Examples Of Secularism In Persepolis

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.

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.

The conflict in Persepolis is shown through the changes that are caused between families, women and children when fundamentalist Islamic state takes over Iran. The story progresses though the main character, Marjane’s point of view and experience.

In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis, the protagonist, Marji, faces hardships and conflict as a woman in Iran. When discussing conflict that Marji faces, politics is one topic that stands out the most. Growing up in a war torn and corrupt country, Marji is exposed to violence at a young age and is forced to mature quickly. As she grows older she experiments during a period of rebellion and temporarily leaves her home country in an effort to find herself. However, much later, she circles back to Iran and comes home to the same crumbling and oppressive system she has always resented. Even though Marji may change as she travels to new places, grows older, and experiments with her self expression, her constant strife with the Islamic Regime’s political ideology remains.

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.

The graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a political and personal account of a young girl’s growth to maturity. The novel serves as an autobiography of the author’s childhood in Tehren, Iran. It describes what it was like to grow up during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the end of the Shah’s regime, and the war with Iraq. One of the most prominent themes in the novel is the clash between modernity and fundamentalism. The reader can observe this conflict through Iran's internal oppositions, the Satrapi’s modernity, and Marji’s western soci-political beliefs. This aspect of the novel is important because it shows the ideological diversity within Iran and the consequences faced by those in the opposition.

Satrapi’s family background is very rich in history and in wealth. The ancestry that Satrapi knew and understood gave her a response of support for the 1979 Revolution. As time went on, however, her options began to change. Her heritage is told in little stories throughout the whole beginning half of the book. The first story Satrapi learns about that changes her option and viewpoint is the story about her great grandfather. This story is promoted with young Satrapi

The graphic novel Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, explores the Islamic life and cultures during the Islamic Revolution in Iran. In this novel, Satrapi narrates her life as a young girl when this revolution took place. By narrating her life, Marjane Satrapi allows the reader to get an idea of what she went through. This story includes people fighting for freedom, for themselves individually and for their country. While some people do experience a small bit of freedom, there are people who do not have any freedom at all. This novel explores many forms of captivity and freedom that help enhance the theme and culture of the story.

In the early 1950s when Britain discovered Iran’s amazing oil, the shah, a western controlled puppet was put into power to control and nationalize this resource. During the late 1970s the citizens of Iran started to revolt. Marjane Satrapi, a young girl growing up in the daunting oppression of the Shah’s rule and then the perilious danger of the Iranian revolution remains an individual by learning from her parents, keeping a very strong relationship with her uncle and rebelling against the harsh standards of fundamentalist Iran.

The novel “Persepolis” shows many life changes during the Islamic Revolution told through the eyes of a young girl. “Persepolis” was based on Satrapi’s childhood experience in Iran. Throughout the span of the 1970’s to the early 1980’s, Satrapi experiences many changes in her life, not only with the government, or her education, but also with herself. Although she witnessed many violent acts right in front of her eyes, these experiences helped Marji (Satrapi) grow as a young child.

Satrapi's parents even took an avid part in the 1979 revolution. This might seem contradictory to anyone who knows Satrapi’s family. The Satrapi family are a group of an Iranian middle class. The family was able to afford a maid, and Satrapi’s father drove a Cadillac (Satrapi, 33). The family could also afford to take vacations and send Satrapi away for a better education (Satrapi, 77 & 148-153). One might think this privilege her family displayed is a conflicting action with her parent’s political views. However, the family maintains a long historical affiliation to leftist political activists. Satrapi’s Uncle Anoosh was imprisoned and then killed for his belief. Many of her family members were imprisoned or killed for their beliefs like her grandfather and (Satrapi. This dissonance between political belief and practice is a central tension of Marjane's childhood.

Persepolis is an autobiography by Marjane Satrapi that pushes the reader to visualize Marjane’s life from childhood to growing and becoming an adult. This story takes place in Iran and it’s during the Islamic Revolution. The name Persepolis itself comes from the capital of an ancient Persian empire. The most prominent motifs for this novel is smoking, and the major reason for it is repetition, Marji spontaneously changes her lifestyle, habits, and attitude after she begins smoking, and that holds hands with another major motif which is coming of age. This writing will prove to you how Marji’s start of smoking and coming of age will bring changes to her lifestyle, attitude, and habits.

Persepolis is a coming of age story for Marji living in the middle of the Iranian war and adapting to the changes to both her culture and her personal life. Inequality between genders is heavily discussed within the story, as well as the struggles between the fundamentalist ideas and customs compared to the less extreme morals of some families: it is shown through the simplistic, but effective images by Satrapi.

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.

The world stereotypes different types of culture, but real identity can be only defined by a person who has experienced the specific way of life. In Persepolis The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi, the author creates a graphic memoir representing her childhood growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Satrapi evokes perfectly regarding her childhood, her reaction towards the Islamic Revolution. She is rebellious to the Islamic revolution’s new regulations and enforcement and decides to take a secular approach to defend her rights. In Persepolis, the narrator illustrates the opposition against the Islamic Revolution and Shah’s reign and as well as her pursuit in a secular culture. Her opposition and desire allow the readers to reconsider on past stereotypes about the Middle Eastern culture.