Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis Book Report

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.

Marjane Satrapi’s memoir Persepolis is considered a “coming of age” story based on her experiences growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. This graphic novel explores the life she lead in Tehran which encompassed the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. Undergoing life with such a chaotic environment, it took Satrapi courage to act and live as her “authentic self” and explore what it meant to her to be authentic. Similar to Aristotle, May and Medinas Persepolis examines the concept of courage, through the view of innocence; through Satrapi’s childhood.

Throughout the Iranian Revolution, many events and changes took place that largely affected the views of Iranians by other nations. The graphic novel, The Complete Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi (Satrapi, 2003), conveys many of these events and changes through the eyes of a child growing up in the 1980s in Iran. Satrapi’s main purpose for this book is to describe how the Iranian government was corrupt, causing foreign nations to have a tainted view of all Iranian citizens. The Complete Persepolis does so by presenting major events and changes in a manner that is directed towards audiences that are willing to have an open mind about ethnicity and false stereotypes, and an audience that is young and can relate to the “coming of age” aspect of this novel. By exhibiting a credible first hand account of how Satrapi and many others were affected by the events that took place during the Iranian Revolution, The Complete Persepolis can effectively persuade a reader to eliminate the “Islamic extremist” stereotype that the corrupt Islamic Republic gave all Iranian citizens.

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.

During the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the government placed many strict laws on the people of Iran, particularly on the girls and women and many families had strictly enforced these on their wives and daughters. An exception in all of this was a young girl named Marjane Satrapi, whose parents led her to understand that they did not agree. Satrapi explained in her memoir, The Complete Persepolis, the parents defied the laws of the tyrannical regime and fought for their daughter’s rights despite the known risk of execution. Satrapi explores the complicated and shifting relationship between herself and her parents throughout her life in Iran during the Iranian Revolution as well as her solo flight to Austria between the ages of fourteen and eighteen in the enticing graphic novel. This paper will discuss how Marji’s freedom and education was important to her parents, how they created a relatively free environment for Marji; how they drew their strength from realism, themselves and their own distractions; and their expectations of Marji to be independent, strong, and well-behaved.

By allowing the reader to form their own perspective it “makes the reader reconsider the assumptions…[of the] so-called other” by giving the reader the freedom to perceive the events of the revolution as they wish and not reconsider the way that they once understood the people of the east to be (Darda 34). Satrapi is using her experience and graphic novels to show what her experience as a child was, she does not claim at any point to be telling the entire story of the revolution she is merely introducing a new perspective which up until that point had not been seen in the western countries.

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.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic memoir that reveals the life of a woman growing up in pre and post Iran, as well as her experiences in Western countries. In this book, Marjane utilizes historical events that affect her life during her upbringing in Iran. These include the oppression of the Shah, as well as the rise and effects of the regime. These events’ integration into the story showcase how they affect Marjane and the other citizens of her country. Additionally, these events are important for the context and understanding that they grant readers unfamiliar with the text.

There is always more than one side to a story. For example, if someone’s sibling got them in trouble, they would defend themselves without thinking twice because they have a different view on what happened. Different factors such as age, beliefs, morals, culture, and intelligence can affect a person’s perspective. Marjane Satrapi is led to discover this through the many experiences that occur in her childhood during the revolution in Iran, which are showcased in the book Persepolis. Social class, religion, and gender roles influence Marjane Satrapi’s perspective in Persepolis.

In the book Persepolis, a non-fiction piece about the author Marjane Satrapi’s life in a changing Iran, Satrapi explores the idea of tensions between old and new by referencing conversations with her grandma, talking about parties, the transition of the veil into society, talking about her school, noting the demonstrations that took place in the streets, and discussing the cultural revolution that occurred. Satrapi purposefully communicates this theme to the audience to contrast the Iran she grew up in and the one her parents grew up in. The audience needs to understand the differences in order to understand the stance of the author on critical issues she faced in the book.

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.

Persepolis is not just a graphic novel – it is an autobiographical piece written by Marjane Satrapi detailing her youth during the Islamic Revolution, which was the overthrow of Iran’s monarchy and the establishment of the Islamic Republic. The book is filled with an array of emotions – grief, uncertainty, happiness, and joy. Marjane lived during a time where children were put into tough situations and forced to grow up earlier than wanted in a war-torn country. What Satrapi hope readers to learn is that the characterizations of her country are inaccurate; she just wants to share her life story to readers. It can be said the major theme to this novel is coming of age and freedom against confinement.

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is an autobiography which follows her life during the Islamic Revolution, from her childhood in Tehran which was plagued by political turmoil, to the struggles she faced in Vienna during her high school years. The Complete Persepolis gives an inside perspective of the horrors caused by the Islamic Revolution as well as the struggle of the education system during that time. During this time of struggle a good education becomes even more of a priority for Iranians because it is something the government doesn't provide.

Marjane Satrapi’s uses a monopoly of themes in her novel Persepolis because she wanted her readers to see different perspectives in her writing. However, Satrapi’s tensions between past culture and the present culture is self- evident in her novel. The Author shows this by writing about her experience in Iran during the Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. To what extent does the tension between past and present impact young Satrapi in Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis? This conflict between past and present changes Satrapi’s life, family, and people around her opening her eyes to the real world. During the revolution and the war, the author reflects on the past culture that she was taught. The reader is exposed to a multitude of different cultural and political aspects that proceed to affect her everyday life.