Richard

English 1H
Per. 2
11/16/16

Freedom

Freedom is something so simple, yet it is fought over and has to be demanded. For

example, America took African Americans freedom by enslaving them, and even when the

slaves were freed, they werent treated fairly from this statement, But one hundred years later,

the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by

the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination (King 46). The Iranian government

took away the freedoms of women by taking away their freedom of thought and display.

Freedom has to be demanded in some instances. For example, African Americans had to

demand their freedom. For example, this statement shows that African Americans had to demand

their freedom, But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later,

the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of

discrimination (King 46). From this quote the reader can understand that African Americans felt

as if they were not free and that they were being segregated and being discriminated upon. This

forced them to demand their freedom by marching to Washington and pleading that the

government pass a law that would ban segregation and discrimination. African Americans were

forced to demand freedom from the government after they were being segregated and

discriminated upon for centuries.

The Iranian government stripped Iranian women of their freedom. The Iranian

government took away the freedoms of Iranian women by forcing them to wear long clothes that
covered their whole body, and veils that covered their faces. This took away their freedom of

display. An example of this is, She says her goodbyes and puts on her black robe and scarf over

her orange shirt and jeans (Nafisi 4). From this text, the reader can decipher it as, women are

being forced to wear long pieces of clothing, and that their freedom of display have been taken

away. If their freedom had not been taken away then Sanaz would have been able to display her

outfit of an orange shirt and a jeans, but since their freedom had been taken away Sanaz was

forced to wear a black robe and was unable to display herself.

The Iranian government has also taken the freedom of thought from Iranian women. This

is shown in the text when the author states that, The regime had understood that one person

leaving her house while asking herself: Are my trousers long enough? Is my veil in place? Can

my make-up be seen? Are they going to whip me? No longer asks herself: Where is my freedom

of thought? Where is my freedom of speech? My life, is it livable? Whats going on in the

political prisons? (Satrapi 6). This shows how the Iranian government is taking away the

freedom of thought by brainwashing the women. They constantly punish the women for any

minor thing, an example of this would be, In short everything was a pretext to arrest us

(Satrapi 4). The Iranian government would use the punishments to keep the women from

thinking about anything that would be harmful to the government and in that way took away the

freedom of thought from Iranian women.

All in all, freedom has to demanded and in the cases that it is not the consequences are

substantial. For example, African Americans had to demand their freedom, and in Iran women

are being segregated and having their freedom taken away because they are not demanding their

freedoms. To have Freedom you have to demand it.

 Citations

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return. New York: Pantheon, 2004. Print.

Euchner, Charles C. Nobody Turn Me Around: A People's History of the 1963 March on
Washington. Boston: Beacon, 2010. Print.

Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. New York: Random House, 2003.
Print.