Expo Iran 2008

Individual Text Analysis
Text: “Forty Fortunes”

By: Laura Lehmann

“Forty Fortunes” is an ancient Iranian folktale retold in 1997 by Aaron Shepard. The story revolves around Ahmed, a young husband posing as a Holy Diviner. By the king’s order, he must uncover forty jewel thieves within forty days or suffer harsh consequences of lifetime imprisonment. Luckily but unintentionally, Jamell finds the bandits and is rewarded with riches, living with his wife as the story describes, ‘happily ever after’.

Throughout the narrative, evidence of Iranian values, languages, food, clothing, geography, and political issues can jointly be traced.

In Isfahan, an ancient Iranian city, husbands are traditional breadwinners as Ahmed’s wife, Jamell, demands him of a job. Women, unlike today, were more respected since she threatens him with her optional leaving. The kingdom is ruled by a royal family, clearly authoritative when the wife of the King’s Royal Diviner takes the public bath all to herself. Their power is likewise depicted with their many servants, treasure chests, and strict ruling—“If you succeed, I’ll make you rich. If you don’t, you’ll rot with the others in prison”. Nonetheless, issues of opposing rebel groups are evident in the robbery of the palace—“The royal treasury was robbed. Forty pairs of hands carried away forty chests of gold and jewels”. Ahmed’s use of dry dates furthermore suggests an arid climate while his basic tools propose an undeveloped civilization—“He knew no special craft or trade, but he had a shovel and a pick… ‘If you can dig a hole, you can always earn enough to stay alive’”. Similarly, the serious improperness of a small hole in the lady’s cloak conveys a conservative Islamic society. With the character’s dialogue—“By the grace of God” and “Oh great diviner”—factors of religion and unreasoned beliefs proved major influences in society. Multiple Persian and Arabic names such as “Ahmed” and “Jamell” also established a Middle Eastern setting. Clearly, the folktale conveyed much of Iran’s cultural aspects.

Folktale Analysis
“Forty Fortunes”

By: Gabby Ayala

This folktale from Iran is about a poor man named Ahmed who, from the persuasion of his wife, pretends to be a fortuneteller. The only problem is, he has no idea how to be a fortune teller and when the kings 40 chests of gold are stolen, is asked to retrieve them in 40 days or else he will be thrown in jail. And as “fortune” would have it, he finds the 40 thieves and makes them return the treasure two the king. The king then bestows on him two chests of gold and Ahmed and his wife live happily ever after.

From the story, you can infer various things about the culture and society at the time. At the beginning of the story it says it was set in Isfahan, this was the old capital of Iran so immediately we know where the fable takes place. Along with this information, the names (Achmed, Jamell) also come from Middle Eastern roots, leading us to believe that the characters would have spoken some for of Arabic dialect. There is also mention of a house with stairs leading up to a flat roof with a terrace, since we know that during around the 1500’s middle eastern people normally slept on our roof, we can guess that the climate fairly hot, so to cool themselves down they slept on their roofs at night. Another thing that tells us what time period it is in is the mention of the various technologies such as the pick, shovel, bolt doors and public baths, all of which were used and invented around 600 years ago. From the story, we can tell that in daily life, sleeping on the rooftops and socializing in public baths was routine. The story also tells us that when Achmed is paid, the normal currency was silver and gold coins. Then when Achmed becomes a fortuneteller, it is clear that many people believe in the witchcraft (since even the king has a personal “diviner”, showing that religion and sorcery still held higher importance then that of science and reason. Achmed also thanks a God repeatable through the story for his good fortune, again influences how important religion was in society. We learn which form religion it is when it is immediately notices that a woman has a piece of skin showing. Thus, Iran was probably already under Islamic rule since the religion requires women to cover themselves completely. When the king is robbed, we learn another two things, that Iran is still ruled using a monarchy and that the government is under a small attack by groups of thieves and rebels. The story however also says fortune telling is fake, with all the fortune tellers failing to find the thieves and treasure and Achmed only finding them because of sheer luck and intelligence.

Iran Focus

Women bear brunt of Tehran’s crackdown

This article is about the mistreatment of Iranian women activists in prison. It was written on April 28, 2007 by an Iranian woman named Scheherazade Faramarzi. This could be important because she might be able to really relate to the women she is writing about. But it seems that she is writing in a purely objective fashion and her emotions aren’t really been shown, since most of the opinions in her article are in quotes:

“…women activists accused of receiving foreign funds to stir up dissent in Iran. But their real crime, says Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, was gathering peacefully outside Tehran’s Revolutionary Court in support of five fellow activists on trial for demanding changes in laws that discriminate against women.”

But it does seem that everything she has written in this article is negatively showing the government:

“It is drafting a law to limit women students to half the places in college, instead of the 65 percent they now occupy. It is also restricting women’s entry to medical schools, arguing that they put a strain on limited – and sexually segregated – dormitory and transportation facilities.”

 “Over the past 10 months, security forces have “become more and more aggressive even as women’s actions have become more peaceful and tame,” said Jila Baniyaghoub, an activist who has also spent time in jail.”

 That, alone, could mean that she doesn’t support the mistreatment of these women. I believe that this article is aimed towards Iranian activists, expats, educated or purely interested people.

Florence Johannot

Faramarzi, Scheherezade. “Women bear brunt of Tehran’s crackdown .” Iran Focus – Women bear brunt of Tehran’s crackdown . 28 April 2007. Iran Focus. 12 May 2008 <http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view

Analyzing “Iran pollution report”

URL: http://www.aghayan.com/iranpol0502.htm

By: Kuan-Ting Chen

After searching environmental issues about Iran for science fiction story board, I found an interesting report. It was published by the US Department of Energy. The author of this report is from outside the country but, I still think that they send investigators or scientists to investigate Iran. The purpose of this report was to let people know about the environmental situation in Iran. This report is for general audience, it is for every one.  The writer was objective because this is a formal report and there is no emotion connection because I think that the writer is American and have no connection with Iran. Further more I think that that the author only put down the facts about the pollution. This report was written on May 5 2002. This means that this article is not that significant because the data have not bee updated.   

Evidence

“Additionally, Iran declared January 19th to be “National Clean Air Day,” 

“The city is hemmed in by the Alborz Mountains to the north, causing the increasing volume of pollutants to become trapped, hovering over Tehran when the wind is not strong enough to blow the pollution away.”    

Article Analysis
By: Gabriel Ayala

“How to end the U.S.-Iran standoff”
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/03/opinion/edluers.php?page=1

This opinioned news article is about how to end the stalemate between the United States and Iran about Iran’s nuclear program. The article is written cooperatively by three different people, William Luers, Thomas Pickering and James Walsh, all of whom are US politicians. Their primary source of information about the US’ policy would be first hand, since they all have knowledge in the subject. But their opinion and views on Iran’s side of the debate would have to be from second hand sources, such as news articles and reports since they are not in any relations with the country. From the content and language of the article it is apparent that the target audience would be mostly mature and educated people, people who are interested in world affairs. It is an opinioned article which while informing the reader briefly about the situation is at the same time stating how to resolve it. This articles objective is to give an opinion and try to persuade the reader that the suggestions are plausible and practical. Because the article is written by US statement, the argument is heavily favored on the US’ side; this perspective causes a fair amount of bias about the issue. This can be seen in the choice of details which are used in the article; most details the US’ argument, while the details included about Iran’s side are very minimal and don’t show the positive side of Iran’s argument, thus causing the reader to agree with the US. And with the article being ones own opinion, their feelings and emotions in the article are very strong. There are a lot of propositions and suggests made in the article which show how the writers feel about the matter and how they think that it is the best way to solve the problem with details and facts to support their proposals. The date which the commentary is written ( March 3, 2008) is fairly recent, this means that the arguments are based on up-to-date facts and events. This makes the opinions much more believable and the writers would have had the ability to look upon the issue with hindsight instead of just relying on raw information and emotion.

Article Analysis
By: Laura Lehmann

“Robbed of Simple Pressures”
Motlagh, Ghazoll. “Robbed of Simple Pleasures.” The Iranian 27 Feb 2004 08 May 2008 .

The online news article, “Robbed of Simple Pressures”, outlines women’s rights in Iran. It is written by Ghazoll Motlagh, an Iranian college student who migrated to America in 1986. Her top education, personal experiences, and first-hand perspectives from both Islamic and Western cultures have brought the article both fact and wise opinion. A natural bias is not present and any one-sided view is based on well-found justification. Word choice is simple, but mature topics target mainly those educated and interested in worldly affairs. Nonetheless, the article persuades all readers to fight for woman’s rights. Strong emotions that call for change are flaunted in the many statements—“Now is the time for other organizations to step in and aid in the fight for freedom and equality”—including given interviews of tortured women. Objective aspects are likewise displayed in factual details. Though the text was written back in 2004, it bases on sufficient information, enough to analyze and reflect upon. With post Revolution views, 9/11 terrorist attacks, and discovered nuclear programs, the article was composed when conservatives conquered Iran as modernization spread the world. Iranians grew in isolation, and the article, like its readers, called for action, change, and progress!