The theme of gender roles has a major effect on the way a book is written. This theme is shared with the two books “The Complete Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi and “The Brief, Wondrous life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Díaz. The first difference the reader can see is that, although sharing the same theme, have a very different view on what it means to be masculine or feminine, due to different cultural lifestyles. Secondly, the characters of the stories must then change the way they grew up or believe they should act to fit what the culture they are living in. Lastly, the gender roles are enforced differently in each culture. These differences help define who the characters will become in their life. Firstly, the reader can see the difference in
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The Iranian culture enforces its rules very hard on the women of Iran. They have police whose sole purpose is to catch women who disobey the laws of hiding ones skin. Satrapi says, “They were guardians of the revolution, the women’s branch. This group had been added in 1982, to arrest women who were improperly veiled.” (132). This police force constantly hassled the girls into dressing correctly and making sure they were not showing too much to the men. Men were also enforced upon to make sure they were not heckling the women of the country. Satrapi tells a guard on a man saying, “There’s a guy who said something indecent to me.” (285). The man is then taken away. The reader can see that double standards are enforced here. The men and women in the Iranian culture are both enforced upon. The opposite is happening in the Dominican Republic. The men there are worshipped for getting as many women as they can. The narrator says when talking of Oscar, “Anywhere else his triple-zero batting average with the ladies might have passed without comment, but this is a Dominican kid we’re talking about, in a Dominican family: dude was supposed to have Atomic Level G, was supposed to be pulling in the bitches with both hands.”(24) The reader can see here that Oscar’s lack of getting women has made him a nerd and an outcast. The gender role of being a man is enforced in a way, by if you don’t get the women you get made fun of. The women of the Dominican culture have no enforcement. They become their own independent women in this culture. As the reader can see through the life of Beli every time she relies on a man, she gets left. Then she becomes an independent women running her own life. This shows how the independent women of the Dominican Republic are not enforced upon but are the enforcers of a family. The gender roles are enforced through law, expectations, and by one’s
The Iranian culture enforces its rules very hard on the women of Iran. They have police whose sole purpose is to catch women who disobey the laws of hiding ones skin. Satrapi says, “They were guardians of the revolution, the women’s branch. This group had been added in 1982, to arrest women who were improperly veiled.” (132). This police force constantly hassled the girls into dressing correctly and making sure they were not showing too much to the men. Men were also enforced upon to make sure they were not heckling the women of the country. Satrapi tells a guard on a man saying, “There’s a guy who said something indecent to me.” (285). The man is then taken away. The reader can see that double standards are enforced here. The men and women in the Iranian culture are both enforced upon. The opposite is happening in the Dominican Republic. The men there are worshipped for getting as many women as they can. The narrator says when talking of Oscar, “Anywhere else his triple-zero batting average with the ladies might have passed without comment, but this is a Dominican kid we’re talking about, in a Dominican family: dude was supposed to have Atomic Level G, was supposed to be pulling in the bitches with both hands.”(24) The reader can see here that Oscar’s lack of getting women has made him a nerd and an outcast. The gender role of being a man is enforced in a way, by if you don’t get the women you get made fun of. The women of the Dominican culture have no enforcement. They become their own independent women in this culture. As the reader can see through the life of Beli every time she relies on a man, she gets left. Then she becomes an independent women running her own life. This shows how the independent women of the Dominican Republic are not enforced upon but are the enforcers of a family. The gender roles are enforced through law, expectations, and by one’s