I am reading a book right now called Reading Lolita in Tehran. It is a very interesting book that is a memoir about a teacher in Iran who gathered seven of her students in her home for a book club group to study forbidden Western classics. It is fascinating. However, I can't help but notice a few similarities between the situation in the book (limited freedoms imposed by the government) and situations in Nazi Germany in the late 1930's. There is one passage in particular that I would like to see if you have a comment on. The passage is copied below, with credit to the author, Azar Nafisi:
"I had asked my students if they remember the dance scene in Invitation to a Beheading: the jailor invites Cincinnatus to a dance. They begin a waltz and move out into the hall. In a corner they run into a guard: 'They described a circle near him and glided back into the cell, and now Cincinnatus regretted that the swoon's friendly embrace had been so brief.' This movement in circles is the main movement of the novel. As long as he accept the sham world the jailers impose upon him, Cincinnatus will remain their prisoner and will move within the circles of their creation. The worst crime committed by totalitarian mindsets is that they force their citizens, including their victims, to become complicit in their crimes. Dancing with your jailor, participating in your own execution, that is an act of utmost brutality. My students witnessed it in show trials in television and enacted it every time they went out into the streets dressed as they were told to dress. They had not become part of the crowd who watched the executions, but they did not have the power to protest them, either.
The only way to leave the circle, to stop dancing with the jailor, is to find a way to preserve one's individuality, that unique quality which evades description but differentiates one human being from the other. That is why, in their world, rituals-- empty rituals-- become so central. There was not much difference between our jailers and Cincinnatus's executioners. They invaded all private spaces and tried to shape ever gesture, to force us to become one of them, and in that itself was another form of execution."
It is long, I know, and detailed. But really read it and think about it deeply. It has a lot to say.
Lit Terms 2
5 years ago
3 comments:
I've read this passage a couple of times now and i keep thinking of a book called Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. Its about the government taking over and trying to create a totally equal society. No one differs from another everyone is exactly the same. By the government controlling people it takes away their idenity. It forces them to not to question. It forces them to not have a mind at all. I also thought about the poem "First They Came for the Jews" By Pastor Niemoller. It suggests that by not speaking up you lose yourself. When people starts to take away your rights it is up to you it is your job your duty to stand up and protect your rights so you can remain a unique individual.
Taylor, you are my new favorite person. :) I have read Harrison Bergeron too (I always think of "GATTACA" when I think of Harrison Bergeron) and I can see what you are saying. We will actually read that poem later in the semester. I remember loving that particular day last semester. Nicely done on the comment...
This sounds like an excellent book. I can also see in a million different ways how their situation is similiar to Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. It is horrible to think there are human beings in the world today that try to control individuals and i repeat individuals, their own people, and try to control them in such ways. It greatly saddened me to hear the teacher put it into words how the children were forced to dress and they just did it because they had to. It was also very alarming to hear the that even though they had not became part of the crowd, as most people get caught up in doing so, they were not able to protest against it either. It is horrible in so many ways to not be able to stand up for what you believe in and speak your mind. It brings tears to my eyes to know this happens in our beautiful world today. We live in an amazing country and Americans most often take the wonderful freedom we have for granted. We should stop and think about how great things are here and understand that it doesn't have to always be like this. There are places in this world today such as Iran as a living example. We should appreciate the world around us and how great we have it in the U.S., not to mention our government of the people and for the people. Those words and very strong and true. Stop and think
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