelmed

28 July - Johnson approves Westmoreland's 44 additional combat battalions

September - Mao Zedong begins Chinese Cultural Revolution

14 October - Ia Drang Valley--Americans win first big clash

December - nearly 200,000 troops in Vietnam

25 December - with tidings of goodwill Johnson attempts to negotiate with the evil Communists

1966

31 January - Johnson resumes bombing

23 May - Government troops take Danang

16 June - Governments take Hué

September - French president de Gaulle calls for American withdrawal from Vietnam

400,000 American troops in Vietnam

1967

28 January - North Vietnamese Foreign Minister Trinh says US must stop bombing before peace talks can commence

August - McNamara asserts North Vietnam bombing campaign is ineffective

September - Westmoreland optimistically fortifies Khe Sanh

29 December - Trinh again offers talk for no more bombs

500,000 American troops in Vietnam; Protests increase

1968

31 January - Tet offensive begins--NVA and VC attack South Vietnam

25 February - Delta Company takes Hué tower after 26 days of fighting

Westmoreland requests 206,000 more American troops

14 March - My Lai Massacre

25 March - "wise men" advise Johnson against further escalation

31 March - Johnson announces partial bombing halt, resigns from the presidency

4 April - MLK, Jr. assassinated

5 June - RFK assassinated

Johnson stops rolling thunder in North Vietnam

Nixon wins presidency

2 December - Kissinger chosen by Nixon as national security adviser

540,000 American troops in Vietnam at end of year

1969

January - Paris talks include Saigon government and VC representatives

18 March - Nixon secretly bombs Cambodia

"Vietnamization" AKA withdrawal of American troops

8 June - Nixon announces 25,000 more troops allowed to go back to "the world"

3 September - Ho Chi Minh dies in Hanoi

October - Jim Froula sent to Hué

15 October - Washington demonstrations

15 November - demonstrators reiterate

16 November - My Lai revealed

60,000 troops still in Vietnam

1970

20 February - Kissinger whispers in Paris with Le Duc Tho

30 April - Nixon confesses that American and SVA have attacked Communists in Cambodia

4 May - National guards viciously protect Kent State from 4 students

7 October - Nixon proposes "standstill cease-fire"

Americans set low death toll record of 24

Jim Froula returns home and briefly becomes an ex-patriot in Europe

12 November - Calley on trial for ordering My Lai Massacre

American troops down to 280,000

1971

February - SVA fight in Laos against the Ho Chi Minh Trail

29 March - Lt. Calley convicted of murder at My Lai

140,000 men left in Vietnam

1972

25 January secret rendezvous between Kissinger and the North Vietnam revealed by Nixon

NVA attacks DMZ

15 April - Nixon cashes in taxes for bombing raids near Hanoi and Haiphong

1 May - NVA capture Quangtri

8 May - American bombing in North Vietnam intensifies

17 June- Watergate--oops

8 October - Kissinger and Tho resolve some communication difficulties

7 November - Nixon re-elected

18 December - Nixon drops more bombs around Hanoi and Haiphong

1973

23 January - Kissinger and Tho reach initial peace agreement

27 January - formal cease-fire agreements formally signed in Paris, promptly broken; U.S. draft ends

29 March - "Last" American troops leave Vietnam

1 April - "Last" American POWs released in Hanoi

16 July - hearings on secret Cambodian bombings begin

14 August - U.S. officially stops bombing Cambodia

1974

January - President Thieu declares Vietnam War III

9 May - Nixon's impeachment hearings begin

9 August - Nixon resigns, Ford enters

8 September - Ford pardons Nixon for any possible federal crimes

Communists plan to fight while it's dry

1975

6 January - Communists capture Phuoc Long province

11, 15, 20, 30 March - Thieu loses Banmethuot, Camranh, Hué, Danang, respectively

30 April - The fall of Saigon

1977

21 January - draft dodgers pardoned

U.S. considers recognizing Vietnam as a country

2005

U.S. scolds Vietnam for human rights abuses

Agent Orange

Agent Orange was a herbicide used in Vietnam for defoliation. It was part of a larger group of herbicides called the Rainbow herbicides. These included purple, green, pink, white, blue, orange, and orange II. The names come about from the color of the stripes used on the 55 gallon barrels to identify each herbicide. Over 19 million gallons of herbicide were used during the war and agent orange accounted for almost 12 million of these gallons. The herbicides were spread by hand spray, vehicle, and mainly by airplane. The chemicals were mixed with either kerosene or diesel fuel to help in dispersion. One of the things that makes agent orange so dangerous to humans is its content of dioxins. Dioxins are actually an unwanted byproduct of the manufacturing process but cannot be extracted. There are roughly 75 different types of dioxins and these dioxins cause a wide range of health issues. The federal government has been slow in admitting to the adverse, and deadly, health effects of agent orange and the other herbicides. The military and the manufacturers have for years claimed agent orange posed no threat to humans but the government banned the use of agent orange in the U.S. long before it began to admit that agent orange was harmful.

In Country

I enjoyed this novel. I like how the author begins with the trip to the Washington Memorial and then sends you into a flashback. The flashback to me let you see why the trip was so important to all three people. (Sam, Emmett and Mamaw) Sam really wanted to know what really happened in Vietnam and I could almost respect her for wanting to be informed, but it kind of got to the point where I felt she wasn't respecting the vets either. It was like she was wanting to intrude on their most private and intimate thoughts. Sometimes you just have to let people heal completely before they even feel comfortable to share. I felt that she kind of went over the edge after reading her father's diary and reacting to Emmett the she did. "You think you can get away with everything because you're a V.N., but you can't." (207) I do not believe that Emmett was really try to get away with anything this was just the life that he was choosing to lead and that she pretty much chose to reside in by remaining in Hopewell. Then on page 208 she asks, "What would make people kill?" and wondering if she could shoot strangers. But sometimes there aren't any answers to these questions except you never know what you will do until in those certain situations. Like we discussed in class about dehumanizing the enemy, that's what made almost a heck of a lot easier for them in combat because the enemy was not human. I was also glad that they made it to the memorial and it almost felt as if Emmett finally got closure.

vietnam info

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/ViewingAmerica/


This is the website from a class I took last spring. Unit 7 and 8 (I think) are on vietnam. If you click on the roundtable and the context/lecture outlines, there are good notes and pictures. Unfortunately, you can't access the video clips without a student ID, etc which I don't have anymore. It still gives good information, even if you can't see the LBJ oval office conversation I was talking about.

Enjoy--
Anne

Women and War

This book is fun and easy to read. The style is easy to foolow and very straight forwrd. Sam is likeable, but her curiosity about the war almost seems like too much. I like books that involove Kentucky a lot because I can usually say that I know where they're talking about or whatever. I just saw a really good movie the other day that was shot in lexignton and clark county called "100 Proof. Also, this book is interesting because it is a war book primairy about a person who never went to war. I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book quite a bit. Also, I am wondering now about why Sam stayed behind ith eher uncle rather than to go to lexington with her mother.

I think the main issue raised in the book is how after a war, both the veternas and those at home not fighting have to coem to terms with hwat happened. Sam cannot ever experience the war in the same way that emmett did, not only becauseshe is too young, but because she is also a girl. What didn't make sense yet is the beginning aprt of the book were they are going to washington with mammaw. She hasn't come back up yet, nor have other things in the beginning. Also, it is funny how emmett wears dresses and has a cat, but he isn't forthcoming with that information to others such as his doctor. The denial of Agent Orange effects that everyone seems to have is shocking too.

I think the main things to look for in the rest of the book are Sam's choices about her future and emmett's choices about his futer. They are both stuck living in the past. I think that Sam and Lonnie's relationship is clearly ending, and want to see what is happening next/

In Country

Women and War

So far, I like this book best of all the books we've read. I feel like the generation is a lot easier to relate to and with the book being based in Kentucky, it hits a lot closer to home. I like how the intro is the trip to Washington and then we flash back to before the trip. I think that is really great way to keep the reader hanging on for more details. It's also a great way to answer the questions about the characters in the intro. The reader really gets a sense of Sam and Emmett's characters....who at the beginning were much more of a mystery. I also enjoy the random details because it paints a really vivid picture of Sam's surroundings. We know about her surroundings as far as her own home and her town.

I really enjoy finding out details about the war through Sam's character. Her fascination with Vietnam only grows stronger as the book goes on. In the beginning of chapter 13 it mentions that Sam has inherited this fascination because of her father. I think that is a big part of the reason she is so attracted to Pete....she wants to find out anything and everything about the war. Her constant worry over her uncle only seems to get worse and worse and I can't help but want to push him into a hospital. It's also refreshing to see how angry she starts to become about the war and how real Vietnam starts to become for her. I think that this book is very interesting and I'd give it to my friends to read.

Blog 7/14

First, I'd like to mention that I was interested in The War's comparrison of the German Nazi's to the Huns. This is teh second time we've seen this comparrison, and in two different wars. I'd never heard of such a thing, but was this some sort of stereotype or something?

As to the paper, several of Ehrenreich's allusions reminded me of mildly alarming aspects of the war in iraq. Her reference to the "war religion" made me think of America's involvement as a "christian nation" and the presidents Christian presentation of a country containing a significant amounf of non-Christians.
The line about the keeping of trophies and the chieftain reminded me of Heart of Darkness/Apocolypse Now and also of Bush's keeping Hussein's (spelling? lol) pistol as a trophy-esque prize.
Although I wuldn't have said "angels" opposed to beasts on page 46, I appreciate what she was tryign to say. I hadn't thought of the possibility that perhaps we idealize and give War the righteous face we do to make ourselves feel more justified on the inside.
Very generally,I would say the author is anti-war, but I'd also say she doesn't appreciate the idealogies that, even though they may be unrelated, usually lead people to war. These can be, for example, religion or "rite of passage" rituals.

I appreciated the character lexicon and dialogue in In Country. "Mamaw" really is a term for grandmom where I come from. I had a mamaw and papaw. I noticed that again, as it was in a couple of our other books, the topic of war is not immediately introduced, nor are we slammed in face by it in suc han obvious wy that, without looking at the cover or knowing teh title of the book, we can say by page 14 ( where I think the first most direct reference is made) "Oh, this is a book about people dealing with the events of war, specifically Vietnam." Mason has tact in introduing her characters and plot.

in country

This is a much easier read and the fact that it is based in Kentucky is very intriguing. I like that it is a quest to discover her father and uncle. She doesn’t have direct experience, but it really doesn’t take away from the experience. Her struggle is not only with her lost father and uncle, but with the history of the War and why and how of the War. It makes it more unique to me. In Emmett you can really see how Mason pulls in the emotional and psychological effects of war. Not to mention the health issues with Agent Orange and her constant caring for her uncle. Why can’t Emmett lead a normal life, why can’t he move on? It is more of searching for why the war was fought novel then an explanation novel.

In Country

I like this book a lot better. For one it’s easier to read, for another its kind of neat that its based in Kentucky. I enjoy the characters and feel that the topic this book bases itself on (the Vietnam war) is interesting and somewhat relevant to our society today considering there are more Vietnam veterans around today than those from world war II and back. The area that this book focuses on with its war veterans is the post war phase where the soldiers are at home and have been home for quite some time. Emmett, seems to represent the typical soldier that came back from the Vietnam war a changed man. Many of the vets have a hard time adjusting to life as it was before the war and often are psychologically and physically changed forever. Of course Sam realizes that “not every soldier came back from Vietnam was as weird as Emmett. She knew of veterans- relatives and classmates- who had adjusted perfectly well. They had nice houses and kids” (46)
Emmett seems to struggle with identity issues as well as developed a very negative attitude about society and life. He does not feel he needs a job because and seems to find little enjoyment in life that he sits around his living room watching MASH and other television shows. Emmett also seems to take life very slowly, he often focuses on anything and gets very absorbed in it whether it be “a rosebush, a stop sign, an ordinary bird, or even a circular from Kroger’s” (50) and look at it like it was “the most fascinating thing on earth” (50).
Sam, Emmett’s niece is another vibrant character who basically narrates the book. She depicts the typical teenager from a small town with not much to do. She takes care of Emmett and is constantly obsessing over the fact that he might have Agent Orange (a chemical disease that the US government seems to deny) Sam is also very interested in Vietnam and what happened in the war. She often asks Emmett what it was like and what it Vietnam looked like. She wants to “encourage him to talk more about the war, the way he used to when she was little” (45). Sam begins to hang out with some of Emmett’s veteran buddies and she asks them similar questions about the experience and Agent Orange. Sam meets one of the vets whose name is Tom. She asks him what war was like and he explains that “its hard to talk about…they don’t want to dump all this stuff on you” (95). Pete another one of Emmett’s veteran friends advises her that she “might as well stop asking questions about the war. Nobody gives a shit” (79).
There are many psychological battles described within the veterans themselves. Tom often says he will go out on his dirt bike to think of the memories because people in the city “”have it all twisted around in their heads what it (the war) was about, so they can live with it and not think about it” (79). Tom also has an issue with sexual itineraries because his “mind gets in the way. It takes (him) where (he) do[es not] want to go” (128).
Emmett also suffers many psychological problems. It does not go into great detail (yet) in the book but there are many scenes where Emmett jumps at loud noises or thunder in which Sam and others dismiss it as heartburn. When a “loud thunderclap made the light flicker. Emmett suddenly bent over and clutched his chest… thunder crashed again, and Emmett cringed” (31). Perhaps later in the book it will go into detail of it but if it does not I assume that this is Emmett having a reaction or a flashback from the war. The loud noises and the sirens remind him of being on alert at all times and always ready for danger.
The vets are in a way shunned if not forgotten by the local community. I thought it was sad when I read about Jim’s party and his disappointment that not very many people showed up. Sam sees Jim who crying and he tells her “people don’t really care. Why didn’t more come? Why didn’t they dance? People don’t really care about people” (123).
I thought this was really sad and I felt bad for Jim who had just lost his wife because she left to take a job in Lexington.
I feel like this book does an excellent job so far with painting the realistic situations that many Vietnam veterans faced when they came back from war. Tom explains to Sam that “there’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about my buddies that didn’t back. They’re with me, in odd moments, like when I take a shower, or when I’m driving around. Memories come back to me, memories that had escaped for a while” (78).

"In Country"

I find "In Country" to be a good book but not my favorite. I think part of it is because it is like looking back on my teenage years. They writing style is nice, in that it makes it easy to read and follow. The characters seem to be straight out of my family. I have been thinking more about the class conversation on education from tuesday. I have been out of the school system for a few years now and was quite suprised to hear the rules and regulations they are putting on public schools. It seems that they are becoming much more materialistic in what they expect and how they are chosinig to deliver the education. It will be interesting to see how the change in the public schools will change the way public universities are forced to change their curriculum and delivery method.

"In Country" 1-16

In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason is a novel about a girl called Sam who is trying to find out what the Vietnam War was all about. Sam lost her father in the VIetnam War and she has a lot of people around her who have been in the war and they have been affected by the war. Sam has a lot of questions but has not found all the answers yet. The closest living person that Sam has, who has been to the Vietnam War, is Emmett. Sam has so many questions to ask from Emmett but she is afraid to talk about the war because she thinks that if she would ask something Emmett might "snap". Sam is also worried about emmett because she thinks that Emmett has the symptoms of "agent orange"(77), which would mean that he was predesposed to some chemicals during the war. Emmett has acne on his face, which has not gotten better and he also has headaches every now and then. They went to see a doctor and the doctor said that it probaply is only allergies. Emmett felt humiliated when he asked if he could have the "agent orange" because the doctor laughed at him.

The novel shows us that the Vietnam veterans were not that celebrated. The Veterans were not proud of the war that they had been part of. We can get an idea of regret when Sam recalls what Emmett had told her about the war :"Emmett said they were embarrassed that they were still alive"(67). The veterans had hard time to became part of the"normal" society again. As we learn from Emmetts case it is really hard for the veterans to even go to that doctors office and say that there is something wrong with them because of the war. People do not want to talk about the war that much, Vietnam is a taboo in this book. People do not start to discuss about the Vietnam war unless somebody raises a question, and even in this case the veterans might not want to talk about it.

I found this book very easy to read and follow. It is interesting to see how the war raises questions on a person who has not been to the war herself. The war influences everybody, it does not matter if you have actually been to the war or not. Samantha lost her father in the war right before she was born and she knows nothing about her dad. War is a part of her identity not because she has been to the war, but because the war has taken something dear away from her.
I am curious to find out what happens in the rest of the book, wether emmett starts talking more about the Vietnam war and why is he so obsessed with this one bird. It will be interesting to see the things that Sam will find about her father and wether she will get married with Lonnie or not. I like this book so far.

In Country Part 1

This book entitled In country, I find that it is an easier read than most of the books we have read so far. I have enjoyed the story and find it amusing to be set in Kentucky as well as mentioning colleges such as UK and Murray. I find myself to be very interested in the lives of all the characters wondering way Irene would leave her only child of her husband that died in the war to live with her uncle, Emmett. I wonder if Sam will actually go to college and if she does will she move back in with her mom in Lexington. I don't think that she would be happy living with her mom because they are so different. Although they both have wanted to take care of Emmett after the war but when Irene couldn't handled it anymore she left with her new husband and left her daughter as well to live with him. As I read this book I wonder what they are doing in the beginning when they are all in Lexington and I also wonder what Mamaw's character comes to play as well as what happens to both Sam and Emmett.
I wasn't surprised to see Sam interested in Tom, one of the war vets, but I don't know what is to happen with this relationship. I believe that it is just an idea that nothing will ever really happen, and the fact that he experienced war and knew her father interest her. What will happen to her relationship with Lonnie? I don't think that they will end up together simply because they are so young and she is just decovering who she really is. Will Emmett and Anaita become a couple? This is something I will look forward to finding out as I continue to read as well as will Emmett ever find true happiness. I wonder what is really going on with his headaches and acne...does he really have Agent Orange and what are the effects of it?
I was suprised to see how people viewed the Vietnam War Veterans. They were just people who shouldn't have fouight and it just ended up ruining their lives. If theylived. they lived knowing that they survived and their friends died. I feel as though it is so sad, knowing that Vietnams Vets weren't praised for their service and it was quite the opposite.
I don't know what direction this book is planning on going and am interested in reading further, and the discussion in class.

Responsibility, Once-Removed

Unlike the traditional war novel detailing the direct personal experiences of a soldier or one awaiting a soldier's return, Bobbie Ann Mason's novel In Country provides an oblique view of the Vietnam War through a spectator removed from the War by one generation. In addition to her status as an observer, the primary lens for the story, Sam, contrasts with the typical war novel protagonist in a variety of wars, including her age and her gender. Sam's preoccupation with the Vietnam War reveals not only her curiosity about the concrete experience of the war, but also, and perhaps more significantly, her obessive desire to understand the social and psychological effects of the conflict, as felt by the participants, both at home and "in country."

Sam admits to becoming disenchanted with the idea of understanding the politics behind the war and states "All the names ran together. Ngo Dinh Diem. Bao Dai. Dien Bien Phu. Ho Chi Minh. She got bogged down in manifestos and State Department documents" (55). She continues to seek, however, throughout the novel to understand the specific War experience and how it has effected and changed her uncle, Emmett, and to relate Emmett's experiences to her image of her father, a casualty of the War and a total stranger to Sam.

Emmett serves as an archetype of the soldier unable to re-acclimate to society after the experience of war. Sam "realize(s) that not every soldier who came back from Vietnam was as weird as Emmett" (46), but ultimately understands that something fundamental is altered for individuals who have direct experience with war. Sam worries about the far-reaching implications, both physical and psychological, signified by exposure to war and its trappings. She worries about Agent Orange, as a symbol of the physical devastation of war, and also about a more elementary problem that she articulates only as the manner in which Emmett's life has been "messed up" (71). Sam's quest to understand and reconcile her feelings about a war that occurred predominately prior to her birth, illustrates that one need not have a political or patriotic stake in a conflict to become burdened by the consequences thereof. Sam says "My mom said not to worry about what happened...because the war had nothing to do with me. But the way I look at it, it had everything to do with me" (71).

Sam tries to resolve her feelings about accountability for the War and struggles with interpretations of how that responsibility applies to her country, her family and her self. Mason's creation of a contemporary, and intriguingly local, view of the Vietnam War from the eyes of an outsider brings to the forefront questions regarding the ethics, sacrifice and cost of war, leaving the reader to wonder, along with Sam, if armed conflict in a technological age is ever an appropriate solution to political, cultural and social disagreement.

In Country

In Country has been an easy read so far. The author has written this story in a more simple style making it easier to follow versus Mrs. Dalloway and The War. Bobbie Ann Mason writes so decriptively you can almost envision the poverty in which Sam and Emmett live. Also, due to Mason's writing, I find myself just as fascinated as Sam is to find out more about her father and Vietnam.

In part I Sam, Emmett, and her grandmother are staying at the Holiday Inn and Sam is so impressed with the room. She talks about the 'luxurious shag carpet' the 'blues and greens' she goes on to say that "the bathroom is yellow tile, and it is very clean. The air conditioner doesn't drip water on the curtains. The commode doesn't overflow" (19). It seems that Sam likes pretty things but she can only relate to the dilapidated home she has shared with Emmett. Sam was very enamored by Lonnies parents home, their bedspread which they didn't use and the 'frilly pink bathroom'. Sam also liked Emmett's old girlfriend Anita. Sam adored Anita, the way she dressed and the decor of her house. Sam and Emmett were impressed that Anita looked like a "flamingo" the night Emmett cooked lasagna. It is funny however that Sam did not want to live with her mother who had a nice home.

Sam was raised without a father or a real father figure decides to stay and live with her veteran uncle, Emmett, versus living with her mother. He and his broken veteran friends provide the only type of father figure Sam has ever known. She seems to take on part of the burden that the veterans carry. Sam acts like a veteran in that she makes no plans for her future and is always talking about escape - running, wanting a car, and listening to records, and her talk of running off to Disney World.

In Country : Through ch.16

In Country reminds me of The War because it is written in parts that are not in chronological order. I had all these questions about what had happened in Sam's past and Emmett's past after reading the first part, but I thought that the novel was about something different. It was interesting to see that in the second part Mason went back and explained Sam's and Emmett's history. The use of popular culture throughout this novel is overwhelming. First of all the car wasn't just a car, it was important that it was a VW beetle. They stayed at the Howard Johnson Hotel, drank cokes and pepsi's, ate at Mc. Donalds. There was just too much of it to mention. Sam's obsession with Vietnam is understandable and it is important for her, I think, to somehow get closure on the whole idea of the war and her father's death. She is desperate to find a reason for Emmett's pimples on his face (Agent Orange) and for his inability to socialize "normally" with other people, especially women. Although the novel shows us a lot of the difficulties the vets have after experiencing the Vietnam war it really shows how it can affect a female and a child. A child that wasn't even alive during the war,Sam, is affected over and over again because of it. Her father was killed in the war and the uncle she currently lives with is a living memory of it. It seems that if her uncle was a different man, a man that either did not go to the Vietnam war or dealt with his past in the war better, that she would not be where she is now. She would be in college somewhere doing something with her life. But Sam feels guilty about the war and she will not leave her uncle's side while it seems like he needs her. This feeling of obligation will keep her from being successful and she does not seem to worry about that, she only worries about her uncle. I don't know what to think of her crush on Tom, one of Emmett's Vet buddies, other than it is just an extension of her preoccupation with the war. I am interested to see what happens with Sam and with Emmett in the next half of the book.

First part of In country

In starting this book I found it to be a very easy read compared to the rest of the books we have read so far. I really enjoyed how most of the story was told through conversation among characters. This made it easier for me to catch on to what was being said and also the minimal reflections from the characters helped with my comprehension of the text. As far as the characters are concerned I almost immediately picked up on the fact that Emmett was not going to be a normal person and come to find out his abnormality is due to the Vietnam war. I also noticed how Sam was going to play out to be this caring girl who takes care of her uncle. There were many times that I found Sam's bluntness to be amusing, especially when she was talking about Emmett's gas and acne problems. There were a couple of times where I was a little grossed out because of Sam's descriptions of Emett's pimples. Overall I am quite interested in this story and it is interesting how it seems to be taking place somewhere close to Lexington, KY considering the many references to Lexington and also to the western part of the state, like Paducah and Kentucky Lake. That makes it especially interesting to me because I have family that lives in Paducah and I myself am from western Kentucky.

One of the main themes I saw in the first part of this novel was that of Sam's concern with Agent Orange and if Emmett is a victim of it. It is obvious that this town didn't treat the Veterans as bad as some towns did, but it is also evident that they aren't looked at as normal people anymore. They seem to be the outcasts of the town and the towns people let them live their lives on their own without too much questioning. Relationships also play a big role in the first part of the book. Anita and Emmett seem to be on the track to getting back together and Sam and Lonnie's relationship seems as if it isn't going to last much longer. I am especially curious to see if anything will happen between Sam and Tom at the dance. It seemed liked Mason was foreshadowing something happening between Sam and Tom when he told her she was cute in the courthouse. I also found it interesting how concerned Sam is with the war and how determined she is to know more about it. However, the more determined she comes and the more questions she asks, the more people tell her that it was in the past and has nothing to do with her. I hope as I read on some more information will be revealed about Emmett's case along with the other veterans that are discussed in the novel.

I look forward to reading the end of the book to see if Sam ends up going to school, how Dawn's pregnancy turns out, if Emmett and Anita will get together, and especially what will happen with Sam and Lonnie's relationship. I also hope the beginning of the novel about the trip Sam, Emmett, and Sam's grandmother are taking will end up being finished. Needless to say I am very curious about how many things are going to play out in the story so I am very anxious to get to the end.

Simone de Beauvoir's Article

Before reading this article, I didn't know much about what really happened in the war with Vietnam. I knew about the protests and the draft, but nothing about events that took place outside the U.S. All the information I've ever known about the war was very vague, completely omitting the torture of the Vietnamese by U.S. soldiers. This is a web site that describes the injustices committed by Americans in Vietnam: http://g0lem.net/PhpWiki/index.php/VietnamAtrocities

This is a detailed timeline of all the events leading up to and during the war: http://www.landscaper.net/timelin.htm
This web page includes details of Americans taking their own lives in protest of the war. They used methods like setting themselves on fire in public places to capture the attention of the general public and the government. Four college students also died in a protest at Kent State College in Ohio. The web page also contains statistics about the war, which are as follows:

Longest war in US history (11 years)
"War" was never officially declared by the United States
A Cornell University study placed the over-all total U.S. cost of the Vietnam war at $200 Billion
Total U.S. bomb tonnage dropped during: World War II = 2,057,244 tons Vietnam War = 7,078,032 tons (3-1/2 times WWII tonnage)
Bomb tonnage dropped during the Vietnam War amounted to1,000 lbs. for every man, woman and child in Vietnam.
An estimated 70,000 draft evaders and "dodgers" were livingin Canada by 1972.
An estimated 3 million people were killed by the war,and over 1 million were wounded.

In Country

So far with this book, I have been enjoying the life of Emmett and Sam. I feel like this book really touches on what it would be like to come back a veteran of the Vietnam war and what it is like to live with a family member that experienced terrible things in the war. What makes this book unique to me, is that it gives the reader of the perspective of what it is like to try and understand what happens to many members of a family with a Vietnam vet, and how they are all affected by his return. Another great aspect of this book, is the issue of addressing the needs of the generation that was born during the war and was really to young to fully understand it, but cannot get any form of understanding from anyone who did fight in the Vietnam war. This I feel is the notion that most people that are of my generation and age, can most easily understand, we were born after this war happened and what went on, but no one can talk about what happened and try and explain the issues to us.
Sam as we know is trying to figure out who she is and what she wants to do with herself, she is caught between pleasing her mother, and according to her, not wasting away her life, and helping Emmett. This is the most interesting aspect of the book to me. She is caught between two worlds. One that could open the doors of possibility to her, by leaving Emmett and attending UK, while the other would force her to open doors that have remained shut for several years now, that could change her life in a way she never expected and better the life for her Uncle.
I am very interested in seeing how this book turns out and what Sam chooses to do. She is a girl that understands that it takes time and a lot of questions to sometimes find a simple truth, but that simple truth could open up all the doors for her and Emmett and their lives will never be the same.

in country

I am enjoying this book, although I think it is mainly because it is so light and easy to read. I enjoy the story aspect more than the intellectual side of Mason's writing. There are very few literary elements, or structural, which interest me. The sentences are simple, and the story is fairly basic.

However, I do enjoy Mason's version of survivor guilt. Like we have seen in other novels, Emmett suffers from guilt, feeling that he should have died instead of his comrades. This is reflected in his unwillingness to speak of the war, seek treatment for his medical problems, and especially, his depriving himself of pleasure by breaking up with Anita. Emmett seems to think that he does not deserve to be happy. Instead of trying to overcome his guilt, Emmett surrounds himself with fellow Vietnam vets. Their group understands that none of them feels like a normal American, but they allow each other to feel comfortable without moving on. They separate themselves from the rest of their society.

In Country

Coming into the class, I had already read IN COuntry. It's difficult to remember my initial impressions from 4 years ago, but I know that I read it for fun, and rather liked it.

In reading In Country, I was intrigued by the perspective of someone who was searching for something that was not possible to find. With Sam, it's not so much that she's searching for her father; instead, she is searching to find a way to differentiate herself from her mother. Sam is 16, trying to separate herself from her childhood and stumble into her adulthood. However, the gaps left by a father that she never had the chance to know are shaping a paranoia that is manifest in her relationship with Emmett. Emmett has never been able to let go of his trauma from VIetnam. Tom, Emmett's friend, represents an interesting paradox in relation to Sam. Not only does he represent a father-figure to Sam, but there is also a carnal aspect to her fascination with him.

In Country represents to me an idea that those of my generation and forward did not hear much about. While we are familiar with Vietnam, the vets, and the era, we are not shown 10-15 years later what happened to all of the families and children whose parents didn't come back. Bobbie Ann Mason does a wonderful job showing a section of local life reacting to the lingering memories of a father, brother, husband, and war that still affects people today.