Nafisi in Lunsford

Azar Nafisi, the author, believes in empathy created through imagination. Empathy is defined as understanding and entering into another's feelings. (http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=empathy). She argues with emotion and values in order to persuade her audience to step in others’ shoes. “When writers and speakers can find the words and images to evoke certain emotions in people, they might also move their audiences to sympathize with ideas they connect to those feelings, and even to act on them (Lunsford, 2007)” This is what Nafisi is doing. When she refers to Huckleberry Finn creating empathy towards Jim, his slave friend, it is an emotional reference. Finn was able to get himself in Jim’s shoes, to see him as who he is (human) not his label (slave). It allowed him to see from another perspective in his imagination, which helped him make the decision of not turning Jim in. Imagination is linked to your emotions, it makes you feel and a majority of time an individual will make decisions based on his/her feelings. Nafisi’s empathizing with others’ suffering that is posted on the news or a newspaper makes her feel their pain, instead of just seeing it as mere informal reports.
Angelina Jolie, a famous actress, could have just enjoyed her stardom and attention by posing for pictures and sticking to her lavish job and lifestyle. Instead she began going to third-world countries, helping the people living in poverty. She empathized with them and took advantage of her recognition to inform the world of what is really happening out there. She is one of many that broke the stereotype of models and actors being drowned in their fame that they are blind to everything else except themselves. She chose to empathize and make a difference.
Empathizing with others make us not ignorant of the harsh facts in this world. Choosing heaven could mean you are living a pointless path in life, not standing to what YOU believe, but what you were taught and told. Choosing hell could mean living life to your satisfactation because you are living with many perspectives which enable you to understand what you believe in. When you know what your values and beliefs are, you can act to make a difference. If you choose to go with the flow in this world instead of standing by your values, you are choosing heaven instead of hell. The best way to live and complete your life in this world, in my own personal opinion, is to choose hell.