UNI ScholarWorks UNI ScholarWorks I, Jill Alexander, American Girl Revolutionary I, Jill Alexander, American Girl Revolutionary

Analyzing the insider-outsider continuum in Remembrance of the Sun (1986, 2011) by Kate Gilmore, the purpose of this paper is to reveal different levels of being a female outsider protagonist moving along the insider-outsider continuum, maintaining an outsider voice, and at the same time developing an insider perspective. Remembrance of the Sun is a historical fiction authored by an outsider and set in 1978, one year before the Islamic revolution in Iran. After moving from New England to Tehran, Jill, a seventeen-year-old American girl, struggles to adjust to an unfamiliar lifestyle. However, her experience becomes a story of love and fascination when she meets Shaheen, the charismatic Iranian boy who is the first French horn player in the high school band. Frequently, Jill as an outsider to Persian culture is aligning herself with Shaheen’s culture and their romance acts as a bridge, between two seemingly disparate cultures. Remembrance of the Sun reinforces that insider-outsider status is not fixed but situated within a continuum in a state of flux. The innocence of Jill and Shaheen’s romance moves “Jill Alexander, American girl revolutionary” (p. 170) toward the insider position. At the end, Jill, crosses American-Iranian cultural gap with her own pace.

In the scope of the study, insiders are people of Persian descent including Iranian and outsiders are people with any ethnic background except Iranian. Persian or Iranian refers to people from Iran, all the inhabitants of the Iranian plateau or people of Persian descent. Iran, formerly known as Persia, is located in Western Asia and at the north end of the Persian Gulf. Many dialects are spoken in the country, but the official language is Persian or Farsi. Both names Iran and Persia are often used interchangeably to refer to the same country.

Cultural Accuracy and Authenticity
Debates concerning multiculturalism continue by attempting to define cultural accuracy and authenticity. Examining cultural authenticity in picture books about Asians and Asian Americans, Mo and Shen (2003) define two notions of cultural authenticity and accuracy as the portrayal of "a rich cultural resource to support us in understanding, respecting, and appreciating ourselves and others. At the same time, [these two terms] challenge us to reflect on cultural differences from the perspective of humanity" (p. 211). Central to Mo and Shen's definition is distinguishing authenticating details from accuracy and the idea that "authenticity is not just accuracy or the avoidance of stereotyping but involves cultural values and issues/practices that are accepted as norms of the social group" (Mo & Shen, 2003, p. 200). Discussing accuracy as contrasted to authenticity, Mo and Shen believe "accuracy basically focuses on cultural facts instead of values" (p. 200). Elaborating further, they explain authentic literature needs to represent the values that the majority of members from that culture do or do not believe. Their definition of authenticity is tied directly to the view that there is a difference in what the authors and illustrators represent accurately and how they represent it authentically.
In discussing cultural authenticity, Cai (2002) maintains the idea that while accuracy generates information, authentic representation generates empowerment, which is the ultimate purpose of multicultural literature. Sims Bishop (1994) emphasizes multicultural children's literature should enhance a positive sense about other cultures and toward cultural differences. Sims Bishop's definition has been criticized by scholars for the lack of emphasis on the complexities of real life; that is, the positive representation does not go beyond the simplistic multiculturalism. Clarifying Sims Bishop's viewpoint, Cai (2002) explains that the notion of positive is not the same as positive presentation in a book or creating positive stereotypes of that culture. "It is a violation of the principle of realism if we insist on presenting only positive images and experiences of being a person of color or living in a multicultural society" (Cai, 2002, p. 89). Authentic literature does not represent necessarily the richness of a culture. Instead, to present an authentic work, it is important to portray the real essence of a cultural group including its values as well as its conflicts. With these definitions of accuracy and authenticity in mind, the discussion advances by identifying instances of insider and outsider perspectives in Remembrance of the Sun.

Method
culture, and power structure. The qualitative content analysis focused on a comparison of categorical units designed for this research to produce descriptions and patterns reflecting how the Persian world is represented through narrative elements. To complete the qualitative analysis, the researcher examined to what extent, one or more of these cultural codes were used by narrative elements. The coding frame for this content analysis consisted of four common narrative elements including: character and characterization, plot, point of view, and setting, as major categories (see Tables 1 to 4). Regarding character and characterization, the study examined the way Persian and non-Persian protagonists were described, including their actions, traits, discourse, state, feelings, and thoughts. In order to reveal the storyline of the book, this research identified what major events happened, in what setting, and what characters were present. Furthermore, in order to best reveal the point of view of the characters in Remembrance of the Sun, this research related point of view analysis to the roles of insiders and outsiders. In the scope of this paper, insiders were people of Persian descent including Iranian Americans and outsiders, in contrast, were people with any ethnic background except Iranian.
Regarding setting analysis, the researcher examined two elements of timing and place. The following section explains the significance and the relevance of Remembrance of the Sun's character and characterization, plot, point of view, and setting to Persian culture in the context of the present study.

Discussion and Results
Jill Alexander was a seventeen-year-old American "blond" (p. 117) girl from "New England" (p. 234).
She had "long tan legs" (p. 24) and often smoked a "cigarette" (p. 106). Jill was "the daughter of a much traveled consultant" (p. 4) and "an oil engineer" (p. 3). At Tehran Community school she "was given the unenviable part of fourth horn" (p. 5) player where she met Shaheen. Shaheen was an Iranian young man who "played first French horn" (p. 4). With his "dark eyes under straight, thick brows" (p. 5), and his father as "the carpet king of the Tehran bazaar" (p. 27) he was a real "catch" (p. 38). Jill was very passionate about the classical music of Iran. Once she mentioned that with "its rhythms in my blood" (p. 71) "the music [could] carry me back through centuries of solitude and desire" (p. 70).
Within this book, the plot mainly progressed with human characters including Jill Alexander, the protagonist, and Shaheen Rohani, the second major character. Jill was an American girl while Shaheen Remembrance of the Sun sets in 1978, one year before the Islamic revolution in Iran. Although there were several references to major cities in Iran such as "Abadan" (p. 96), "Qom" (p. 123), "Isfahan" (p. 66), and "Tabriz" (p. 146), all the events happened in the capital with total 44 references to Tehran.
Remembrance of the Sun demonstrated a sense of belonging of an outsider who adopted Persian culture.
In this book, the outsider was from a non-Iranian culture by birth but experienced owning Persian Positioning themselves as outsiders, the Alexander family and their American friends capture the Persian culture largely through their attempt to learn the lifestyle of a new community in which they started living. They prove their perspective as insiders mainly in two different circumstances including: 1) Jill's fascination with Persian poetry, storytelling, and music. She finds Persian music as the language of her soul and the residence of her spirituality.
2) The symbolism used in this novel represents and suggests ideas, events, and actions related to the dynamics of Persian culture.
In a broader sense and not limited to these two cultural representations, the close content analysis of the book demonstrates characters' practices or actions in Persian culture both authentically and in-authentically. Among many authentic and accurate ideas presented in this story are the description of the city of Tehran, the streets, the language, and people's everyday lifestyle. One authentic instance is when Jill describes Jube, very narrow water streams that are very common in the streets of Tehran.
"Jube … was always full of sparkling fresh water. These irrigation ditches were everywhere in Tehran. limited to these following excerpts. "Everyone in Tehran climbs" (p. 31), since Tehran is all surrounded by mountains. "Moharram is the terrible month of mourning for Hossein, murdered by the caliph's soldiers at Kerbala in the seventh century" (p. 77), and "Iranians like to have a good time as much as anyone else, and they aren't severe like the Arabs" (p. 84).
One  introduced as "Chahar Shambe, which is the fourth day of No Ruz" (p. 173). The correct pronunciation is Chahar Shanbe with the letter 'n' rather than 'm' and the true timing of this festival is the last Tuesday night of the Iranian year not the fourth day of No Ruz. No Ruz also known as Nowruz is Persian new year, beginning on the spring equinox.
The process of data collection for this book also reveals different levels of being outsider becoming insider or vice versa. The following excerpts reinforces Jill's tendency and at the same time her struggle to move along the insider-outsider continuum. Once she tells Shaheen, "you can't expect the blood of martyrs to run in my veins … but I want you to win, and I will do anything to help you" (p. 192). In another scene Jill mentions, "I've been out in the streets with Shaheen when it was all happening, and I've met some of his friends. They're not playing cops and robbers" (p. 212). Also, reflecting on her mixed emotions about Iran, Jill says, "underlying my easy, joyous acceptance of Iran was a deep sense of its strangeness, its harsh contrast, its secret ways. I was an outsider, intensely involved but excluded, even, I thought, scorned" (p. 114). Along with all those feelings, she confesses to Shaheen, "I'll even put on the disgusting chador if I have to, with a big safety pin under my chin" (p. 170), and "I am going to stay with you-I, Jill Alexander, American girl revolutionary …" (p. 170).
In order to examine the power state of Jill as the major character, the study applies the power continuum suggested by Botelho and Rudman (2009) including four conditions of "domination, collusion, resistance, and agency" (p. 118) and examines the protagonists' state of power-change from being under domination to having agency in each book. Furthermore, on Botelho and Rudman's continuum of domination through agency, the study adopts power descriptors suggested by Kelley (2008). In her study, Kelley maintains the idea that characters can be advantaged or disadvantaged "emotionally, physically, economically, socially, and politically" (p. 34). Applying Botelho and Rudman's measurement and also Kelley's benefit-indicators to the power spectrum of domination through agency, this study examines Jill's state of advantage or disadvantage including emotional, physical, economic, social, or political.
Tracking Jill Alexander's state of power-change shows her position shifting several times from being under domination to collusion, from being under domination to having agency, and from having agency to being under domination. For example, toward the end of the novel Jill is able to influence and control the behavior of the Iranian police officer through inventing a fake story about the protest against Shah. As she explains, "the only way I was going to do that was to tell this highly intelligent police officer a story that was plausible enough to be believed" (p. 227) because she is there "to save Shaheen" (p. 227). Meanwhile, at the very same time her family's financial status is very tense, dominated by the social and political forces. As an instance, she expresses that "My mother and I were the first members of the family to learn that my father had lost his job at the oil company" (p. 199) and "my parents who were, through no fault of their own, nearly penniless in a foreign land" (p. 204).
Another significant power change in Jill's life in Iran is her acquaintance with Shaheen's relatives. As demonstrated in the following excerpt, the various kinds of unwilling behavior by Shaheen's family perspective of the other culture. Within this approach, authors represent some information that they only assume is true. In the present paper, these cultural assumptions range from slight to extensive forms. Cai (2002) argues that imaginative literature either misrepresents the reality of that culture or only reflects its stereotypical objects. He identifies the need for "a balanced view of the relationship between imagination and reality" (p. 175) and referring to Sims Bishop discusses that the "imagination-omnipotent view is abetting the publication of books that distort ethnic realities and stereotype ethnic people" (Cai, 2002, p. 169).
Depicting any culture requires knowing the inside of its people's minds, acquiring the knowledge as well as the perspective, and also the ability and skills to represent it. As demonstrated in this study, insider-outsider status is not fixed but situated within a continuum in a state of flux. Some authors of multicultural books may deem themselves as absolute outsiders, distancing from non-mainstream cultures in varying degrees. Some others may position themselves at differing points of the continuum, attempting to reflect their cultural membership. To what extent they can create authentic multicultural books remains a matter of debate and is definitely different from one book to another.
Remembrance of the Sun, demonstrates a sense of belonging of an outsider who adopts Persian culture.
The outsider is from a non-Iranian culture by birth but experiences owning Persian culture because of falling in love with someone from that culture. In the beginning, she is not willing to alter her American norms to incorporate the norms of Iran. However, after falling in love with Shaheen, she assures Shaheen, "I'll even put on the disgusting chador if I have to, with a big safety pin under my chin," (p. 170). "Jill Alexander, American girl revolutionary …" (p. 170) has taken initial steps to share stories.
She may make mistakes and gets lost. Yet, walking with her own pace, she is finding a way in the labyrinth of multicultural worlds.