Essay : The Trials And Tribulations Of Marjane Satrapi

Throughout the graphic novel Persepolis, the author Marjane Satrapi makes the main character Marji a typical little girl. Marji and her family live in Iran, and they are figuring out how to live under the rules of the new Shah. At first, Marji is introduced as a girl who loves her live, and who loves her God. As the novel goes on, Marji changes a lot and starts figuring out who she can and cannot be.

Persepolis focuses on major themes like Feminism, Freedom, Religion, War, and Culture. Although this book is about Marjane Satrapi a young girl who lived her childhood in Iran from the 1980’s which was during the Iran revolution, where at a young age she’s already opened up to a warfare environment. This book can be interpreted differently based on the reader’s location, history background with Iran, and the differences in government. In this essay we would be comparing the readers from Iran vs. America.

Marjane was sent to Vienna to get liberal education and their parents want to avoid Marjane from faced with the regime and keep her away from country’s laws and restrictions. This is because her parents know that Marjane is a rebellious even from kids. She ever makes problem in school where she act aggressively towards teacher and even the principle. Her parents decided to send her abroad with hope she will not receive continuously face with this full of laws and restrictions country. Her parents just want her to away from problems without thinking that getting away from family at the very young age as teenager, might cause Marjane to have a higher tendencies to rebell. Culture shock and adjustment that Marjane need to face with is she start to know and be friend with group of people who take freedom for granted where it is punk or anarchist. Marjane is well known as

Marjane Satrapi was a young independent girl, strongly reliant on her own decisions and logic. However, throughout the novel “Persepolis” she is greatly impacted by many different women in her life. These women helped her develop her character and built her to be stronger and wiser. Women such as her grandmother, the maid, her school teachers and her very compelling mother have helped her to evolve into an independent, ambitious and quite intelligent lady. Throughout this powerful novel displayed by comic strips, Marji never releases her roots and she stays true to herself. This is due to the influence these women had on her.

Amazing, intriguing, and unimaginable are just a few words to describe how I felt about Persepolis while I read this true life story of Marjane Satrapi. This book has helped me to see all the life struggles, good times, and adversities that Marji faced between the ages of nine to thirteen. The Islamic Revolution had such a daunting effect in the Middle East, especially in the county of Iran where Marji and her family resided.

Coming of Age in Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi The graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi tells the story of young Marjane coming of age. Marjane comes of age and finds the woman she wishes to behave like, acting how she believes reflects a true and strong woman. She reads books and observes her parents to learn about everything going on. She looks up to her family members and her opinions stem from theirs.

Marjane Satrapi is a hopeful, inspiring, and an intelligent author. In writing Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, she had many goals and dreams including informing the public that Iran as a nation experiences rocky times like every other country. In addition, Iran is not just a place where extremists live; there are children going through the same things as children in other countries. Unlike children in some countries, Marji’s childhood was overshadowed by protests and the revolution and its reforms. Many children, especially Americans are not exposed to the hardships of life like Marji and other children in Iran.

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.

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 is a headstrong, independent, and outspoken woman who was born in Iran, on the edge of the Caspian Sea. She grew up in Tehran, where she studied at the Lycée Français, before leaving for Vienna. In the book Marjane portrays herself as a very smart and curious child. In the beginning, Marjane’s views on the revolution and the conflicts happening around her are very similar as those of her parents, but as she grew up, her views changed. Some her actions at school and outside of school, always got Marjane in trouble because she began to think about the whole thing in a unique way which the fundamentalists didn’t like.

The events of the Islamic revolution took a toll on everybody in Iran/Iraq as well as many many other places. The graphic novel Persepolis introduces many characters throughout the book, but the most prominent character in the book is Marjane Satrapi, we see Marji develop for four years throughout the novel and her mental and physical state change several times throughout these four years. She is the main character and throughout the novel she interacts with many new people and while staying true to what she believes, she is influenced by what other characters say throughout the novel. Taking a more in depth look at Marji we can see how the events of the war changed her from the beginning of the book in 1980, to the end of the book in 1984.

Taking place in the late 1970’s, Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” exemplifies a profound illustration of the county of Iran, including aspects of its people and political structure. Unlike a conventional composed novel, the story of Persepolis is expressed through both textual and visual representation; otherwise known as a graphic novel. Through the experiences of the ten-year old character Marjane, the reader is exposed to historical events, movements, crises, and motives that occurred within Iran. Furthermore, the novel has gained much praise in its portrayal of emotions that occurred through the people of Iran. Although there has been tremendous support of the account of Marjane, there have been a few critics of the novel, attacking its overall literary value. For instance, New York’s Ithaca College student paper called The Ithacan, slammed the role Persepolis had on the literary society. In fact, they went as far to say that the novel “...is worth broaching but its literary value, in terms of building vocabulary and furthering comprehension, falls short.” An absurd statement, to say the least. Not only is Persepolis of literary value, it is a glimpse into the past. It allows the reader to understand the various conflicts that the people of Iran were facing. Through the account of Marjane, the audience is exposed to elements of Iranian history, gender roles, religion, and political fluctuation.

This wasn’t the only time that Marjane was discriminated against while living in Vienna. It wasn’t until she faced these discriminatory actions that she truly felt like distancing herself from her Iranian culture. Because of this she felt the need to assimilate herself into a completely different person, such as wearing punk style clothing and cutting her hair. Not only was MArjane discriminated against because of her ethnicity, but also because she was woman. Once she returned to her home of Iran, she faced the sexist and misogynistic laws that are prevalent in Iran. It is stated in the Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia that “The major obstacle to

As Marjane experiences new ideas and culture once she moves to Austria as a teenager, she finds that there are many things she doesn’t agree with or understand. Fitting in as a teenager is hard enough without having to deal with being stranded all alone, which is exactly what Satrapi had to endure for years on end. During those years of growth, Marjane ran into many obstacles including her relationship with boys and smoking. One of Marjane’s first friends that she made while living in Austria was the influence for much of her confusion when it came to social activities. Marjane was surprised when she attended a party and it was the opposite of what parties were like in Iran where there was dancing and food, instead “people preferred to lie around and smoke” (Satrapi 185). Almost everything Marjane experienced in Austria was against how she was raised in Iran. Marjane thought to herself, "And then,

In the graphic novel Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, the author tells her personal life story of growing up in Iran during the breakout of the Iraq and Iran War. Her use of black and white comic strips makes her story come to life in an entertaining and attention-grabbing way. Marjane growing up can be examined by using Erik Erikson’s theory of the eight stages of life. Persepolis shows how a young girl can overcome and turn into a woman that has self-love and finds who she is meant to be in life.