The Trials of Growing Up
According to Judd Nelson, “Young alienation, disappointment and heartache is all a part of the first real growing up that we do.” Rooftops of Tehran tells the tale of how a group of children take the initial steps to being adults. They must deal with pains that are new to them and learn to understand how to deal with them. Judd’s quote shines truth on what each the young person must get through to fully reach adulthood. The struggle of wanting to find what one’s role in life is and where one fits in the world is exactly what a person feels at this stage in life. Mahbod Seraji uses literary allusions to give a wide scope to the novel, and also creates foreshadowing and symbolism that develops the story to mean so much
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more. The allusions in Rooftops of Tehran help make the book more relatable and realistic. When Pasha is thinking about Zari’s sacrifice he compares her decision to Socrates. He thinks, “a red rose action, a Socrates decision, a heroic gesture, signifying the triviality of life without freedom”(Seraji 251). How he calls it a “Socrates decision” shows the significance and thought behind it because Socrates was a great philosopher. The comparison makes Zari seem thoughtful and wise. Also it gives a sense of reality to the situation because Socrates is a renowned scholar who most people know of. Pasha and his father also watch the movie Casablanca which is a real movie. Pasha thinks, “Will Zari, Doctor, and I end up like the three main characters in Casablanca? I can see Doctor as the revolutionary who fought the Nazis, and I am the lonely bar owner who thinks he has the woman until the other man comes back”(Seraji 73). Pasha is imagining himself, Zari, and the Doctor into the roles of the Casablanca characters. The movie makes Pasha seem more relatable because real teenagers also often compare their lives to the fantasy lives of actors. Mahbod understands this and uses Casablanca to help us make connections to the characters. Another allusion is the reference to the book The Gadfly. Pasha thinks after Doctor’s death, “All of his books were destroyed except this one, this special gift that is in my possession now. I will never part with it. All the kids in the alley should hear the story of The Gadfly”(Seraji 144). Pasha treasures this book because it is the last thing he owns from Doctor. The book is a real novel and the storyline as Pasha explains it, can help the reader understand Doctor better. The use of a book about revolutionaries helps to clearly show that Doctor is one, and that Pasha identifies to the book through Doctor. Although allusions help the reader relate to the book, foreshadowing brings anxiety to the reader and opens the imagination up to what could take place. Much of Rooftops of Tehran is foreshadowed before the events take place. Foreshadowing adds suspense and mystery to what will become of Pasha and his friends. Early on in the book, Pasha dreams, “I see a man dressed in a black suit looking up at me from the alley. His predatory eyes glint. His face is bloated. He howls into a radio clutched in his hands”(Seraji 22). Clearly this quote is foreshadowing the evening of Doctor’s arrest and the pain that will eventually take place. Tension is built here as the reader wonders who this mystery radio man is and why he seems to be a bad sign. When Zari decides to set herself on fire for Doctor this is a large build up of foreshadowing leading up to the event. Zari talks about suicide in general and Doctor’s fortieth day. “Do you know what next week is? It’s the birthday of the Shah. He’ll be going from his palace to Amjadieh Stadium in an open motorcade”(Seraji 197). It is clear to the reader that this section, including this quote, is foreshadowing that Zari intends to die on Doctor’s fortieth day. The foreshadowing is considerably obvious, but although the reader has an idea of what will happen, one does not know how the course of events will unfold. Zari acts as though she is in a different world while she is talking about this day. When the day does eventually come around, it is not as surprising, seeing that the reader has been waiting for it anxiously. One of the largest foreshadowed events, however, is when the Masked Angel is revealed to be Zari. Pasha is talking to her on the terrace and coming up with reasons why he knows it is actually Zari and asks, “‘Is it you?” I ask again desperately”(Seraji 338). To this she finally breaks down and answers him, “Yes,” she whimpers, “it’s me’”(Seraji 339). There is a number of convicting evidence as to why the Masked Angel is Zari, all of it foreshadowing to this moment. When Pasha tells his parents that the Masked Angel is Zari they are sad for and think him delusional. The Masked Angel repeatedly tells Pasha that she is not Zari. The fact that the evidence that Zari was the Masked Angel is right there, but everyone denies it, creates the foreshadowing that Pasha is right about Zari. While foreshadowing plays a key role in the development of the plot of Rooftops of Tehran, symbolism is the heart of the story. The symbolism present in Rooftops of Tehran gives the story a whole new meaning.
It develops the characters and helps the novel go deeper. One of the largest symbols that stays constant throughout the entire book is that of the red rose. After Doctor’s death, Pasha plants a red rose bush outside Zari’s house. The neighborhood interprets it in different ways, saying, “Red is the color of passion and the color of revolution. Red is also the color of love. And the color of blood”(Seraji 146). The symbolism behind the red rose bush varies between all of these explanations, but mostly represents a passive resistance. He plants the rose bush after Zari’s Whether Pasha plants the rose bush out of love and mourning or rebellion is unknown. The two subjects are more similar than they seem,so he probably meant both. Another use of the symbol of the red rose is with the rebellion leader Golesorkhi. During his trial he says, “This court is an illegal institution. The Shah is a tyrant, a servant of the Americans, and a puppet of the West”(Seraji, 31). He is a man who stands for what he believes in and does not give in to the Savak’s wish for him to beg for forgiveness. His name means “red rose” which symbolizes his passion and the rebellion he believes in. He himself is basically a symbol representing all of what Doctor and other revolutionaries are striving for. Doctor uses Golesorkhi to even do his own small rebellion by painting the red roses the night after Golesorkhi’s death. Zari also incorporates the symbolism of the red rose when she takes action to make a big statement. Right before she sets herself on fire she says, “I’m lighting a candle for Doctor. Today is the fortieth day of his death. I love you”(Seraji 215). The significance of her defiance can not be overlooked, as she does it straight from her heart. She takes all the love, pain, and rebellion she has accumulated in the recent past and puts it all into this one deed. Zari decides that what the fire
represents is more important than even her own life. Lighting the candle for Doctor is her finally being able to mourn all she has lost and the toss of the rose, brings in again the symbolism behind it as well. Symbolism gave more meaning to the book, and changes the way the reader looks at objects that represent much more. Looking back, Mahbod’s use of allusions gives the novel a realistic touch; the foreshadowing helps build tension and keep the reader hooked. Symbolism was abundant and seemed to be present everywhere. The reader is given the choice to interpret what different objects and actions mean in one’s own way. Rooftops of Tehran is a moving novel, that demonstrates Judd Nelson's idea of growing up perfectly.
This book teaches the importance of self-expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful of what is going on. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
A rose can indicate romance, it’s the flower of love, beauty, courage, and respect. Sula created a relationship with Nel that was full of love. Nel saw this love given to her in the rose shaped pigmentation on her friend’s face. However; the stem covered in thorns represents hurt and pain. When Sula returned to the Bottom 10 years after Nel’s wedding, “the rose mark over Sula’s eye gave [Nel] a glance of startled pleasure. It was darker then Nel remembered” (96). Over their years apart Sula’s birthmark has grown darker, indicating a change in her character. The darkened birthmark implies that over their time apart Nel has started to view Sula’s character in a darker way. In 1937 after Sula slept with Nel’s husband, Jude, Nel broke off their friendship. The year was 1940 when the two childhood friends would cross paths once again. Sula has become sick and Nel decided it was time to visit and check on her. This was “the first time in three years she would be looking at the stemmed rose that hung over the eye of her enemy,” Sula has now become an enemy to her once inseparable friend (139). Nel “would be facing the
If one were to trace the color red through the book, it would be almost impossible to give it one decisive meaning- and that is the point entirely. The color red appears to symbolize not
In John Connolly’s novel, The Book of Lost Things, he writes, “for in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be”. Does one’s childhood truly have an effect on the person one someday becomes? In Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle and Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, this question is tackled through the recounting of Jeannette and Amir’s childhoods from the perspectives of their older, more developed selves. In the novels, an emphasis is placed on the dynamics of the relationships Jeannette and Amir have with their fathers while growing up, and the effects that these relations have on the people they each become. The environment to which they are both exposed as children is also described, and proves to have an influence on the characteristics of Jeannette and Amir’s adult personalities. Finally, through the journeys of other people in Jeannette and Amir’s lives, it is demonstrated that the sustainment of traumatic experiences as a child also has a large influence on the development of one’s character while become an adult. Therefore, through the analysis of the effects of these factors on various characters’ development, it is proven that the experiences and realities that one endures as a child ultimately shape one’s identity in the future.
Symbols are what takes a novel to another level and without them a novel would be very one dimensional and readers would lose interest. The color red is very prevailing in Ethan Frome. We associate red with blood, love, hate, passion, danger, and countless others. There are many items in this story that are specifically described as red. Ethan’s scar, the “"cherry-coloured fascinator” (Wharton 32), the pickle dish, and the sun. It seems as if the red symbols are related to angsts in Ethan’s life. The red pickle dish is a symbol of Ethan and Mattie’s marriage. When it breaks, Zeena is devastated, but Ethan, not so much. The idea of passion between the two ties into the color of the dish, red. Also, keep in mind that Mattie was the one who took the dish out of the china closet, which resulted in the cat breaking it. Just like how she broke Ethan and Mattie’s marriage. Another symbol is the tree at the end of the snow slope. Ethan sees Zeena’s face on the tree. The tree symbolizes the desire to be belligerent towards Zeena. Ethan could have avoided the crash into the tree if he wished. Even though both Ethan and Mattie ended up injured, Ethan was glad he hit “Zeena”. The night that Ethan had walked with Mattie home, he notices “A dead cucumber vine dangled from the porch like the crape streamer tied to the door for a death" (Wharton 56). This symbolizes and foreshadows a death to come. The death of Ethan Zeena’s marriage,
...the future to see that his life is not ruined by acts of immaturity. And, in “Araby”, we encounter another young man facing a crisis of the spirit who attempts to find a very limiting connection between his religious and his physical and emotional passions. In all of these stories, we encounter boys in the cusp of burgeoning manhood. What we are left with, in each, is the understanding that even if they can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, we can. These stories bind all of us together in their universal messages…youth is something we get over, eventually, and in our own ways, but we cannot help get over it.
Flowers can be seen to represent emotions that are felt when opressions on women are seen. Poisonous flowers represent the determination that these women use to find a better life in this society
The rose is initiated earlier as a symbol for Monica, when she plucks one and shows it to David, and at the end he picks one as a reminder of her. Teddy senses the importance of the roses for the mother and the child as he tries to bond with them. Monica’s husband, Henry, is the character that represents a clearer picture of the story.
It doesn’t take hours of research to find the typical symbolism behind the most basic colors, white, and red among them. Brides wear white to symbolize purity or virtue. People give white roses as a token of the purity of the heart or the purity of their feelings. Red is associated with passion or love. Men buy the woman he loves, or wants to woe for the evening, red roses to...
These definitions of this age old symbol, the rose, evolved over time as cultures came into contact with what has now called the Language of the Flowers. This “language” first appeared in the East and was used as a form of silent communication between illiterate women in harems. During the Victorian era this form of communication began to move towards Western Europe. The first compilation of this language was written in French and then was later translated into English. (Seaton, ).The Victorians used this new method of communication to express love, sorrow and much more through the flowers that they cultivated and bought. This language of flowers or rather the use of flowers to symbolize different messages can certainly influence a story if one has knowledge of this method and chooses to interpret it in this manner.
First of all, the book follows the themes of isolation, innocence, and corrupted maturity through the setting. In
In “Araby” and “Boys and Girls” the plots illustrate that both of the adolescents experience the common phase of growing up. They learn the universal lesson of how different the world is, compared to how they would like to see. The young boy in “Araby” grows into a young man and the girl in “Boys and Girls” accepts the reality that she is a girl. Freeing the horse was like freeing herself. The protagonists in both stories go through learning experience that we all go through, but the way in which these learning experience occur differs with each of us.
Throughout the life of Emily Grierson, she remains locked up, never experiencing love from anyone but her father. She lives a life of loneliness, left only to dream of the love missing from her life. The rose from the title symbolizes this absent love. It symbolizes the roses and flowers that Emily never received, the lovers that overlooked her.
He has grown up in the backwash of a dying city and has developed into an individual sensitive to the fact that his town’s vivacity has receded, leaving the faintest echoes of romance, a residue of empty piety, and symbolic memories of an active concern for God and mankind that no longer exists. Although the young boy cannot fully comprehend it intellectually, he feels that his surroundings have become malformed and ostentatious. He is at first as blind as his surroundings, but Joyce prepares us for his eventual perceptive awakening by mitigating his carelessness with an unconscious rejection of the spiritual stagnation of his community. Upon hitting Araby, the boy realizes that he has placed all his love and hope in a world that does not exist outside of his imagination. He feels angry and betrayed and comes to realize his self-deception, describing himself as “a creature driven and derided by vanity”, a vanity all his own (Joyce). This, inherently, represents the archetypal Joycean epiphany, a small but definitive moment after which life is never quite the same. This epiphany, in which the boy lives a dream in spite of the disagreeable and the material, is brought to its inevitable conclusion, with the single sensation of life disintegrating. At the moment of his realization, the narrator finds that he is able to better understand his particular circumstance, but, unfortunately, this
The short story “Araby” written by James Joyce tells the story of an unnamed boy who lives on North Richmond Street. The short story starts off by giving the reader a brief overview about the boy's life and other relevant background information. It is soon expressed that the boy has a very intense infatuation with his friends Mangan’s sister. The story goes on to explain his interaction with this girl which leads him to attend an event later that week. By James Joyce’s use of literary devices, the short story is able to progress and give the reader an accurate insight into this young boy's life and experiences.