Week 10 Response

"As Farzaneh Milani and Afsaneh Najmabadi have observed, autobiographical stories have been perceived as a form of metaphorical unveiling as indecorous as physical unveiling" (Estranging the Familiar, 225).

"In 1979 a revolution took place. It was later called 'The Islamic Revolution.' Then came 1980: the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school. We didn't really like to wear the veil, especially since we didn't understand why we had to."

The idea of this graphic novel working as a metaphorical unveiling is interesting to me. While I knew that the freedom of women was limited, I didn't realize how much so, and that something as simple as writing a book could be considered a "freedom" for women. I think that Milani and Najmabadi are completely right when they claim autobiographical stories have been perceived as a form of metaphorical unveiling. I chose to pair that quote with the one above because it shows Marji's first time having to wear the veil and how confusing it was to her. She didn't understand why she had to wear it, especially since she was coming from a non-religious French school that allowed children to wear what they wished and for boys and girls to be together. The veil is something that she constantly tests throughout the novel. While she still wears it, she starts to become more westernized with her jean jacket, nikes, and Michael Jackson pin,and I think that can be seen as a metaphorical unveiling as well. When she finally leaves Iran, she allows herself to take off the veil, but when she moves back again, she has to wear it. So while she has escaped the veil, and thus achieved some freedom, she backtracked and was again stuck with it. This novel allowed her to tell her story, to achieve freedom, without actually having to take off that veil.