Blog 14: Quote response

“The revolution is like a bicycle. When the wheels don’t turn, it falls.” (Satrapi10)

This is important in a sense that this is basically what the whole comic strip is about. Along with revolutions comes internal and external conflict and it just ties all of us together honestly. In the scene that follows, the bicycle of revolution carries the innumerable deaths caused by war. Before reading this particular piece, I realized that I really don’t have much knowledge of Iraq in general. That’s really ignorance for my part. Anyways, The fact that conflict of interest is present caused a huge war. To move forward, you must pedal the bicycle forward. That represents progress in society but what happens when the direction you want to go to is unclear. The bike in this cased is stagnant. Clearly stated is the presence of tyranny for 2500 year. This malleable nation is so rich in resources(oil) that it was worth the fight. Basically how I see it is that internal conflict between transitional governments already exist. The fact that external influences came into play made the situation a whole lot messier that it could've been.

I really like this book and how it was presented. With it’s comic book like format, the content is really substantial and significant but it’s not as serious as a novel that just talks about the morbidity of war. It pokes fun at certain times and that is somewhat ironic. I really feel for those who grew up in this type of setting. To be writing about this experience long after, I can only imagine the psychological imprints that a child would acquire from such experiences. The oppression from social stratification is enough to make me think how blessed I am. Sadly, some days I take things for granted and I’m afraid that I can never muster up enough courage to be as courageous as those who were exposed to such environments.