Week 5 : First Formal Paper Planning

On my formal paper assignment one, I plan to write about the irony in the novel. I will use the Formalist theory to identify irony in my paper. Marjane uses visual together with narrative verbal in order to show us ironies. From the opening page of the novel, Marjane describes that it is obligation she and her friends to wear the veil at school, even she mentions that “we didn’t understand why we had to” (3). In the same page, she displays herself and her classmates using the veil to play all sorts of game. The children show their disobedience against authority due to the fact that the new rules and regulations do not make sense to them. The next, there is the conflict in social class in the society. Marjane’s father fights against the love of his maid, Mehri, with his neighbor. He tells Marjane that “in this country you must stay within your own social class” (37). On the same page, she with her maid in the same bed even they are not in the same class. She tries to comfort her maid and begs her maid to take her to demonstrate in order to fight against the unfair and injustice. By the end the this scene, both Marjane and her maid earn a slap in their face, because they disobey her mother's authority and their fighting for justice never become to reality. I will also use Marjane’s uncle, Anoosh, to analyze the irony. He has escaped to Moscow to complete a doctorate in Marxism-Leninism, he had a peaceful life there and got married with two children. However, he did not have a happy life and he tried to return to Iran because he missed his country, parents and brothers, even he understood it was dangerous. Once he told Marjane that “what my wife made me suffer was much worse” (60). Next, I will use the Cigarette scene to identify the irony. Marjane starts smoking cigarette to show her act of rebellion against her mother’s dictatorship. By smoking cigarette to state her freedom and independence, she tries to show her reaction to her authority that is so hard on her. Marjane sneaks away to her basement to smoke a cigarette that she has stolen from her uncle. Her uncle Tehar’s smoking habit to calm down his emotion of decision to send his son away to Holland and consequence he is died because of tress plus his heavy smoke. That all are for my first draft, hopefully I may find more details to identify irony in my paper.