A Life Without Marjane's Journey

Lastly, the movie omitted several characters from the novel, which some can be considered influential to Marjane's perception on the way she thinks life should be. The novel mentioned a maid name Mehri who was close to Marjane when she was younger. Mehri fell in love with a boy, but unfortunately couldn't marry him because her social status was lower than his. This enraged Marjane that social class can interfere with love and the movie didn't mention Mehri at all. Also there was a prisoner released with Siamak named Mohsen. Mohsen visited Marjane and her family when he was released form prison and he told them his stories about him being tortured. His stories made Marjane have a little fear, but inspired her to create a torture game from it. The movie mentioned Mohsen only when he died. Even though these minor characters didn't contribute a lot to the plot, in minor ways, they

Given that western clothes and icons were outlawed in conservative Iran, Marjane’s dressing up in jeans, denim jacket, and Nike shoes is an attempt to express her modern outlooks, Satrapi conveys the importance throughout the text reinforcing the conflict between Eastern values and Western values. In this scene, Satrapi embraces both cultures. She wears modern with a Michael Jackson button and Nike, and says ‘of course, my headscarf’. This displays Satrapi’s multiple personal identities: following middle eastern customs while sharing western values. A portrait image of Marjane is illustrated to show that she is proud of who she is and her posture and body language of her standing tall like she wants to show off her personality. But this doesn’t last long when she meets two guardians of the revolution that arrest women who are improperly arrested. When Marjane is caught, expressionism is used when Marjane is bawling her eyes out. The eyes look ghost-like representing the whole idea swapping personalities so that she could fit the government's likings. Marjane is not being able to fully express herself by wearing the clothes she wanted, doing her hair how she wanted, or listening to the music she wanted. From a young age is prevented Marjane from finding her identity and making her feel trapped. The revolution brought back Islamic ideals and customs, which were welcomed initially but soon became overbearing and restrictive and eventually totalitarian.

The Iranian government forced its control on children by forcing segregating the schools and making girls wear the Iranian headscarf. Wearing the scarf represents the concealment of childhood in Iran for Marjane and her friends. Reformation in Iran comes with the protests, violence and eventually war which disguise the chance of childhood for the youth of the country. Marjane says, “we found ourselves veiled and separated from our friends” (4). Concealing these children from the childhood they deserved left them to deal with fear, anger, loss and death. Her story highlights the lack of stability children need to grow into responsible adults. Marjane’s story represents the thousands of children in Iran who are lacking the proper elements for child development because of the revolution.

Furthermore, facial expressions also enhance the understanding of the story by showing the character 's body language. Almost all of Marjane’s pictures show her frowning and sad face as a result of the new Islamic system that invades her life. Even though the pictures don’t have a lot of texts or details, they still serve what Marjane wants to deliver. In conclusion, all of these pictures and images are used for the purpose of delivering the message that everyone should have the right and the freedom to do what they think is convenient for them without any restrictions or rules against them. Marjane shows how she is proud of her mom for raising her voice, even though everyone is against her. Everyone should be treated the same no matter what religion they follow, or what gender they are.

On pages 3 and 4, Marjane gives us the years for, when the revolution began, when children were required to wear a veil and her date of birth. The dates, enable the reader to get a sense the time period and the historical background of Iran. Timelines are imperative to understanding her life story. Next, Satrapi demonstrates pathos through illustrations and the speech bubbles. The emotions of the characters can be shown through their facial expressions and actions they take.

Soon after the revolution, Iran became one bundle of chaos as the country began experiencing internal difficulties with the new republic. Then with the war between Iran and Iraq, violence became Marji’s daily lifestyle. The Iranians were left to themselves to protect their friends and family from the bombings and other types of violence happening in plain sight. Many unfortunate individuals lost their belongings as well as close friends and family. For example, a close friend of Marji’s mother, Mali and her family, lost her and her family’s belongings in a bombing. The family found refuge in Marji’s home until they left Iran for good. They were one of the few families who understood the severity of the violence overwhelming Iran.

In the beginning of the story she describes what it is like at her aunt’s house. “We sit down at the kitchen table. My aunt’s house is smaller than ours and noisier. She has three sons, my cousins. We can hear them making odd sounds in the other rooms, the other rooms of their house. … Today we sit alone at the table, my aunt, my brother, myself. My aunt makes hot chocolate and pours it into plastic cups. She forgets to put marshmallows in it. Joshua, who is my older brother drinks it. I don’t” (1). She helps the reader visualize her living situation and how she feels about it by expressing the discomfort she feels at her aunt’s house. At the beginning of the story her aunt is crying. “My aunt is crying. No one asks why. My aunt is a big woman, and the tears seem silly. It is as solemn and inappropriate as if a man were crying” (1). By describing her aunt’s appearance in this moment, she also helps the reader understand the dislike she has for her aunt. Later in the story her uncle takes her to an aquarium that her father used to take her. “A week ago, or two weeks ago, or more, my father had stood here next to me, and I had pressed my nose to the glass while he laughed. I used to

The first thing that helped to aid Marjane’s change, was the death of her favorite uncle Anoosh. He was an avid student of Marxism-Leninism which made him a wanted man in Iran. Anoosh was later located and sent to jail. When he was released he went to visit Marjane’s parents. Marjane instantly loved him due to the fact that he went to prison and was what she called a “hero.” Soon after the release of political prisoners, like Anoosh, one by one they

When she sends Marjane away from Iran, she assures her: “I know how I brought you up. Above all, I trust your education” (147). Marjane’s mother doesn’t want her daughter to live in such an oppressive time. When the veils become mandatory, Marjane’s mother wishes to take her to an opposition demonstration: “She should start learning to defend her rights as a woman right now!” (76) In growing up with such strong female role models, Marjane learns to express her opinion and always stand by her beliefs. They taught her to stand up for herself as a woman, and in doing so, introduced her to a feminist perspective on life.

Another historical event that we see is the rise and effects of the Islamic regime in Marjane’s life. This event is arguably the central issue that affects Marjane during her upbringing in Iran. Marjane shows how the regime begins to control schools, and how this affects her life by separating her from her friends (4, 3-4). We also see how the regime decides to close universities as they “educate future imperialists.” (73, 1-3) This demonstrates the negative effects that the regime has on society, as they prioritize Islamic values over education. The Islamic leaders portrayal shows them as upset and bored, and are given much different facial expressions than those that Marjane sees as intellectual (such as Uncle Anoosh (54/3) or Marjane’s grandfather (23/8)). This imagery communicates the backwards-thinking of these leaders, and as such, also effectively communicate Marjane’s opinion of the leaders without needing to discuss it with text. Additionally, we see both of Marjane’s views: Marjane not understanding the veiling and separation (3/5) as well as Marjane’s depression over the closing of the universities (73/7). The text here illustrates her opinions on the situations that she experiences, and the imagery allows us to see a visual representation of her basic thoughts and emotions, which are well communicated. A final example of the regime’s changes is the difference between the fundamentalist and modern women

The alternative book cover features Marjane Satrapi at four different stages of her life. The pictures represent a transition and provide an overview of Satrapi’s life from her childhood to her return in Iran. It depicts Satrapi’s personal life as well as the social and political progress towards liberalism in Iran in the span of her departure and her return, which is few if any at all. The first picture is Satrapi during her childhood in Iran, just after the Iranian Revolution, which deposed the Shah and allow Ayatollah Khomeini to rise to power. Ayatollah Khomeini began by reforming many aspects of life in Iran, shutting down schools in order to reform education policies, and requiring all women to wear hijabs and wear long robes that

After the revolution that was sparked by a group of islamic fundamentalists, the people’s support for western ways of life had to be abandoned. That made Iran a more islamic country with a government that reinforces the word and doctrine of Allah. This affected Marjane because she is a westernized woman and grew up in a westernized environment. The context proves that Marjane felt alienated from her culture and society because it’s not where she belongs. This is proven in the chapter ‘’The Socks’’, where Marjane organizes private parties in which she has fun with other women without respecting the society and its restrictions. It also shows a juxtaposition between her behaviour in public and and her behaviour in private. This shows that even if the society obligates her to act less westernized, she continues to do whatever she likes but privately. This proves again the theme of rebellion, she is a rebellious person since her

Marjane Satrapi experiences a rapid transition in identifying her nationality. When Marjane was in Iran during childhood, she was a patriot and defended her life regardless of personal safety. Not only did she persuade her family to allow her to join the demonstration, but she

The film is a sappy recounting of Marjane Satrapis's early childhood, adolescence and young adulthood living in and out of Tehran in the years following Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1979 Iranian Revolution. Marjane

All women in their lifetime go through an experience that makes them feel proud and dignified to be a woman. Marjane Satrapi strives to find this feeling of self-worth and the satisfaction of being a woman in Iran as she grows up during her war torn childhood in her bildungsroman, Persepolis. Marjane experiences both positive and negative moments throughout the memoir such as growing up alone in Austria, speaking against women's dress codes, and her constant struggle to make her grandma proud, all which help her learn independence and help form her into a strong feminist woman.