Of Art and Literature

This piece is heavily influenced by Persepolis; one of my favourite readings of the seminar. Narratives have the power to shape the views of receivers of that narrative. Reading Jasmine and the Stars and Persepolis was an important reminder that every narrative stand on its own, and does not represent a grander scheme of things. This is a little (very badly drawn) snapshot of my experience of things in Pakistan. Persepolis was a great story that stood on its own and included the good parts and the bad parts of Marji’s life. Like Persepolis, I did not mean for this to portray anything except for my own experience and understanding of things when it came to religion. Coincidentally, the same week we were reading about the importance of narratives and how delicately you must handle them, I came across the TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie “The dangers of a single story” where she also mentions the importance of having multiple narratives. And since this is only a glimpse of mine, I think it’s safe to say that there are no dangers posed by it. But, I must present a disclaimer to you, please read this as one of the many narratives that exist.