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Is being human physical, psychological or both? If an android could feel emotions such as happiness and sadness as a human can, would it make said android human? For example, would pressing the off switch be considered murder if they can experience fear and therefore fear of death?

“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”

We are human,
We breathe, think and feel.
We all experience confusion,
Who decides if it is all real?
What if someone invents
An android, an automaton
That can feel emotions and sentiments,
Is that not a human phenomenon?
They look the same outside,
Perfectly constructed,
Feel the same inside,
So well invented,
Experience joy and pain,
Laugh and grieve,
Their tears lost in rain.
It would be hard to perceive
Such a small difference
Between birth and creation;
Is it not our experience
That makes us human?

*This is not a spoiler-free review*

The Prisoner of Tehran is a very good book, extremely well written. However not recommended to children for the cruelty and violence inflicted upon certain people.

Marina Nemat was and still is a very brave and strong-willed young woman/girl, and I do not doubt for one moment that the facts are all correct. However I must say that I feel like the over-all story and most characters are a little too perfect.

A young girl, Marina, is unfairly imprisoned and tortured. She suffers loss, making the reader feel sorry for Marina, to whom you grow attached for there is no good realistic story without any casualties. Then Ali, one of the very high-placed guards happens to fall in love with this political prisoner, his supposedly sworn enemy whom he has never even met. He frees her and professes his love to her. He threatens to hurt her loved ones if she refuses to marry him, knowing she will not instead kill herself because she is the brave teenager, rebelling against her oppressing government. She consents, in order to protect those she loves, making Ali a very interesting character. Villain? Hero? Who can say, it’s up to the reader to decide. Perhaps he is most likely a bit of both; a heroic villain. Rather similar to the character of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter books, who is torn between his love for a woman and his loyalty towards Voldemort and the Death Eaters, here the Iranian government. In the end, Snape dies, trying to protect the woman he loves’ son, because he was not there to protect her, just like Ali, who dies protecting Marina – dying heroes whose love is unrequited.
In the end, Marina is freed and reunited with her family, although there is a new-found distance which shall never be replaced. She marries the love of her life, Andre, even though it is against the law, and she is already under suspicion from her previous imprisonment. Luckily for her, she has friends who defend her so that she may stay married with Andre. They both move to a safer place, Canada, with their two children, and live happily ever after.

Nemat decides to write a book from her good, safe home in Canada for several reasons, one of which being her memories of Evin haunt her sleep. Her shocking auto-biography was, probably subconsciously, directed toward a more Western audience, rather than her fellow Evin prisoners.

The story and some of the characters seem a little too perfect, as I said earlier, and seem rather romanticized.

However I still think The Prisoner of Tehran is worth reading, for it is interesting and makes you think about our society and its rules, and how some of us should consider ourselves lucky to live in a mostly wealthy, modern and developed country (France, in my case).

Falling heavily from high in the sky,
The shock! Inexplicable suddenness!
Receiving atoms of dust in the eye,
Disrupting what should have been peacefulness.
In a forest full of beautiful plants,
That have been burned down to hard black ashes,
What with the ground shaking, trees tipping, chants
Of war and fights being sung, loud crashes…
Quick! Duck! Hide! Just hide! Again it’s the shells!
All were thrown into chaotic panic,
We reacted fast, soon ringing of bells,
All were not so fast, all were not so quick,
And with the sound of wailing alarms,
Two do not make it in time to live,
I see one explode in front of me, arms
On the left, head at my feet, no time to give.
I run as fast as my legs allow it,
Mud on my shoes, dirty blood on my hands,
Away from all the bloodshed and conflict,
Not realising I carry war plans,
Preventing war for a little longer,
For war is not any way to ceasefire,
It only makes us all so much weaker,
To encourage our loved ones to die.

 
“My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.” – Wilfred Owen, Dulce Et Decorum Est

Like a balloon pushed to its limits,
I’ll burst one day,
And no one will be able
To do anything about it.
And I hope I hurt
The one blowing me up,
But I’m so scared to pain
The one holding me back.

“Well-well you could have been more graceful in your fall.” was all Lyra managed to splutter.

The boy rose slowly, and stretched.

“I knew I’d stayed in that form too long. I always get cramps. Professor Uriah keeps telling me to practise but it’s so tiring, you know?”

“I…” trailed off Lyra.

“Hey, I’ve never seen you two before. Newbies?”

“No, we were just on our way out in fact.” pronounced Lyra, recovering from the shock. “Do you mind telling us how?”

“How what? To leave? Well you’re going completely the wrong way. Wait…” said the boy suspiciously, “are you running away?”

“Pfft,” scoffed Lyra, “no, we were given permission. By… the headmaster.”

“There is no headmaster here…” said the boy slowly “but I do know the way out!” he brightened.

“Really? Could you tell us? That’d be great, thanks.”

“Follow me.”

He led them down a path. For a while, the silence was only filled with his humming. The tune seemed familiar to Luna, but she couldn’t quite place it.

“My name is Nym by the way.”

“Nym? I’m Lyra, this is my friend Luna.”

“Hey Luna!” Nym smiled at her.

“Umm, hi.” she answered, still thinking of the chameleon.

“So, what’s your other form?”

“Huh?”

“Your other form! What animal do you turn into?

“Oh, uh… that’s a, umm, private question.” answered Lyra over a long period of time.

Nym arched a questionning eyebrow. It turned brown as he raised it. It had been the same colour as his hair. Green.

Luna stopped dead in her tracks. Lyra hadn’t noticed, distracted.

“How- how did you do that?”

“Well… I am a chameleon you know.”

Luna just stared at him, in awe. Nym continued walking, a smirk on his face.

“Here we are.”

They were in front of a tall, brown gate, but Luna gathered that the brown was mainly rust by the looks of it.

“Uh, how do we open it?” asked Lyra, quite reasonably.

“Well you have permission don’t you? Just speak into this.” He pointed to a small device on the side of the gate.

“And what do I say?”

“Your name.”

“My name?”

“Yeah, your name. Is your other form a parrot?” said Nym sarcastically.

Lyra gave him her best evil eye, and straightening up, she walked quickly to the little device and spoke her name clearly:

“Lyra Galimore.”

“Lyra Galimore, you have no permission to leave the compound.” answered the machine.

“But I-”

“Lyra Galimore, you have no permission to leave the compound.” it repeated.

“Ha! So I was right! You were trying to escape!” exclaimed Nym rather too happily.

Lyra was fuming. “You people have no right to keep us, we desire to go home.”

“And you are Newbies!” added Nym joyfully.

“Please, you don’t understand-” started Luna.

“Sure, sure I do. You’re gonna follow me again now, and we’ll figure it out. That okay?”

Still fuming, Lyra followed him out, Luna close behind.

{ Now don’t think I’m forgetting Luna! Both Lyra AND Luna are the main characters, so no favouritism on my part ^^ }

Now that they were walking back, the two girls could see just how big the building was. It was four storeys high, eight windows on each landing. Big wooden doors stood wide open, as though awaiting them. The boy strode through them and led them up a set of stairs, and down a corridor. They halted in front of a door.

Nym knocked two clear knocks.

“Come in!” a female voice said.

Nym opened the door and they entered a small office, with a door leading off to the right. A young woman sat behind a desk, filling in some papers. She had brown hair bunched up in a messy bun, and glasses rimmed her nose.

“And what can I do for you today Nym?”

“Hey Avi! It’s these two girls here.” Nym nodded in their direction, “Lyra Galimore and Luna.”

She smiled.

“Lyra and Luna! Pleased to meet you! Luna Mercury I presume?”

“I… yes. Umm, how do you know that?” asked Luna uncertainly.

“Why, because we’ve been expecting you for a long time. I gather you tried running away? Father warned me you might.” She shrugged. “But even though we won’t make you stay of course, you will give us a chance to explain ourselves. I know this must be stressful for you, but you mustn’t worry, everything is going to be fine.”

“That’s what parents say just before something goes wrong.” said Lyra calmly.

“Well I’m not your parents.” answered the lady called Avi. She rose from her chair fluidly. “I will show you your rooms now.”

“We never even said we were staying. You know in the normal world this is called KIDNAPPING.” yelled Lyra.

“And this is not your typical ‘world’.”

She walked out the room gracefully, a slight swing of the hips in her steps.

Mr. Lantin was married at age 25, in Paris, in 1890. His parents had sent him there to study. His father was a teacher in a rural school, and his mother a seamstress. Now working for the ministry, he spent much of his time bent over his desk, writing, reading and working.

He had met Mrs. Lantin in a park on a summer day, during the maturity of nature, while the sun shone with all its power. Before he had met his wife, Mr.Lantin had thought this park was like all the others. But when he met Ms. Morillon there, she lit up his life, and made this simple park a special place for both .

Ms. Morillon was a poor girl of 20 years, of modest beauty, but an angelic and heavenly charm. Her mouth seemed so divine that Mr. Lantin imagined she only ate ambrosia, the gods’ divine food. Her eyes were so soft and tender that they could bend someone’s will in a single glance.

Their wedding took place in Paris , and their honeymoon took place two weeks later, in Monaco, in the south. Mr. Lantin introduced his wife to theater, which she fell in love with. She could not help but spend all her time watching plays. After their wedding, it was a marital bliss, during which the two lovers never ceased to repeat that they would love each other for all eternity.

But little by little, Mr.Lantin began to not go out with his wife to the theater every week, except for a grand event or occasion to make her happy. He was always sitting at his desk, back hunched. He almost began to forget their once so young and lively love. And his wife also noticed this, gradually. Mrs. Lantin was bored. So she asked her husband if she could go to the theater alone. But he, who adored her all the same, would not let her go alone, lest misfortune happen to her. He therefore only allowed her to go if she was accompanied by a friend.

But the dates with her friends did her wrong, for her friends told her “See here, the necklace that my husband bought me?” or “Just look at these darling earrings”. She quickly began to envy them and decided to get some for herself. She saved up her money, and managed to buy a beautiful, gold ring . When her husband asked her where all her jewelry came from, she simply replied ” They are fakes.” And he only nodded his head.

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When I look at you,
I don’t know what to do,
I look at the blue sky,
But don’t know what to decide.
There are so many reasons,
For a change of heart as sudden as a change of seasons,
But your heart is as cold as stone,
All mighty on it’s high high throne.
Whether I will ever change the path,
That my soul has set for my future years,
I know I can always count on your wrath,
To make my heart cry tears.

A beetle scuttled over to them. Lyra stared down at it.
“Do you think there’s someone in there?”
“Hmm, probably. I mean, you do know you could be staring at a person.”
Lyra looked away awkwardly.
“Do you really believe this stuff though? It’s like the X-Men, but… real. I think. What he said back there, does it mean we can do that too? Turn into animals?”
“I don’t even though if I’d want that. Mum, Dad, our normal lives… and our friends. I don’t know, I just… it’s weird.”
“Yeah, you bet.”
Lyra looked around.
“Hey where’d everyone go?”
“Let’s go see.”
“Wait, no, that’s the point. While everyone’s gone, we can try to escape!”
“But, what if we are Mutatios or whatever, what if it’s better if we do stay here. We might harm people otherwise.”
“What, and stay imprisoned with these weirdos!?”
Lyra took off at a run, quickly followed by Luna. They ran for five minutes, until they reached the edge of the forest.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Uhh…”
Lyra grabbed her sibling by the hand, jerking her forward. They ran for another ten minutes, tiredness getting the better of Luna. PE had never been her strong point. Lyra on the other hand, was extremely fast, and good with her legs. Her agility let her climb to the top of the nearest tree in record time, taking in their surroundings.
“Well, this place is huge. We could- gahh!”
Lyra felt a sharp pain in her leg, and looked down quickly. A big lizard, no, a chameleon, was sitting on her left leg, with claws digging into her flesh. She screamed, shaking her leg, jerking it up and down, until the lizard finally fell from its perch, tumbling down to hit the ground with a loud thud.
“That hurt!”
The two girls looked down onto the forest floor in surprise. Curved in a ball lay a boy with grass-green hair. He shook his head slowly getting up, uncurling his back. He looked directly at Lyra, accusation plain in his eyes.
“You could have been more careful, I do have a spine you know.”

“On this planet used to live a race of people called the Ranturs. They were as similar to a human as one could be, living on another planet. One day, the head of these people called them in a meeting. He said there was a war raging on in neighbouring planets, and that invaders were liable to attack them soon. So they set up an army, and prepared for attack. Sure enough, a couple of days later they were swarmed, and fought hard during a long blood filled battle. It lasted 3 years. After those 3 years, the invaders, named Saketh, won. They took over and ruled the entire planet, including the others it had colonized. However, the Saketh were not completely human. They were also part animal, and had fur, or claws, or cats ears, or horns, or sharp teeth, each distinguishing them as a human version of a particular animal. For several centuries they lived together, and slowly, peace settled, and they mixed. However, the new-borns had a special ability. They were able to turn themselves into an animal. Say, a dog, or an elephant, or a butterfly, or even a flea. Anything. And those new-borns are the people who live on this planet. We are called Mutatios. And so are you. Yes, you two dear girls.”

The old man let that sink in in silence.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to. But I swear that it is all quite true.”

“But, er, we’re not on Earth then?”

He smiled softly.

“No, you are not on Earth. You are on Darnnis.”

“Earlier you talked about the Haay. What is is exactly?”

“The Haay is a great book, that contains the names of all of the Mutatios. To keep track of who’s who and who can turn into what, if you want. A person Encyclopedia.”

“I still don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to now, but you’ll believe me soon enough.”

“I want to see Mum and Dad.”

“Your parents aren’t here. They’re on Earth.”

“But they’re wondering where we are! I don’t even believe you! Let me out! Let me out of here! You’re all mad! Let me out!” Lyra was screaming now, and she slammed herself onto the door, bursting it open. Luna quickly hurried after her sister. They both ran down a corridor with paintings and tapestries hanging off the walls. They turned a corner and kept doing so until they reached an open door opening onto… the outside. Everything was so beautiful. The lawn outside was long and green, well kept. There were beautiful plants everywhere, and trees with all kinds of fruits and flowers growing on them. It went on it seemed for ever. It was full of running children, or resting teenagers, or just simply strolling people. And animals. There were so many kinds of animals it was hard to think it was real. A lion, a frog, a monkey, a mouse, so many. They were everywhere, with humans. It was so strange and yet so beautiful. They had never seen anything like it. It was like magic.

“Wow.” breathed Luna.

“Yeah.” agreed Lyra.

Here my favourite quotes from the book “The Outsiders” by S.E.Hinton:

“Johnny, you don’t know what a few months in jail can do to you, man. You get mean in jail, I just don’t wanna see that happen to you like it happened to me, man. Understand?” -Dallas Winston

“They grew up on the outside of society. They weren’t looking for a fight. They were looking to belong.” -Ponyboy Curtis

“You can’t win. You know that, don’t you? It doesn’t matter if you whip us, you’ll still be where you were before, at the bottom. And we’ll still be the lucky ones at the top with all the breaks. It doesn’t matter. Greasers will still be Greasers and Socs will still be Socs. It doesn’t matter.”-Randy

“Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold.” -Johnny Cade

“You get tough like me and you don’t get hurt. You look out for yourself and nothin’ can touch you…” -Dally

“Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things you want to learn. Sixteen years on the streets and you see a lot. But all the wrong sights, not the things you want to see.” -Ponyboy

“They grew up on the outside of society. They weren’t looking for a fight. They were looking to belong.” -Ponyboy

“I am a greaser. I am a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city. I beat up people. I rob gas stations. I am a menace to society. Man do I have fun!” -Sodapop

“Greaser…greaser…greaser… O victim of environment, underprivileged, rotten, no-count hood!”-Steve

“Things are rough all over.” -Cherry

“He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he’d die someday.” -Ponyboy

“Useless… fighting’s no good…” -Johnny

“You know a guy a long time, and I mean really know him, you don’t get used to the idea that he’s dead just overnight.” -Ponyboy

“I knew he would be dead, because Dally Winston wanted to be dead and he always got what he wanted.” -Ponyboy

“Let’s do it for Johnny, man. We’ll do it for Johnny!”-Dally

“Tough and tuff are two different words. Tough is the same as rough; tuff means cool, sharp–like a tuff-looking Mustang or a tuff record.”-Ponyboy

“Tonight we could be proud of it. Greasers may not have much, but they have a rep. That and long hair.”-Ponyboy

“I hope I never see Dallas Winston again. If I do I’d… probably fall in love with him.”-Cherry

“Don’t you know a rumble ain’t a rumble without me?”-Dally

“Johnny’s dead. Told him about beating the socs, I don’t know. He just died. Told me to stay gold. Dally’s gone. He couldn’t take it, he’s going to blow!”-Ponyboy

“If it hadn’t been for the gang, Johnny would never have known what love and affection are.” -Ponyboy

“Listen, I don’t mind dying now. It’s worth it. It’s worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than mine, they have more to live for.” -Johnny

“Get outa there! That roof’s gonna cave in any minute. Forget those blasted kids!” -Dally