Spellbound

1. Write down five words that you did not know how to spell until seeing them in Spellbound.

• Crocodilian
• Idiosyncrasy
• Sacrosanct
• Banns
• Discotheque

2. Did you have something in your life like the National Spelling Bee? Describe some of the pressures you felt.

When I used to live in Peru in the year of 2006 I had a spelling bee at my school in which all of the students had to participate. I felt pressure from my parents because they kept telling me that if I won the spelling bee they would by me a new toy at that time, and I really wanted a new toy. I got all of the words right until about the 40th round in which I had to spell the word "orange." I thought and thought about whether orange had a "j" or a "g," and I eventually spelled orange as "oranje" which got me disqualified from the spelling bee into coming in 4th place out of the whole 1st grade. During the time when I was waiting for other children to spell words before I did, I felt great pressure in myself as I wanted to be 1st place and finally have an award to proudly show my parents. Overall, I did indeed have something like the National Spelling Bee which I really enjoyed, getting experience and learning more vocabulary words really helped me. 

The Art of Persuasion

This advertisement uses Logos, persuading buyers to buy products by logical reasoning. Advertisement using Logos would most likely state facts about the product to get the buyers to trust their product and buy it. On this advertisement it shows the buyers how you can save 30 to 80 percent when buying prescription drugs, etc.

This advertisement is using Pathos to advertise its product. Pathos is one of the rhetorical techniques used to advertise in which the advertisement appeals to someone's emotion. In this advertisement a happy baby is shown holding the tire, which would have an emotional impact on people who love babies, etc.

This advertisement can be viewed as an advertisement that persuades the audience by Ethos, by  appealing to character and credibility. Celebrities can sometimes advertise products with Ethos by endorsing a product to give it more credibility.

Malala Yousafzai: Portrait of the girl blogger

In this article it speaks about some of Malala's diaries and some interviews that Malala had done with some interviewers from different news channels.

The news article itself talked a lot about Malala and her diaries that can tell the reader what kind of state she was in during the following years, and how she felt about herself being in that situation. The diaries are very interesting to read and give us a glimpse on how she lived, also it is written in a 1st person view which gives us more of a visual understanding on her personal experiences like being interviewed by journalists However, if I was in Malala's situation I wouldn't even think of the idea of writing these diaries as it may be seen by someone and consequences could occur. Mainly the idea of Malala writing these diaries was because she wanted to tell the world about it, but wouldn't Malala know that she would be caught by the members of the Taliban and be captured? With knowing these things could happen I think that Malala would be more careful on what things she will write about from now on.

Overall, this article gave us readers a big understanding that Malala was in during the time when the Taliban ruled the region. Also with these diaries that Malala wrote on her life it gives us a great visual understanding on how she overcame the ruling and won awards and became a famous figure for children like her to be inspired by her stories.

Malala Yousafzai: Pakistan activist, 14, shot in Swat

The article was based on a story in which a young girl who wrote about her life under the control of the Taliban was shot in the head, and possibly her neck.

Malala Yousafzai was the name of the girl who wrote diaries using the pen-name, Gul Makai. There are two sides of the story of how Malala was shot, and they came from two different sources; a local resource and of a policeman who was near the shooting. Local resources stated that  a bearded man carrying a fire-arm headed towards the car where the schoolgirls where located, and asked for the name Malala Yousafzai before firing the gun. However, a policeman stated that the man opened fire while the schoolgirls were boarding the car, which brings us to two different stories of the shooting of Malala. In my opinion the different sources that told of two different events don't matter all, as a matter of fact the only important thing is that Malala survived the encounter. When a person, he/she is injured I believe that the article should talk about her condition currently and explain if she was safely sent to a hospital instead of talking about how she was shot and how brave she was (a human's life is more valuable). However, the stories of her diaries and her nominations and winning of awards gave us readers a bit of an idea of what kind of girl she was and what kind of experience she had.

Overall, I believe that the man who shot her in the head was wrong to do such a thing to a little girl who only wanted to let the world know about the situations she overcame. I also think that Malala was really a brave girl who feared nothing and wrote these diaries while knowing that she could face consequences for it (Malala possibly knew that the Taliban would come after her when her real name was revealed when she won the national award for bravery).

The Dowry

                                                                             http://nobility.org/2012/01/05/joan-of-arc/

Martyr, is a fairly important vocabulary word in the chapter. A martyr is someone who is killed because of his/her religious beliefs.

The word "Martyr" is a fairly important word in the book because the whole story has to do with martyrs, as various scenes depict the deaths of martyrs and give us a simple understanding of what they are, so we can comprehend more on the setting that is taking place in Satrapi's time. Martyr isn't only a word that helps us with an understanding of the setting but also shows us true events (Marjane's story is a true story) in which the so called "Martyrs," died. For an example, Joan of Arc was a martyr because she died for the freedom and independence of the French (Joan of Arc was burned at a stake for witchery by the English).

I chose the word because it can relate to most of the chapters in the book just like "The Islamic Revolution." However, the word isn't as fairly as important since it doesn't give us a brief explanation of what the book is about, since the book isn't about martyrs; its about the Islamic Revolution that is told in a 1st person view by a person that has experienced it herself, Marjane.

The Passport

Question to Answer:

How did Uncle Taher die?

In my opinion I believe that Uncle Taher died due to a sudden loud explosion, noise.

The death of Uncle Taher can be quite predictable as in the chapter it tells us how he got his first heart attack that let him to the hospitable (page. 121). In the book it says that the fundamentalists threw a grenade to arrest some communists who were near Uncle Taher's home and he couldn't deal with the loud explosion that he fell, this gives us a clear sign that Uncle Taher is very sensitive to loud explosions. So probably the death of Uncle Taher came to be, because of a explosion or possibly could be due to smoking (page. 118).

I chose to answer this question because in the book they never truly explained how Uncle Taher died. However, with the context clues and dialog between characters, the death of Uncle Taher can be explained or at least give us a glimpse of what really happened during those three weeks before the arrival of his passport.

The Sheep

                                                                    http://www.inminds.com/weeping-woman-picasso-1937.html
The Sheep reminds me of a painting by Pablo Picasso called the Weeping Woman. The Weeping Woman was painted by Pablo Picasso in the year of 1937 in France. The woman in the picture is actually Dora Maar, Pablo Picasso's mistress. 

The painting can relate to the whole chapter, as it shows the people that Satrapi cared about left dead. The deaths of the cared ones can relate to the Weeping Woman painting as it displays grief in which Marjane Satrapi felt when she heard the news of Mohsen's death (page. 65) and also Anoosh's. The painting shows darkness in the dress and hat just like the last frame of the chapter (page. 71) in which Satrapi is surrounded by a pitch black background that shows loss, grief, sadness. The part where the Marjane's parents lie to her about Uncle Anoosh can relate to my personal life too as when I was a young boy my parents would sometimes lie to me to make me feel less sad (page.67).

I chose this painting because it was a painting that we saw in class, and when I read the chapter "The Sheep," I immediately thought of this painting, as it's so similar to the situation that Marjane Satrapi experienced. 

The Veil

                                                       http://lizzyjanea.blogspot.com/2011/05/religious-force-of-iranian-revolution.html
"The Islamic Revolution," would be the most important vocabulary word that is shown in this chapter as it is the root of all the other problems that go on in the upcoming chapters. The Islamic Revolution was a religious uprising that occurred in the year of 1979 against the Shah of Iran.

The word itself can tell us what we are going to be learning throughout the story, as the whole book is literally about the Islamic Revolution in a 1st person view told by Marjane Satrapi. Throughout the book it tells us about the fundamentalists and their practices in a very detailed way (page. 75, 125), and also explains the events that took place during the time Marjane was still in Iran (in a way that we readers can understand in a simple way). The story of how the Shah of Iran came to power (page. 19) was even explained in the book which shows us that with all of these events, stories, people, it can teach us more and more about the Islamic Revolution which is very helpful to us in understanding the book.

Overall, The Veil was a part of the book that gave us a brief explanation of the story of Marjane and what was going on during the time when she was still a youngster and didn't know what the veil signified (page. 3), and even thought she could become a prophet. 

Persepolis

Persepolis was a part of the book that truly expressed my feeling perfectly in the time I used to live Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanon is a country located in the Middle East right next to Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. 

In the year of 2010 a civil war erupted in Syria in which many Syrian citizens came as refugees to Lebanon. Every day when my father was staying late for work (page. 29) and having a meeting at night, I had a feeling in my stomach that told me he was going to come back bruised or robbed or hurt in any other way. With all those thoughts going through my head sometimes I couldn't even sleep with the thought he might get hurt, so I waited every day (even on school days) to see him come back home. As the same with my mother we always worried about my father but he would always joke about why we were worried about him and didn't even think it was dangerous to stay out very late (page. 30), even knowing it was a serious problem that he was always coming when night fell. Sometimes when my father and mother were talking about some political issues going on in Lebanon, I never knew what they were talking about so I just minded my own business just like Marjane did (page. 32).

The fact that the chapter has so much to do with my life, I sometimes wondered if the story was based on me. The exact situations and feelings occurred to me as if Marjane was a part of me (it felt like I was reading a story on a person that had a family just like I did) and knew everything that happened during my lifetime.