Write a 3 page reflective essay on Persian Girlsinclusive of social, cultural and environmental aspects of the memoirist's journey toward healing. This is not a summary of the plot. In your reflective essay, you can address the following concepts:
1. How did the author's personal voice help develop his or her story and impact you?
2. What was the driving issue of the memoir and how did the personal story meet the universal concepts of loss?
3. Did the author address social or cultural issues with the loss or in the healing journey?
4. What environmental aspects come into play?
5. Didion (2005) started her memoir with: "Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant" (p.3). Was there a time in the memoir when life changed in the instant? How did the life-altering event occur? What did the memoirist learn from that moment?
6. Didion (2005) also wrote, "...I need more than words to find the meaning." How did your author find meaning from the loss, grief, or transition that he or she went through? Describe the experience.
7. Was there a person or multiple people who helped the author on the journey to healing or resolution? What roles did they play? Specifically, how did they help? Or did someone negatively impede the author, if so how?
8. Ivanla Vanzant (2011) said on a television show that, "You either breakdown or break open." When and how did your author transition to a place of well-being or healing? Describe the moment with as much specificity as you can. Why do you think this healing occurred? If you feel that the author did not reach resolution, tell us specifically why not?
9. "Until you make peace with the past, you will continue to bleed and stain your life... open the wounds and let them heal cleanly" as paraphrased from Vanzard (2011). Didion and other memoirists yearn to revise the past, to apply the "what ifs" of a fictional life. How did your author evaluate the past and when and how did he or she decide to move into the future?