Marjane Satrapi’s perspective on the Iranian Revolution was vivid. She was six years old when it started, and fourteen when it ended. She experienced the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the effects of the war with Iraq first-hand. Satrapi has great accounts of daily life in Iran, with the revolution and demonstrations going on around her. Her ideas were intelligent and outspoken, even though she was as young as she was. She was the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors. This gives her a unique point of view to the war going on around her. When she was young, and the conflicts in Iran had just started, they immediately interested her. She wanted to go to demonstrations to fight for what she believed in, just like everyone else was doing. Marjane Satrapi has a first-hand account of the events of the revolution in Iran, and how they affected the people around her and Iran as a whole. The Iranian Revolution refers to the several events that took place in an effort to remove the Shah from Iran in the late 1970’s. At the time, the Shah of Iran, much like his father, ran the country as an autocracy. This means that there was one person in absolute power. The people of Iran did not like this, and they wanted the Shah out. They attended demonstrations where they protested for the Shah to leave. The Iranian Army shot at the protestors, and they threw rocks at the army. The Shah finally left Iran in exile, and the people
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.
In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis, Satrapi states that her goal in writing the book was to dispel many of the hasty generalizations made by the western world about Iran, a principal sentiment being that the country is little more than a nation founded by fundamentalists and home to terrorists and extremists. To combat the misconception, Satrapi enlists the assistance examples of barriers and dissent towards the new conservative regime in Iran from her adolescence. By employing events from her childhood in Iran Satrapi rattles the foundation of the myths and false beliefs assumed by the occident. Satrapi writes that the initial waves of conservative fundamentalism in Iran were met with unified national dissent. To support this
To begin, a few key events that caused the Iranian Revolution must be known to understand the politics and major changes that Satrapi grew up with in Tehran. The Iranian Revolution began on February eleventh, 1979 when the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was succeeded by the Islamic Republic. This took place partly due to an event that occurred about a year earlier; on January ninth, 1978 in the city of Qum,
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.
Seemingly the death of intellectual life from the western viewpoint, the cultural revolution in Iran opened a new chapter in the country. As they denounced Western influences, they made way for a new wave of Islamic culture. The Cultural Revolution affected more than just the educational aspect of Iranian society, it also heavily affected its citizens. The Iranian Cultural Revolution was centered on the reformation of the education system in Iran, so the impact the cultural revolution had on Iranian students, educational institutions, and professors would outweigh any other.
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.
One of the most significant changes after the revolution was the society system of the country. The Shah (king) of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was evicted from his power in 1979. He was a secular autocracy over a large traditional population, and today Sayyed Ali Khamenei who is a religious autocracy of Iran and the supreme leader of Iran. The population of Iran in1979 was 35 million of most rural people and today there is approximately 75 million of urban
During Satrapi’s early childhood, the traditions and history of Iran had been going through drastic changes. The Iranian Revolution was when Iran’s monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown and replaced with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led the revolution. ii
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 emergence of the Islamic Republic in late 1970’s Iran demonstrates how middle class Iranian people purged themselves of the Pahlavi Dynasty in an effort to continue down a more righteous and egalitarian path. As a result, the country underwent a complete social upheaval and in its place grew an overtly oppressive regime based in theoretical omnipotence. In response to this regime, the very structure of political and social life was shaken and fundamentally transformed as religion and politics became inexorable. As a result, gender roles and the battle between public and private life were redrawn. Using various primary and secondary sources I will show how the Revolution shaped secular middle class Iranians. Further, I will show how the
The revolution really began as a series of peaceful protests against the Shah’s government. “In June 1975 and January 1978, seminary students in the shrine city of Qum, Iran, staged public protests against the regime of Shah Muhammad Riza Pahlavi. In both instances security forces forcibly suppressed the protests. Yet the first incident generated almost no public outcry, while the second incident echoed throughout Iran and quickly became a rallying point for revolutionary mobilization.” (Kurzman 2). The protests were the sparks that were needed to ignite the powder keg that was Iran under the Shah. The widespread protests and strikes eventually led to the exile of the Shah, but not yet the dismantling of the government that supported him. “In early January 1979, I don't know whether Sullivan suggested that the Shah leave the country or it was the Shah's idea or somebody else suggested it to the Shah. But, the Shah said that he was leaving for the US. I was asked if that would be a good idea. I said that I thought the Iranian population would be delighted.” (Precht 17). The Shah left both out of fear and as a possible method to calm the Iranian people and preserve his government so that he could possibly return. After the Shah left the country in exile, Ayatollah Khomeini returned. Upon his return
The Iranian revolution or the 1979 Islamic Revolution refers to an uprising that occurred in Iran between 1978 and 1979 that led to overthrow of Pahlavi Dynasty leading to the establishment of the Islamic Republic. The revolution which began as a democracy movement, ended with establishment of the first Islamic republic in the world and although it may have turned the Iranian state upside down, it become one of the defining 20th Century event. Many believe that the revolution lacked customary causes of a revolution and thus came as a surprise because Iran seemed to enjoy relative prosperity and was experiencing change at a great speed. However, the Iranians seemed unsatisfied with the way its government was run. They
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
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.
A revolution is a mass movement that intends to violently transform the old government into a new political system. The Iranian Revolution, which began in 1979 after years of climax, was an uprising against the Shah’s autocratic rule resulting in much religious and political change. Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi made efforts to remove Islamic values and create a secular rule and “westernize” Iran through his White Revolution. In addition, his tight dictatorial rule and attempts at military expansion felt threatening to the people, who desired a fairer governmental rule immensely influenced by Islam. Afterwards, governmental affairs became extremely influenced by Islamic traditions and law which created changes religiously and politically