People and Injustice

Parvaneh Ashktorab

Stacey Knapp

English 1B

19 December 2011                                                                                                              

People and Injustice

                John Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas, a city in the state of California. He grew up with his family who worked on a farm in a valley by the coast. Steinbeck entered high school at age fifteen while he lived in his hometown Salinas, California. He had decided to become a professional writer, but his first novel was not published until he was twenty seven years old in 1929. During that time the Stock Market crashed and brought on the Great Depression. He became a professional writer in 1930, which was the period during the Great Depression, until his death in 1968 (Steinbeck vii). Steinbeck’s book, In Dubious Battle was rejected by the publisher Pascal Covici at Viking Press (viii). The publisher considered the injustices ideology of the strike planner inaccurate and Covici did not know who Steinbeck was and what his viewpoint regarding the Great Depression was (ix). Steinbeck offered to publish In Dubious Battle and The Grapes of Wrath because he wanted to show the situations of many suffering farmers. During the Great Depression, these farmers and poor persons were discriminated against, were given minimum wages and became slaves to wealthy individuals. Throughout the Great Depression of the 1930s, people wanted the freedom and basic right to their pursuit of happiness, and obtain higher wages for their skills and abilities; even today, in the  21^stcentury these complicated situations have not changed and are making the poor people poorer and rich people richer as demonstrated by the Occupy movement.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

According to John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle, during the Great Depression, there were many people who suffered while they worked in 1930. There were people who worked for the wealthy that did not understand the unfair life of farmers. Jim was one of the characters In Dubious Battle who was touched by this unjust situation.  Jim had a miserable personal life. He was ashamed of his family’s life. His mom had a weak personality and she always obeyed her husband. At that time, women did not have any power, and they had to zip their lips and stay quiet. For example, his mom wanted to practice her religion and participate in church, but her husband did not allow her to practice her catholic religion so she could not go to church. Jim had a father who worked and got drunk at various times (13). Jim’s father was beaten by the police and hated to work for the government because he was forced to work like a slave.

For this reason, Jim wanted to do something. He observed his family life and those lives around him and felt compelled to change this unfair situation. Unfortunately, while Jim was working at Tumlman’s Department store, he went out to look at a crowded street; he climbed on a big tree to see well. And then, he heard a sound from behind, a cop slugged and arrested him (15). Jim was arrested because of vagrancy, during that time Jim had job and he called his boss Webb to explain to the sergeant that he was not a vagrant “and then Webb said he never heard of me. So I got the rap” (15). For Jim, this was a turning point for him; from this moment he decided to get serious about his communist ideology and work on that.

When Jim was released from jail after being arrested for vagrancy, he met Mac, who had organized a big party among farmers that followed ideas of justice. Mac is one of the persons in charge of organizing protests. He was sent by the party to gather the men in Torgas Valley, and go on an angry strike for higher wages. At that time farmers usually had a hard job with low wages. Jim knew he could not stand up against the government alone; he had to find a party which was more organized, so he joined Mac’s party. They established a gathering in order to have a strike against the government. Mac says, “It’s like this, by tomorrow a couple of thousand men will be on strike, and the apple picking will stop” (118). Mac had read a newspaper which got him angry that date. On the paper the editor wrote “when our highways are no longer safe for American citizen, or their homes safe firebrands, we believe the time for action has come” (298). Although, Mac got angry, he decided to act with his friends, Jim, Harry Nilson, and Dick. They participated in the strike because the capitalists kept all farmers working like servants and Jim thought that was an injustice and discriminatory. On the other hand, he believed the communist ideology opened windows with the justice viewpoint that might have helped and provided better life for farmers, workers, and poor people.

Besides the book In Dubious Battle, Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath also focuses on the lives of farmers and workers who were poor during the 20th century, at the same time of the Great Depression. In the book, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses the Joad family, a very poor and broke family in Oklahoma City, to describe the troubles of thousands of Dust Bowl farmers. Jim was not only thinking about himself and his family; he also wanted to find a partner to help him search for a way to assist other poor people who were struggling for their lives as well.

Although there were many people who did struggle and challenge themselves to get fair wages to live simple lives, they could not. In this book, there are many examples of living in hard situations. The powerful and clear example is about a turtle on his back that cannot turn back and continue on his way. “But his extended foot [swings] slowly up and down like in the tempo” (Steinbeck 25). The life of all farmers was the same as the turtle flipped on his back; there was no way to get back on the right path to survive. Joad and his family were farmers who were in stuck in poverty and wanted to have improve their lives.

 For this reason, Joad’s family wanted to move from their hometown in Oklahoma to California to find a better job for their living; it took a long time to get there. On the way, they had many difficulties while they traveled with their truck. During this time, they stopped to fix their truck, and the repairman would tearfully talk of the injustices of his job. Tom Joad and Casy, who was a friend of Tom Joad, told the man they were going to California for a job. The repairman told them that there were no jobs in California, despite what the newspapers had promised. They may need 800 workers, but 20,000 workers showed up already. (259)

The repairman continues telling them about his family. His wife and children starved to death because he took them to find work in California, but Casy told him that the Joads may have a different experience than the man did. When many families moved to California, they realized that people have many social issues such as the battle between poor and rich people. On the highways the people moved like ants and searched for work and for food. And the anger began to ferment (388). “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage” (477). As a matter of fact, people in Oklahoma city struggled to have a basic living; they did not know how they could survive because they did not have anything to eat.                                                                                                                     

Despite this Great Depression occurring many years ago, the same situations are happening today in 2011 in the United States. People are protesting against their unjust situation. They are not happy with their government and they want to, by protesting, show they are suffering with these circumstances. Poor people are getting poorer and the rich people are getting richer.

 There are so many mob groups and protesters that are angry with the economic policy that the government is running in this country. For example, there are many protests nearby the San Jose, San Francisco and Berkley area. According to the news on August 15, 2011, Jeyon Cochran, a protester, stood in the doorway of the Bay Area Rapid Transit train at the San Francisco Civic Center. His strategy was to protest public safety on train platforms (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu).

 Of course, there are many other groups who have huge amounts of protesters, such as students and ordinary individuals from the middle and working classes, who have been demonstrating in Berkley in the city of Oakland. Those protesters are likely to move forward with a variety of plans to try and enforce their demands on the transit system to apply a just rule in the Bay Area of California.

According to the New York Times, people in New York City are protesting for their rights and angry at these institutions. These protesters are acting the same way as the protesters during the Great Depression in 1930. At this time, “the protesters themselves have also criticized media first for ostensibly ignoring the movement and then for marginalizing it” (Stelter). They are angry because they want to protest and then accomplish their needs in the twenty-first century. People believe the system only serves the rich. This situation is unfair because the government does not care about those who belong to the middle and lower class. The protesters at Wall Street are not just demanding change; they are also demanding wage increase, more jobs, and overall, financial help. If the government were to help these individuals, they would be able to find jobs, pay their debts, and keep their homes. Essentially, people who are in the middle and lower class are gathering together because of class and wealth discrimination.     

In conclusion, I discovered that these two books, In Dubious Battle and The Grapes of Wrath share the same scenario and portrays the same situation as that of 1930 during the Great Depression. Most of the people had awful conditions; there was no way to have a simple and relaxed life. They were forced to perform tough labor for small wages. In 2011, we can see the same problem as before; many people are suffering from injustices and unequal treatment. They cannot fight back and are powerless against the government and the wealthy class. The government should take action and help these middle and lower class individuals because people have the Constitutional right to live comfortably and happily in the United States of America.

                                                      

Work Cited

Introduction. French. Warren. In Dubious Battle. New York: Viking Press, 1975. N.xxix. print.

Malia. Wollan, Malia. "Updates on Occupy Oakland Protest." thelede.blogs.nytimes. (2011): 1. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com>.

Steinbeck, John. . In Dubious Battle. The United State of America: Viking Press, 1979. 349.                

Print.

 Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. The United State of America: Penguin Books , 1976.

            618. Print.

 Stelter, Brain. "Protest puts coverage on spotlight." New York Times. (20 Nov 2011): n. page. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <New York Times.com>.

People and injustice

Parvaneh Ashktorab

Stacey Knapp

ENG 1B

Nov. 23, 2011                                                                                                                     

People and Injustice

                John Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas, a city in the state of California. He grew up with his family who worked on a farm in a valley by the coast. Steinbeck entered high school at age fifteen while he lived in his hometown Salinas, California. He had decided to become a professional writer, but his first novel was not published until he was twenty seven years old in 1929. During that time the Stock Market crashed and brought on the Great Depression. He became a professional writer in 1930, which was the period during the Great Depression, until his death in 1968 (Steinbeck vii). Steinbeck’s book, “In Dubious Battle” was rejected by the publisher Pascal Covici at Viking Press (viii). The publisher considered the injustices ideology of the strike planner inaccurate and he thought that Steinbeck did not know what was going on (ix). Steinbeck offered to publish “In Dubious Battle” and “The Grapes of Wrath” because he wanted to show the situations of many people who were suffering because of wealthy people who discriminated against farmers and were given a very minimum of wages in the Great Depression time.During the Great Depression, people wanted the freedom and basic right to their pursuit of happiness, and obtain higher wages for their skills and abilities; even today, in the  21^stcentury these complicated situations have not changed and are making the poor people poorer and rich people richer as demonstrated by the Occupy movement.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

According to John Steinbeck’s “In Dubious Battle”, during the Great Depression, there were many people who suffered while they worked in 1930. There were people who worked for the wealthy that did not understand the unfair life of farmers. Jim was one of the characters in “Dubious Battle” who was touched by this unjust situation.  Jim had a miserable personal life. He was ashamed of his family’s life. His mom had a weak personality and she always obeyed her husband. At that time, women did not have any power, and they had to zip their lips and stay quiet. For example, his mom wanted to practice her religion and participate in church, but her husband did not allow her to practice her catholic religion so she could not go to church. Jim had a father who worked and got drunk at various times (13). Jim’s father was beaten by the police and he hated to work for the government because he was forced to work like a slave.

For this reason, Jim wanted to do something. Unfortunately, while Jim was working at Tumlman’s Department store, he went out to look at a crowded street; he climbed on a big tree to see well. And then, he heard a sound from behind, a cop slugged and arrested him (15). Jim was arrested because of vagrancy, during that time Jim had job and he called his boss Webb to explain to the sergeant that he was not a vagrant “and then Webb said he never heard of me. So I got the rap” (15). For Jim, this was a turning point for him; from this moment he decided to get serious about his communist ideology and work on that.

When Jim was released from jail after being arrested for vagrancy, he met Mac, who had organized a big party among farmers that followed ideas of justice. Mac is one of the persons who was  in charge of organizing protests. He was sent by the party to gather the men in Torgas Valley, and go on an angry strike for higher wages. At that time farmers usually had a hard job with low wages. Jim knew he could not stand up against the government alone; he had to find a party which was more organized, so he joined Mac’s party. They established a gathering in order to have a strike against the government. Mac says, “It’s like this, by tomorrow a couple of thousand men will be on strike, and the apple picking will stop” (118).

Mac had read a paper which got him angry about the paper on that date. On the paper the editor wrote “when our highways are no longer safe for American citizen, or their homes safe firebrands, we believe the time for action has come” (298). Although, Mac got angry, he decided to act with his friends, Jim, Harry Nilson, and Dick. People participated in the strike because the capitalists kept all farmers working like servants and Jim thought that was an injustice and discriminatory. On the other hand, he believed the communist ideology opened windows with the justice viewpoint that might have helped and provided better life for farmers, workers, and poor people.

After In Dubious Battle the other novel which belongs to John Steinbeck is The Grapes of Wrath. It is about farmers who were poor in the 20th century at the same time of the Great Depression. In the book, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses the Joad family, a very poor and broke family in Oklahoma City, to describe the troubles of thousands of Dust Bowl farmers. Jim was not only thinking about himself and his family; he also wanted to find a partner to help him search for a way to assist other poor people who were struggling for their lives as well.

Although, there were many people who did struggle and challenge themselves to get fair wages to live simple lives, they could not. In this book there is an example of living in hard situations. The example is about a turtle on his back and he cannot turn back and continue on his way. “But his extended foot [swings] slowly up and down like in the tempo” (Steinbeck 25). The life of all farmers was the same as the turtle flipped on his back. Joad and his family were farmers who were in poverty situations, and wanted to have improved their life.

 For this reason, Joad’s family wanted to move from their home town in Oklahoma to California to find a better job for their living; it took a long time to get there. On the way, they had many difficulties while they traveled with their truck. During this time, they stopped to fix their truck, and the repairman would tearfully talk of the injustices of his job. Tom Joad, and Casy, who was a friend of Tom Joad, told the man they were going to California for a job. The repair man told them that there were no jobs in California, despite what the paper promised. They may need 800 workers, but 20,000 workers showed up already. (259)

The man says that his wife and children starved to death because he took them to find work in California, but Casy told him that the Joads may have a different experience than the man did. When many families moved to California, they realized that people have much social issue such as battle between poor and rich people. On the highways the people moved like ants and searched for work, for food. And the anger began to ferment (388). “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage” (477). As a matter of fact, people in Oklahoma city struggled to have a basic living; they did not know how they could survive because they did not have anything to eat .                                                                                                                     

After many years, the same situations are happening today in 2011 in the United States. People are protesting against their unjust situation. They are not happy with their government and they want to, by protesting, show they are suffering with these circumstances. Poor people are getting poorer and the rich people are getting richer.

 There are so many mob groups and protesters that are angry with the economic policy that the government is running in this country. For example, there are many protests nearby the San Jose, San Francisco and Berkley area. According to the news on Aug, 15, 2011, Jeyon Cochran, a protester, stood in the door of the Bay Area Rapid Transit train at the San Francisco Civic Center. His strategy was to protest public safety on train platforms (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu).

 Indeed, there are other groups who are huge protesters, such as students and ordinary individuals from the middle and working classes, who have been demonstrating in Berkley in the city of Oakland. Those protesters are likely to move forward with a variety of plans to try and enforce their demands on the transit system to apply a just rule in the Bay Area of California.

According to the New York Times, people in New York City are protesting for their rights and angry of these institutions. These protesters are acting the same as the protesters at the

time of 1930. At this time,” the protesters themselves have also criticized media first for ostensibly ignoring the movement and then for marginalizing it” (Stelter). They are angry because they want to protest and then accomplish their needs in the twenty-first century. People believe the system only serves the rich. This situation is unfair because the government does not care about those who are middle and lower class. The protesters at Wall Street are not just demanding change; they are also demanding wage increase, more jobs, and overall, helping them financially. If the government were to help these individuals, they could find jobs, pay their debts, and keep their homes. Basically, people who are in the middle and lower class are gathering together because of class and wealth discrimination.     

In conclusion, I found these two books, “In Dubious Battle” and “The Grapes of Wrath” have the same scenario and portrays the same situation as that of 1930 during the Great Depression. Most of the people had awful conditions; they could not have an easy life. They try to do a hard work for small wages. In 2011 we can see the same problem as before; many people suffer from injustice. They cannot fight back and are powerless against the government and the wealthy class. The government should take action and help these middle and lower class individuals to solve this critical problem because people have the Constitutional right to live comfortably and happily in the United States of America.

                                                      

Work Cited

Introduction. French. Warren. In Dubious Battle. New York: Viking Press, 1975. n. xxix. print

 Malia. Wollan, Malia. "Updates on Occupy Oakland Protest." thelede.blogs.nytimes. (2011): 1. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com>.

Steinbeck, John. . In Dubious Battle. The United State of America: Viking Press, 1979. 349.                 Print.

 Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. The United State of America: Penguin Books , 1976. 618. Print.

 Stelter, Brain. "Protest puts coverage on spotlight." New York Times. (20 Nov 2011): n. page. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <New York Times.com>.

 

What do you know

Jim was a man who suffered in his life, he was not happy with his family because he had a wick mom and drunk father and missed his sister. He had a bad memory about his dad who was a worker, he worked hard and get very low wage. As a result, he would liked to take an action and do something for poor people and farmers. After that he met Mac who was a leader of big party for farmers, Mac tried to help poor people and get revenge from reach people who did not obey of justice rule in their life. Jim's characteristic was to progress his abilities to help poor people or farmers. At the end of novel of The Dubious Battle book he reached his goal. Jim  and his friends such as Mac and Dick ,Joy and more, they worked hard and had many miserable time to help the growers and to be as a member of growers. At the end, after he shotted by stranger, Mac said, Jim didn't want nothing for himself.

People and Injustice

Parvaneh Ashktorab

ENG 1B

Nov, 23, 2011

Rough draft                                    

People and Injustice

                John Steinbeck was born in 1902, in Salinas, a city in the state of California. He grew up with his family who worked on a farm in a valley by the coast. Steinbeck entered high school at age fifteen while he lived in his hometown Salinas, California. He had decided to become a professional writer, but his first novel was not published until he was twenty seven years old in 1929. During that time the stock market crashed and brought on the Great Depression. He became a very professional writer in 1930, which was the period during the Great Depression until his death in 1968 (Steinbeck Vii). His book, “In Dubious Battle” was rejected by the publisher Pascal Covici at the Viking Press (Viii). The publisher considered the Marxist ideology of the strike planner inaccurate and he thought that Steinbeck did not know what was going on (ix). Covici believed that the novel might insult people at both ends of the political party. After that, Covici’s office figured out that his books had several bids from other publishers. He wrote to Steinbeck offering to publish “In Dubious Battle”. This novel reached the best-seller’s list and also received amazing reviews from people on both the political left and right. During the Great Depression, people wanted the freedom and basic right to their pursuit of happiness, and obtain justified wages for their skills and abilities; even today, in the 21^st century, these complicated situations have not changed and are making the poor people poorer and rich people richer.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

According to John Steinbeck’s “In Dubious Battle”, there are many people who suffered while they lived in 1930. There were people who worked for the wealthy that did not understand the unfair life of farmers. Jim was one of the characters who touched by this unjust situation in 1930. Jim had a miserable personal life. He was ashamed of his family’s life. His mom had a weak personality and she always obeyed her husband. At that time, women did not have any power, and they had to zip their lips and stay quiet. For example, his mom wanted to practice her religion and go to church, but her husband did not allow her to practice her catholic religion so she could not go to church. Jim had a father who worked and got drunk at various times (13). Jim’s father was beaten by the police and he hated to work for the government because he was forced to work like a slave. Workers in this tale mostly did not get treated properly by their bosses. For this reason, Jim wanted to do something. While Jim worked in Tumlman’s Department store, he was out to look at the crowded street, he climbed on a big tree to see better. And then he heard a sound from behind, a cop slugged and arrested him (15). When Jim was released from jail after being arrested for vagrancy, he met Mac, who had organized a big party among farmers that followed ideas of Marxist society. Mac is one of the persons who were in charge of organizing protests. He was sent by the party to gather the men in Torgas Valley, and to go on an angry strike for higher wages. At that time farmers usually had a hard job with low wages. Jim knew he could not stand up against the government alone; he had to find a party which was more organized, so he joined Mac’s party. They established a gathering in order to have a strike against the government. Mac says, “It’s like this, by tomorrow a couple of thousand men will be on strike, and the apple picking will stop” (118). Mac had read a paper which got him angry about the paper on that date. On the paper the editor wrote “when our highways are no longer safe for American citizen, or their homes safe firebrands, we believe the time for action has come” (298). Although, Mac got angry, he was strong to act his decision with his friends, Jim, Harry Nilson, and Dick. People participated in the strike because the capitalists kept all farmers working like slaves and Jim thought that Marxist society may open windows with the ideology that help would be provided for farmers, workers, and poor people.

The other story which is belonging to John Steinbeck is “the grapes of wrath”. It is about farmers who were poor in 20th century at the same time of the Great Depression. ‘The Grapes of Wrath drives its epic scope from the way that Steinbeck uses the story of Joad family to portray the plight of thousand of Dust Bowls farmers’ (Sparks’s notes 1-3). There were many people who did struggle and challenge themselves to get fair wages for their life to live very simple, but they could not. In this book there is an example for living in hard situation. The example is about when a turtle is on his back and he cannot turn back and continue his way to go, but his extended foot swung slowly up and down like in the tempo (Steinbeck 25). The life of all farmers was the same as the turtle flip it in the back. Joad and his family was one the farmers who had a very bad situation to live, and like to have better life, for this reason, Joad’s family was one of the people who would like to move from their home Oklahoma to California to get a job for their life. It took long time to get there; meanwhile they had a hard time during the way with many difficulties for themselves and their truck. In the meantime, they stopped to fix their truck, and then repair man talked about tearfully of the injustices of his job. Tom Joad, and casy who was friend of tom Joad told the man they are going to California for a job. The repair man told them that there is no job in California, despite what the paper promise. They may need 800 workers, but 20,000 workers showed up already (259). The man says that his wife and children starved to death because he took them to find work in California, but Casy told him that the Joads may have a different experience than the man did. When many families moved to California, they realized that people have much social issue such as battle between poor and rich people. On the highways the people moved like ants and searched for work, for food. And the anger began to ferment. (388)                                                                                                                      

After many years, the same situations are happening today in 2011, in the United States. People are protesting against capitalism. They are not happy with their government and they want to, by protesting, show they are suffering with this situation.

Poor people get poorer and the rich people get richer.  There are so many mob groups and protesters that are angry with the policy that the government is running in this country. For example, there are many protests nearby the San Jose area, in San Francisco and Berkley. According to the news on Aug, 15, 2011, Jeyon Cochran, a protester, stood in the door of the Bay Area Rapid Transit train at the Civic Center in San Francisco. His strategy was to protest public safety on train platforms (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu).

 Indeed, there are other groups who are huge protesters such as students and other people who have been demonstrating in Berkley at Oakland city. Those protesters are likely to move forward with a variety of plans to try and enforce their demands on the transit system.

According to the New York Times, people in New York City are protesting the bank system and other institutions. These Mobs and protesters are acting as the same as the protesters at the time of 1930. They are angry because the government does not accomplish their needs in the twenty-first century. People believe the government only serves the rich, while they do not care about those who are middle class and the poor.

The protesters at Wall Street are not just demanding change. It is for many people who could not find a job, pay their debt, or keep their home. In the end, the protesters today, just like those in 1930, are gathering together because of discrimination to the majority of people who are either middle class or poor.    

People and injustice

Parvaneh Ashktorab

ENG 1B

Nov, 23, 2011

Rough draft                                    

  People and Injustice

According to John Steinbeck in Dubious Battle there are many people who suffered while they lived in 1930. There were people who worked for the wealthy that did not understand the unfair life of a farmer. Jim was one of the characters who touched this unjust situation in 1930. Jim had a miserable personal life. He was ashamed of his families’ life. His mom had a weak personality and she always obeyed her husband. At that time, women did not have any power, and they had to zip their lips and stay quiet. For example, his mom wanted to practice her religion and go to church, but her husband did not allow her to practice her catholic religion so she could not go to church. Jim had a father who worked and got drunk at various times. Jim’s father was beaten by the police and he hated to work for the government because he was forced to work like a slave. Workers in this tale mostly did not get treated properly by their bosses. For this reason, Jim wanted to do something. When Jim was released from jail, he found Mac who had organized a big party among farmers that followed ideas of Marxist society. At that time farmers usually had a hard job with low wages of money. Jim considered he could not stand up against the government alone; he had to find a party which was more organized, so he joined Mac’s party. They established a gathering in order to have a strike against the government. “It’s like this, by tomorrow a couple of thousand men will be on strike, and the apple picking will stop” (Steinbeck 118). People participated in the strike because the capitalists kept all farmers working like slaves and Jim thought that Marxist society may open windows for farmers, worker, and poor people. Mac is a protester as he is sent by the party to gather the men in that valley called Torgas valley, and to go on an angry strike for higher wages. These situations happen today in 2011, in the United State. People are protesting against capitalism. They are not happy with their government and they want to, by protesting, show they are suffering with this situation. Poor people get poorer and the rich people get richer.  There are so many mob groups and protesters that are angry with the policy that the government is running in this country. For example, one of the protests was nearby San Jose area, in San Francisco and Berkley. According to the news on Aug, 15, 2011, Jeyon Cochran, a protester, stood in the door of the Bay Area Rapid Transit train at civic center in San Francisco, his strategy was to protect public safety on train platform (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu).

 Indeed, there are other groups who are huge protesters such as students and other people who have been demonstrating in Berkley at Oakland city. Those protesters are likely to move forward with a variety of plans to try and enforce their demands on the transit system.

According to New York Times, people in New York City protest the bank system and and other institutions. These Mobs and protesters are acting as the same as the protesters at the time of 1930. They are angry because the government does not accomplish their needs in the twenty-first century. People believe the government only serves the rich, while they do not care about those who are middle class and the poor.

The protester at Wall Street is not just demanding change. It is for many people who could not find a job, pay their debt, or keep their home. At the end, the protesters today and in 1930 are gathering together because of discrimination to the majority of people who are either middle class or poor.    

Difficult paper

I start to read the Dubious Battle story book little by little every night,While i read more I understand the book is hard to read and it is hard to realize. As i read my classmate paper, i recognize my other classmate had the same problem as me. For them also this book is hard to read. This book is belong to the years of depression that is the year of 1930. In addition,that time was some farmers had farm and many people were labors and worked hard for their boss, and farmers worked hard to earn  money to live but their waged was low. This  is the same strategy that  happen again today. I read the UFW Website which farmers working hard today, and nobody want to care about their health any more, the company think about their benefit not problems that maybe occur for farmers at farm. The same story was happened on the 1930 for farmers, many capitalism do not think about the humanitarian or for farmers’ safety which at the dubious battle talk about this strategy also. At this book Jim is one the star in this story, he lost his sister when his sister was so young, she was only sixteen years old when she disappeared one day from home and she never came back home. Actually he was so alone and he feels lonely, Jim had a hard situation in his life. Another reason The Dubious Battle is hard to read because, there are many slang on that. For example Jim rubbed his eyes hard. "I feel slugged again". which it is hard to understand 

Th eMeaning of Freedom

Parvaneh Ashktorab

Professor  Knapp

English 1B

Oct, 18, 2011

The Meaning of Freedom

            Freedom is the factor that everybody would like to have, and that thought has different meanings for different people. People and especially women need freedom, and that has a different meaning for each one. Freedom for some people is showing themselves how they look and how they wear clothes. Some people think about freedom has a meaning beyond that which is immaterialist and deep down of intelligence, and their knowledge. For example, in the novel called “Persepolis”, Marjan, who is a ten year old, needs a freedom which many other girls need at this age. The meaning of freedom for people is the right for them in this universe. All people would like to achieve that to the end, and it is for every individual and everyone of society. To keep this fact constantly in mind needs time and effort by teaching and education to promote immaterial of freedom. People always are challenging for their freedom especially women. I believe freedom can be interpreted in different ways by different people depending on base of thought and how they are raised in this universe.

Marjan lived with her family in Iran. She was too young to not think materialistically; her family had the same idea. Marjan’s family was one of the richest families when the revolution happened in Iran. There were two movements happening in Iran, one was revolution, and the

other one was an unwanted war. People wanted to build their country after the revolution. Before these things happened, suddenly Iraq invaded the border of Iran. Because of that, the situation in Iran was hard for people to live in. Some rich people would like to go out of the country for living. For example, Marjan’s family told to her “We feel it’s better for you to be far away and happy than close by and miserable. Judging by the situation here, you’ll be better off somewhere else”  (Satrapi 148). Their ideology was materialistic.  In their mind, freedom is buying a brand name shirt for ten year old girl, or going to the European country to live while the condition was unstable in their country Iran. In my point of view freedom has another meaning to my family and me. I was in Iran in those days, my husband was a professor at the university and I have two boys, they were one and four year old. We believed we had to stay and work and help our country Iran on that time. We were in eight years of the war, we stayed there, worked and helped till the victory. It was very hard time to live there. On the other hand, there were families like Marjan’s family with this kind of ideology which they want freedom in hard situation of the war, but some people have a different idea which freedom has another meaning for them in that hard condition. While we stayed, and worked in Iran these action had a point, and the point was looks like a kind of defend for our country till the victory happened. Marjan’s family loved to have peace while they lived in Iran; on the other hand, the war was very miserable situation for people. These points had contradicted together, as a result they send Marjan out of the country and said ” in six months we’ll come see you”(P 152).

There is much arguing about freedom and it has a different meaning to different people. I don’t blame Marjan about her point to not wear hejab (veil) because she did not know why she should wear hejab. First, Marjan’s family did not know about hejab and her mom did not practice their religion, and she did not wear hejab, as a result Marjan did not know why women wear hejab, while they were out of their homes. Because of that, she thought she did not have freedom.  There is the argument about the freedom for people especially for women.

 Marjan’s family felt they did not have freedom in Iran, the situation was not normal for them. Marjan and her mom had different ideas from many Muslim women who lived in Iran or in other countries, but in the “Persepolis” book, the writer did exaggerate many things in Iran in those days. This is a fiction book. For example “lower your scarf, you little whore” (p 131), guardians should not act impolite in Iran, especially to those who are young.  Marjan and her family believe, those women who wear hejab, they don’t have a freedom, but I believe those who have a hejab have freedom. Hejab gives freedom, and it protects your body from stranger or from those who are sick in society. According to the article “Veiled Intentions” by Maysan  Haydar, she believed freedom is in her heart of her veiling, she covered her body and hair from head to toe in New York city street with no self-loathing, body hang-up, or sexual harassment. She wishes more women emerged unharmed; no one should suffer for what they wear or what they look like (Haydar 407).  According to Prophet Mohammad “women look like a pearl in the shell”, their beauty is special. Nobody should take an advantage of their beauty or use it. For these reasons, women should take cares of their beauties, and do not let anybody harass them or look at them like a material. Because of that it is better to cover their body and hair to not show up. As a result, women who have hejab, they have freedom while they are at work or out of their home. Indeed, men can talk to them for their mind and knowledge and not for their beauty or their body. For many cultures it is hard to understand this concept, but if you think deep about that, it is easy and simple to understand.

Freedom is a kind of element which all women are challenging to have, even in this 21st century.  They like to have their freedom and rights in any society even in developed countries.  Western countries believe they are civilized, but still many people look at a woman as a material and use them for marketing. For example, on any movie or magazine they are using ladies for their advertizing. If any magazine or movies have a nude or sexy woman, it sells more and gets very popular. Unfortunately, these situations make insulting for those women who wear hejab or believe in modesty, make them angry and upset in this world. Some people think showing women’s body means freedom. How can they prove that this is a freedom?  Many women in this world do not believe sexy and nude women make a right action or mean freedom, they think this action is worse than slavery and a huge disrespect to other women.

In conclusion, some people believe freedom is an action which everyone needs. At the same time, women need freedom which they do not really have in this world or they have little. Freedom has a different meaning to different people, some people believe showing off their body in front of others is a freedom, but some people believe the opposite, and consider freedom is in their mind and intelligence not anything else.     

Work Cites

1. Satrapi, Marjane. “Persepolis The story of a childhood.” Paris, L’Association, 2000 and 2001.

2. Haydar, Maysan. “Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering.” New York, 1977.

            

Second draft The Meaning of Freedom

feedback

 I need to add a couple more quotes and I need to add to add more similarities between Marjane's story and mine and .Two of classmate read my first draft, and I should need more quote from persepolis book Hopefully the final draft will be what the teachers looking for.

The Meaning of Freedom

Parvaneh Ashktorab

Professor Knapp

English 1B

Oct, 18, 2011

The meaning of freedom

            Freedom is the factor that everybody would like to have, and that thought has different meanings for different people. People and especially women need freedom and that has a different meaning for each one. Freedom for some people is showing themselves how they look and how they wear clothes. Some people think about freedom has a meaning beyond that which is immaterialist and deep down of intelligence, and their knowledge. For example, in the novel called Persepolis, Marjan, who is a ten year old, needs a freedom which many other girls need at this age. The meaning of freedom for people is the right for them in this universe. All people would like to achieve that to the end, and it is for every individual and everyone of society. To keep this fact constantly in mind needs time and effort by teaching and education to promote immaterial of freedom. People always are challenging for their freedom especially women as well. I believe freedom can be interpreted in different ways by different people; it is an aspect that everybody must have as an individual living in this universe.

Marjan lived with her family in Iran. She was too young to not think materialistically; her family had the same idea. Marjan’s family was one of the richest families when the revolution happened in Iran. There were two movements happening in Iran, one was revolution, and the

other one was an unwanted war. People wanted to build their country after the revolution. Before these things happened, suddenly Iraq invaded the border of Iran. Because of that, the situation in Iran was hard for people to live. Some people who were rich they would like to go out of the country for living. One of these family was Marjan‘s families. Their ideology was materialistic.  In their mind, freedom is buying a brand name shirt for ten year old girl, or going to the European country to live while the condition was unstable in their country Iran. In my point of view freedom has another meaning to my family and I. I was in Iran in those days, my husband was a professor at the university and I have two boys, they were one and four year old. We believe we had to stay and work and help our country Iran on that time. We did in eight years of the war, we stayed there worked and helped to win the war. On the other hand there were families like Marjan’s families with this kind of ideology which they want freedom in hard situation of the war, but some people have a different idea which freedom has another meaning for them in that hard condition. While we stayed, and worked in Iran these action had a point, and the point was looks like a kind of defend for our country till the victory happened.

There is much arguing about freedom and it has a different meaning to different people I don’t blame Marjan about her point to not wear hejab because she did not know why she should wear hejab. First, Marjan’s family did not know about hejab and her mom did not practice their religion to wear hejab, as a result Marjan did not know why women wore veils while they were out of their homes. Because of that she thought she did not have freedom.  There is the argument about the freedom for people especially for women.

 Marjan’s family felt they did not have  freedom in Iran, the situation was not normal. Marjan and her mom had different ideas from many Muslim women who lived in Iran. Marjan and her family believe those women who like to wear hejab, they don’t have a freedom, but I believe those who have a hejab have freedom. Hejab gives freedom, and it protects your body from stranger or from those who are sick in society. According the Prophet Mohammad “women look like a pearl in the shell”, their beauty is special. Nobody should take an advantage of their beauty or use it. For these reasons, women should take cares of their beauties, and do not let anybody harass them or look at them like a material. Because of that it is better to cover their body and hair to not show up. As a result, the women who have hejab, they have freedom while they are at work or out of their home. Indeed, men can talk to them for their mind and knowledge and not for their beauty or their body. For many cultures it is hard to understand this concept, but if you think deep about that, it is easy and simple to understand.

Freedom is a kind of element which all women are challenging to have, even in this 21st century.  They like to have their freedom and rights in any society even in developed countries.  Western countries believe they are civilized, but still many people look at a woman as a material and use them for marketing. For example, on any movie or magazine they are using ladies for their advertizing. If any magazine or movies have a nude or sexy woman, it sells more and gets very popular. Unfortunately, these situations make women who wear hejab angry and upset in this world. Some people think showing women’s body means freedom. How can they prove that this is a freedom?  Many women in this world do not believe sexy and nude women make a right action or mean freedom, they think this action is worse than slavery and a huge disrespect to other women.

In conclusion, some people believe freedom is an action which everyone needs. At the same time, women need freedom which they do not really have in this world or they have little. Freedom has a different meaning to different people, some people believe showing off their body in front of others is a freedom, but some people believe the opposite and consider freedom is in their mind and intelligence not anything else.