Selection Of Lolita In Tehran Analysis

Many believe that our mind is the source of our freedom. We see this in Azar Nafisi’s “Selections of Lolita in Tehran,” Cathy Davidson’s “Project Classroom Makeover,” and Maggie Nelson’s “Great to Watch.” Nafisi creates a world of color to escape from the darkness of the society she lives in. Davidson tries to resist standard education. Nelson discusses avant-garde artists use cruelty as a way to rebel against banality. But people are surrounded by fences that limit their individuality. The mind is not enough to overcome the environment to create freedom.

The three authors present people, including themselves, attempting to resist some restriction power. Nelson shows this with the avant-garde artists that want to resist state violence. Nelson

states how “much of the art produced under the influence of [Antonin] Artaud- such as [Hermann] Nitsch’s- proceeds from this premise, and attempts to replace the crush of banality with some form of brutal sensory overload” (Nelson 306). This premise is referring to the “continual threat of two equally fearful, but seemingly opposed destinies: unremitting banality and inconceivable terror” (Nelson 306). Nelson shows that the avant-garde artists are using cruelty as a way for individuals to recognize the cruelty that surrounds them. These artists hope that if individuals see an excessive amount of cruelty then they can challenge cruelty when they come in contact with it. The idea of the “brutal sensory overload” is to shock individuals into a state where they are aware of violent acts. This is shown in Nelsons example of how the dichotomy “is the distraction by the banal obviates a necessary focus on the all-two-real-calamitous” (Nelson 306). Nelson states how “media commentator after commentator lamented the fact that instead of focusing on the real threat from Al Queda, Americans spent the summer of 2001 unforgivably obsessing over the latest incarnation of Britney Spears.” The avant-garde artists not only wanted individuals to recognize the cruel acts but to discuss it with others. The avant-garde artists want individuals to overcome the environment they live in so that they can resist state violence. The artists want to “return us to our senses” by showing individuals an overload of brutal images (Nelson 307). Since individuals do not recognize cruelty, avant-garde artists wanted to paint a picture where individuals see the cruel society they live in. Individuals are expected to overcome the society they live in by seeing brutal images. This is shown in Nitsch’s Six Day Play where he uses “troughs of blood and wine” and “extreme noise from the orchestra” to seek catharsis through pain. Nitsh’s overload of cruelty is to exemplify how society does not recognize brutality. All three avant-garde artists want to illustrate an image of cruelty so that individuals can be aware that recognizing cruelty leads to a release of thought. With the example of the threat from Al Queda, the brutal threats that commentators repeated allowed for individuals to resist the distraction. Resistance is also shown in Nafisi’s passage. Nafisi and her students are resisting the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nafisi and her students used their imagination to overcome their challenges. By reading literary works, Nafisi and her students were going against the government’s idea of “illegal books” (Nafisi 289). As Nafisi states “I, luckily had bought mine before it was banned and sold only on the black market, for exorbitant price” (Nafisi 291). Referring to the book A Thousand and One Nights, Nafisi shows resistance by owning a copy of a book that is banned. Not only does owning the book show refusal to comply but teaching it to her students does as well. Nafisi and her students are creating “little pockets of freedom” to resist the environment they live in (Nafisi 295). As stated in the text “ And like Lolita, we took every opportunity to flaunt our insubordination: by showing a little hair from under our scarves, insinuating a little color into the drab uniformity of our appearances, growing our nails, falling in love, and listening to forbidden music” (Nafisi 295).

Since Nafisi and her students are doing these things that are considered inappropriate they are not complying with the ideals. Therefore, going against the government. Nafisi’s examples of “insubordination” show that she wants to escape the chain of her environment. In addition, Nafisi uses uses colors to reference to people, places and things. Nelson uses Bronte to show how “Reality has become so intolerable that all I can paint now are colors of my dreams.” Nelson implies how individuals only have the “color of their dreams” to create their own ideas. This act of imagination is an act of refusing the reality that surrounds individuals. The hostile reality allows individuals to reject the thoughts that the government creates. Similar to Nelson and Nafisi, Davidson also shows resistance towards a group. Davidson and her students are resisting hierarchy and standard education. Davidson states formal education does not enrich students in a “world of social networking, crowdsourcing, customizing, and user-generated content” (Davidson 55). Davidson rejects

standard education because “our national educational policy depends on standardized tests, but it is not at all clear that preparing students to achieve high test scores is equivalent to setting a high standard for what and how kids should know and learn” (Davidson 59).

Davidson implies that technology is a source of knowledge whether it is to network with other or to use their own skills. Davidson and her students show a clear resistance by promoting a different way of learning. There resistance is a form of them trying to obtain their own sense of independence. As stated in the text “The new global economics of work is not likely to change, and so we must. And that change begins with schooling. Given the altered shape of global labor, the seemingly daring iPod experiment turns out actually to be, in the long run, a highly pragmatic educational model” (Davidson 61). The word pragmatic shows that standard education can limit individuals from learning information that can help in the work force. Individuals are rejecting standard education by using the iPods to learn. Davidson implies that the iPods allow for education to be unlimited because it does not label individuals based on their knowledge on standardized tests. As stated in the text “As what counts as learning is increasingly standardized an limited, increasing numbers of students learn in ways that are not measure by those standards” (Davidson 61). Standardized

education limits individuals and does not provide individuals with a the motivation they need. Her students also show resistance towards the standardized educational system by complying with the idea of “[convincing] a prof to require [an iPod] for a course and come up with a learning app in the course” (Davidson 51). By creating learning applications individuals are using their imagination to escape from standard education. Davidson and her students want to break away from the old fashioned system so that they can learn without the standards that surround them. Nafisi, Nelson and Davidson try to resist some sort of group or system as a way to obtain their own freedom.