Nafsi in Lunsford

In her commentary, I believe Azar Nafisi is trying to say that everybody has a connection to each other even if they have different beliefs or differences. She believed that all human beings have an unique connection that is within us. In addition, she was implying that empathy in many situations may help you or other people because the more empathy is used, more people will empathize. Who knows? Maybe it could stop any undesired events from happening such as wars or crimes that was committed in vengeance.

She used examples of empathy from Huckleberry Finn when Huck didn’t follow his religious beliefs and viewed Jim, a runaway slave as a human being. Despite his religious belief of going to hell because he befriended a runaway slave, he preferred to suffer than to lose Jim because Jim was his best friend. This loving, motivational, touching scene reminded her of a similar experience she had while she was at Tehran University. She argued about empathy based on reason and facts because she talked about her experience at Tehran University and how it is similar to the scene in Huckleberry Finn. First, she used the scene from Huckleberry Finn to give the readers an idea before describing her experience and how her two students who had huge differences with her still supported her when she was expelled from Tehran University. In one of two students’ words, he said, “Remember your own lectures on Huck Finn? Let’s just say, he is not the only one who can risk going to hell!” The similarity of Nafisi’s experience and the scene from Huckleberry Finn symbolizes empathy Nafisi was emphasizing about in her commentary.

I think Nafisi wrote this commentary because of her experience and also the knowledge of many bizarre situations where empathy was shared unexpectedly. She wrote these arguments based on emotions. It was emotional because she felt empathy from her two nasty students when she was expelled. Also, she was able to use this experience and explained it through a scene from Huckleberry Finn and she valued it very much. Therefore, she believed that everyone has feelings and can empathize with everyone else in spite of differences such as religion or disputes. She also argued based on character and values because why wouldn’t she write about empathy if she doesn’t value it? She believed empathy is one of the most important qualities a human should have. In her commentary, she stated that only through empathy, pain that is shared by a person can become real and can help lessen the pain if people empathize people with pain.