Persepolis

The statement Marjane's father makes about how "politics and sentiments don't mix," is completely and entirely untrue. I don't even think that Marji herself believes in this statement. As soon as he says this to her, she does not dwell on the words. In the following picture, it is a completely different scene of her in school and they have to tear out pictures of the Shah. The entire graphic novel is about a child's struggle with the emotions she is dealing with during the revolution and the war. In my opinion, this story is almost completely revolved around women and the role that women play. It's the women who have to wear the veil, women who cannot wear cosmetics and women who have to be completely covered. And why is this? Because men cannot control themselves around women. As a woman, this is extremely irritating to me. In the movie when two men drove up to Marji as she was running and they said that she could not run basically because her butt moved, Marji replies, "Well then stop staring at my butt!" This is a moment where I was extremely happy. Finally someone put these revolting men in their place.
The fact that it was Marji's father, a man, that said "politics and sentiments don't mix," further reinforces the role of men and women in this story. It also says a lot about how men and women think differently. Obviously the effects of the war on men in Iran were huge, but is it wrong to say that women suffered more in the end?
It is impossible for politics and sentiment to not mix because one cannot run a country without passion and love for the country and the people in it. Even though it seems in the book that the punishments in Iran are harsh and they have taken away so many freedoms of the people, the leaders truly believe that they are doing it to better the country. Also, one's beliefs heavily influence their role in politics. For example, if a person is pro-life they will most likely associate themselves with the candidate who has the same belief.Parents also play an important role on a person's beliefs. In the story, Marji is heavily influenced by the morals and values of her mother, father and grandmother. For instance, just like her parents go out and protest, Marji ends up doing the same thing one day and leaves with Mehri to go do a demonstration. Beliefs heavily influence one's actions.

Nick

The Great Gatsby would be nothing without the narrator Nick Carraway. Nick is the only character that we can truly connect with. It seems that Nick is the only character who has some sort of morals and values. This is clearly evident at the end of the story after Gatsby was killed. Nick is the single character who took the initiative to call everyone and inform them of Gatsby's death. However, all of Gatsby's "friends" could not seem to get away from their busy lives to attend. If this story was told through other characters eyes, I do not think that we would sympathize as much with Gatsby like we do. He is a criminal and obtained his money doing illegal activities. However, because Nick genuinely seems to like him we feel obligated to like him as well. In addition, because Nick is not selfish or rude, it is easier to see characters like Tom and Daisy and the superficiality associated with them. I think that the way that Nick presented the characters makes Nick seem above them, which may not truly be the case. In the beginning of the novel Nick talks about how he is "inclined to reserve all judgments." However, as the story progresses Nick seems to get more and more hostile, in one part he even criticizes Jordan's driving. He also describes Tom, Daisy and Gatsby as being "careless people."
At the end of the story I do not think that Nick's story has been resolved. We know that he went "West" but that is pretty vague in itself. We also don't know what he will be doing over there, we only know that he has left his home in West Egg.
I definitely think that Nick turns out "all right" in the end. Nick ends up abandoning the New York lifestyle of wealth, dishonor, corruption and immorality for the Midwest which is a symbol for morality and conservatism. Nick is so completely disgusted with the things that he has seen and experienced on West and East Egg, therefore, making his character appear honorable and right.
I wish that Gatsby was not the main focus of the novel at the end of the book. In my opinion, I feel that the book is incomplete in the sense that we are left wondering what has happened to the protagonist, Nick. I also wish that Nick had not have been so obsessed with Gatsby and instead lived his own life. It seemed that he was always struggling to be immersed in the New York lifestyle without totally being in it… if that makes sense.