Analysis Of Marjane Satrapi 's ' Persepolis '

“People say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Truth is, you knew what you had, you just never thought you’d lose it – Anonymous” (Quotes). Marjane Satrapi was born to a wealthy family and had parents who adored her. She seemed to have everything, and even as the war raged on, her family still managed to have something more than the next family. In spite of their good fortune, the war was taking a toll on the family and it was decided that Marjane would be sent to Austria. Thus leaving everything Marjane loved behind, leaving her to fend in the darkness of the unknown. In Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, Marjane starts off as a rebel, though naïve at the same time, to an attentive but scared girl in order to show how the war has triggered Marjane's reality to crash down, clarifying the world around her.

Most people are exposed to the same principals and agents of political socialization. Families spread values that support political authorities and can heavily contribute to children's initial political ideological views, or party preferences. Families influence political knowledge and identification depending on variables such as family demographics, life cycle, parenting style, parental level of political skepticism and frequency of political discussions. Demographics such as gender and age also attribute to political socialization. School is another agent of political socialization. Spending numerous years in school, children in the United States are taught and reinforced a view of the world that their text books tell them to trust. Through primary, secondary and high schools, students are taught key principles such as individual rights and property, personal responsibility and duty to their nation. Another is mass media. Mass media is not only a source of political information; it is an influence on political values and beliefs. Various media outlets, through news coverage and late-night programs, provide different partisan policy stances that are associated with political participation. Religions, beliefs, and practices play a role in political opinion formation and political participation. The perspective offered by religious institutions shape judgement regarding public policy, and political decision

Two major aspects are narrated from Marjane 's point of view in Persepolis. The overthrowing of Shah is the first phase and the second step consists of a radical Islamic establishment. It was evident from Marjane 's perspective that her family had two different reactions in regards to the two phases. Their response to the overthrowing of Shah was excitement and happiness. Marjane 's family was active in demonstrations and protests expressing their feelings towards the Shah. The day Shah left many were happy, and it even leads to one of the biggest celebrations of history. The Satrapi 's were overjoyed because the Shah made choices that personally affected their family. Marjane 's grandfather and uncle were both victims of the Shah 's wrath. Their reaction to the second phase of the revolution was rebellion. During this time of the revolution, many things the Satrapi 's enjoyed were prohibited. Even though things were banned, the Satrapi 's continued to do what they enjoyed even if it was against the rules. The second phase made Marjane 's parents realize that Iran no longer was the place for Marjane, so they arranged for her to finish school in Austria.

Political socialization, in simple terms, is the lifelong process by which people learn political attitudes and behaviors. People begin to form their own ideas about politics and begin to acquire political values. There are four distinct groups that play a role in political socialization, that being; family, peers, educational systems, and the mass media. Being constantly around your family, especially parents, can impact your perception on politics and how you react to the idea of politics. Parents occasionally place a personal belief or comment to their young child while helping them with their homework or having a family discussion at the dinner table. This personal belief or comment being something related to politics. These family discussions

At least once in your life, you will encounter someone with a different opinion than you. You will hit a wall with ideas. Someone will voice their opinion against what you believe, and it will hurt. Everyone can remember an experience where they felt this, and everyone knows how it feels when your opinion is rejected.

Political socialization begins early on in life and is an ongoing process affecting individuals throughout. It is how people eventually identify personal beliefs and expectations in American politics. These political views can include our level of patriotism, faith in the democratic system, standards by which we hold governing bodies, and opinions regarding public policies. From the playground to the classroom, the office to the dinner table, much of our lives affect our political opinions. The most easily identified agents of this are family, schooling, peers, mass media, political parties and religious influences. Furthermore, these means indoctrinate us in the political society through four basic

The book, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, was written by Marjane Satrapi; it is the story of her life in Iran from birth to fourteen years old. The perspective of Marjane, in her novel, affects the overall presentation of revolution, religion, and social classes. Consequently, with no background knowledge, we only have her perspective which affects our own opinion about the events of the book.

Have you ever thought about why you have the political beliefs and values you do? Where did they come from? Are they simply your own ideas and experiences or have you been influenced by others in your thinking? This process by which individuals acquire their political beliefs and attitudes is called political socialization. In another words, Political socialization is a concept where the study of the developmental processes by which children and adolescents acquire political cognition, attitudes and behaviors. What people think and how they come to think it is of critical importance to the stability of the government. The beliefs and values of the people are the basis for a society's political culture and that culture defines the

Imagine a child growing up in a war-torn country, and imagine them having no idea where she or he fits in all this. This child at first holds onto their religion because it is safe and the only thing solid in their crumbling world. Yet, this too will be taken from the child. Now lost and confused the child must find their way in an unfriendly world. This is not a fictitious story. This is an actual event that happened to the author of The Complete Persepolis. Marjane Satrapi, the author of The Complete Persepolis, grew up during the 1979 Revolution. This event changed many people’s lives, either it was for the better or worse is hard to say. Nevertheless, it influenced Satrapi 's whole life. In the book, Satrapi expresses her childhood memories through her eyes as a child. Her experiences and ancestry can be clearly shown throughout the whole book. Satrapi’s family background/past, her parent’s perspective and her own life experiences in foreign countries have caused her to grow and evolved throughout the years.

There are many elements that contribute to the effectiveness of a piece of writing. One element in particular that adds to how effective a piece of writing can be is point of view, which can determine what the reader knows and understands, and how the information given is interpreted. As a result, point of view contributes to character development and the emotional impact of a piece of writing. Marjane Satrapi utilizes the impact that point of view has in her graphic novel Persepolis. The story, which is written as a memoir, includes Marjane herself in the images, which makes the text seem to be told from more of a limited third person point of view, while the narration of the story is told in the first person. By including herself in the

There is no such thing as an objective reality, since the very notion of an objective truth is impossible for us all to conceive together, and, is, therefore subjective. As such, our reality is a collection of subjective truths woven together like a collage, that ultimately represents what we consider to be true. This theme of a subjective reality is conveyed in both the major motion picture version of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. Moreover, following the argument that there can be more than a single “truth,” what should concern the individual shouldn’t be obeying an truth proposed to be objective, but rather adhering to whatever truth best meets their criteria as true. This said, if someone

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

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

Marji’s hatred towards the new Islamic government due to the oppression her loved ones have had to endure, causes her to act out and rebel against the law. There are many instances of Marji’s defiance against the government and religion. One example of her rebellious nature is exemplified when she and her maid, Mehri, decide that “tomorrow [they] are going to demonstrate” (Satrapi, 38). She makes this decision after discovering the truth on social hierarchy and the government in Iran. She wants to support the Iranian citizens in fighting against the rules and religion to make Iran a free country again. Another example

    As opinionated as Marjane Satrapi may seem, she tends to form her bias based on the other characters that she comes into contact with. Her mother and father’s efforts to educate her, the stories she hears from others, and the relationships she develops helps shapes who she becomes later on in life. Media is also a contributing factor to her means of formulating opinions. “Suddenly, I heard the Iranian National Anthem coming from the TV, our star-spangled banner. It had been forbidden and replaced by the new