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Hour Of The Star And Persepolis

Decent Essays

Whether struggling to make a living as a typist on the streets of Rio or growing up under a repressive government in war torn Iran, the circumstance and plight of both Macabea and Marji in Clarice Lispecters Hour of the Star and Marjane Starapis Persepolis respectively serve as instruments to criticize various aspects of society. This essay will seek to examine how the criticism towards different aspects of society is dealt with by the two sub-genres of the novel, the graphic novel in the case of Persepolis and the reflective novel, Hour of the Star. In Persepolis, the image that accompanies the text or vice versa is just as important as the "simple" language S.M Rodrigo uses in Hour of the Star. The images not only function in a manner …show more content…

The creation of a narrator, a very intrusive one at that, who at times blurs the lines between what or who is the protagonist, is especially uncharacteristic. The narrator, S.M Rodrigo's almost stalker like tendencies towards the protagonist, Macabea bring further anarchy as the he begins to describe a plot structured with such simplicity that could only be told with such a high degree of complexity, or in his words - "I confine myself to narrating the unremarkable adventures of a girl living in a hostile city" . Heavily dependent on the text, an intrusive narrator who interrupts a rather fragmented story and a protagonist that is not aware of her existence, Hour of the Star comes across as a one big metaphor subtly addressing ideas of existence, reality, poverty and society associated with the …show more content…

an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists." sets the tone of the novel as well as hints at the angle that criticism towards society will be directed, she might as well be pointing her finger. For example; "Because in this country you must stay within your social class." , in reference to the incident with her maids love affair with their neighbours son. Here one can distinctly see the way she addresses the problem in relation to social class. Strong and direct criticism as depicted in the panels that follow relying on provoking the readers immediate thought and emotional responses. In simpler words the text and images themselves have strong influence in terms of pushing the reader to the desired

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