Expos Assignment 2 Final Draft - 1 Francis Arcede...

Francis Arcede: Assignment 2 (Final Draft 10/4/07)
The Value of Surface and Substance in Open and Oppressive Societies
Surface and substance are two seemingly opposite yet complementing elements.
Consumer and commercial society calls for a focus on aesthetics, meanwhile many anecdotes
and moral stories urge people to look beyond the surface for meaning in life. A free society like
the United States fosters an atmosphere where such a divide can even be possible. What happens
to surface and substance when an oppressive government of a foreign country dictates all types
of external expression of its citizens? Can the aforementioned division persist to exist when free
choice is absent? Azar Nafisi in her work “Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran ” provides
insight into a country where the government limits its citizens in several ways, from style of
dress to what is being taught in class. Elements of “Surface and Substance” by Virginia Postrel
and her views relayed in the work are not only noticeably applicable to “Selections from
Reading Lolita in Tehran ” but also complicated by Nafisi’s views and her experiences living in
the city of Tehran. Where in “Surface and Substance” the issue was choosing between the two,
Nafisi’s work deliberately reveals that surface and substance must stand separately in her society.
In a society where free expression is suppressed, surface becomes almost irrelevant and
dismissible. As she hosts a weekly Thursday morning meeting in her home with select female
students to discuss works of literature, Nafisi recalls taking two photographs: one with the
government mandated black robes and head scarves covering females from head to toe, and
another without the garb. Her reaction calls to mind the difference of surface and substance:
“When my students came into that room, they took off more than their scarves and robes.
Gradually, each one gained an outline and a shape, becoming [her] own inimitable self” (337).
The women, instructed to wear the traditional garb to avoid public indecency and arousing men,
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become uniform in this regard. They cannot express themselves aesthetically in any way; the
regime forbids it by religious and governmental law. The fact that Nafisi marvels at the new
appearance of her students revealed after shedding their apparel hints at the irrelevance of
surface in expressing oneself in Tehran; she previously made no extraordinary comment with
regard to their appearance. The dominating surface suppressing society in which Nafisi lives
deeply contrasts with the aesthetics-centered culture of Virginia Postrel, a fact she is aware of
when she expresses: “…appearance must be worth either everything or nothing” (437). That