Suppression And Affect

Suppression and Affect

Suppression is a very strong-natured word. It can be seen as holding something back for fear of what may happen, acting against ones emotions to maintain a friendship, or--my favorite--to withhold one's being for the greater good of themselves. Both collections focus on the aspects of suppression and how such withholding has shaped them in ways they never intended. For better or for worse, both memoirs--either directly or indirectly--spoke of the changes they had to make in their lives and the various things they had to suppress within themselves, whether they liked it or not.

In Caldwell's memoir excerpt Teenage Angst in Texas she briefly explains what a hazardous position she's in; how she must hide her intellect so-as not to seem "impolite, unfeminine and even threatening." (CTW, P. 151) By doing so she set herself around a virtual bubble to hide her capabilities and talents to conform into the social norm. of women in her society. If she had acted out in an intellectual manner, contradicted the husband, or even so little as to voice her opinion, she could've been shunned and looked oddly upon as a heretic to societal views--and this was certainly not in her best interest. To avoid such finger-pointing and standing out she stayed quiet, denied herself access to high-standing positions like the National Honors Society, and faded into the "amorphous gray outside the car window." This allowed her to go on with being her and developing what she had wanted until the time came to stand out, speak out, and stand up for herself as to what she wanted to become. With her fading into the background no questions or suspicion arose about her intellect or points of view, and she had successfully given the impression of a typical teenage outcast trying to stick out. Exactly what she had wanted everyone to see.

For Marjane Satrapi her excerpt The Veil gave me an interesting and unique perspective on her situation in the Islamic Revolution of 1979 through the form of graphic novels--in this case a graphic memoir--and gave a different side of suppression and uneasiness towards authority. The graphic novel format of this memoir provided less information, but provided illustration and visual concept to the correlation of the text and corresponded with the dilemma she was involved in. I liked the layout of this memoir in that there was less room for guessing. It remained structured and on-point with what she was trying to say, and the images and text allowed her to formally and explicitly project her situation and events to the reader. Suppression and authority also struck Marjane in this memoir and forced her to adapt her way of life or be cast away, potentially harmed, etc. The Veil, however, provided a much different aspect of suppression and authority relation than it did in Teenage Angst in Texas.

In Caldwell's memoir her suppression was entirely self-made; she made her own decisions to hide her intellect and opinions. Yet in Satrapi's memoir the Authority and opinions of the government heavily outweighed the interest of the common person and restrictions, limitations, and regulations were forced upon the people of their nation. Women were forced to wear veils, forced to be separated by gender in schooling, quite commonly away from their close friends, and any sign of disrespect to such rules or regulations would be seen as an act of Capitalism and heresy against the government. The isolationism of her habitual actions, including her common ways of acting, communicating, dressing, etc. were all stripped from her in ways unimaginable to you and I. Caldwell's