Persepolis Analysis

Marji’s parents insist on securing their daughter’s life, freedom, and education. Both of her parents had insisted on making sure that Marji could live the way she wants to, despite the obvious dangers something that she was very glad for (311). Satrapi writes, “For an Iranian mother, my mom was very permissive. I only knew two or three other girls who could go out alone at thirteen” (131). They also

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.

In The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the genre choice of the graphic novel vividly portrays the life-experience that Satrapi herself gone through as a youth growing up in Iran back in the 1980s. Satrapi utilizes a unique drawing style to emphasize the influence that the Islamic Republic has brought to her. The recurring action of teachers implanting Islamic values in children throughout Marjane’s education in Iran is demonstrated through a set of related images, which implicitly reflect on the destruction of childhood that is caused by a totalitarian regime. For instance, the teachers force the girls to wear veils on page1 and tells the parents that “either [girls] obey the law, or [they are] expelled” (Satrapi, 98) later on. Also, the background of these images takes place where Iran is involved in both revolution and war; it contributes to children’ miserable situation even more.

The world is chock-full of different cultures, religions, and political ideals. These forces are a part of many childhoods, forcing the young to decipher how they want to incorporate aspects of these principles into their identity. Marjane Satrapi similarly found herself experiencing this difficult process throughout her childhood. In her graphic memoir, Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi poignantly portrays how the distinction between Western and Iranian cultures helps shape her character in the midst of a torn society in order to display the clash of cultures and its process of molding Satrapi’s childhood in Iran.

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.

Marji’s educated and “avant-garde” parents join to demonstrate against the Shah, supporting Marxist causes of classless societies and believing that this is a way to achieve a kind of government that will bring out the best in people. During this time, Marji starts to overhear their conversations about the harsh realities of violence and death in her world. Subsequently, she realizes how oblivious she had been and starts to read books to teach herself the truth. As Marji becomes cognizant of class struggles, “[she] finally understood why [she] felt ashamed to sit in [her] father’s Cadillac” (33.6). The recognition of “the reason for [her] shame and for the revolution [being] the same: the difference between social classes” (33.7) distresses her and drives her to protest. As her interest gravitates more towards these new ideas, she starts to view Marx as a god figure but much bigger, and eventually loses attention to God and her “prophetic destiny” (10.2). From this point on, God starts to slowly fade away. Though Marji is still naive and relies on God as a source of comfort occasionally, this signals that she is growing while discovering her country’s political and social concepts as she begins to become more determined with her actions against her

Over the following four years, Marji learned of how her grandparents were left poor because of the Shah, the leader of the Iranian government. Shah was well known for robing men and women of everything they had worked for and leaving them with nothing. Nevertheless, Marji was schooled on the different levels of society in Iran, which left her to consider her family as rich because her Dad drove a Cadillac. Despite being a child, Marji accused her dad of being anti-social towards a class that could not read and write. To clarify Marji helped out a friend with the writing of some love letters. Mehi was the family maid that could not read or write. Mehi fell in love with the boy

Persepolis is a French/Iranian movie based on the author/director’s childhood during the Iranian Revolution during the late 1970s. The movie focused on Marjane Satrapi’s experience under the transition to Islamic rule in Iran, Iraq’ invasion of Iran, and living in Europe during her teenage years. Her upbringings were based from her family who some were part of the revolution to overthrow the Shah. Because of it, she grew fond at the idea of freedom and valuing a lot of Western culture even after Muslim fundamentalist took over. She also endured a lot of hardship in Iran and abroad due to political tension and judgement from the outside world.

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.

Marji notices the many differences between equality for all genders, and how one sided and strict the rules towards it can be. The women must wear veils in public at all times and must refrain showing too much skin, so they don’t “tempt” men. This rule is not accepted by Marji and her family, and find the rule absurd. The opinion on the veil started as it was required to wear in school. In the first chapter, “The Veil,” Marji comments on the first opinion on the veil. “We didn’t really like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to.” (Satrapi, 3). Marji really expresses her opinion on women’s rights and how strict they are compared to men’s in the chapter “The Convocation.” She points out to the administration how one sided the rights are and how things are unfair. In her own words “ Why is it that, as a woman, am expected to feel nothing when watching these men with their clothes sculpted on but they, as men can get excited by two inches less of my head-scarf?” ( Satrapi, 297). This explains that women are suppose to compose

In the graphic novel Persepolis, author Marjane Satrapi shares her first-hand account of the herself as a young girl growing up in a war zone. The Islamic Revolution molded Satrapi’s identity of how life should be--the righteous path of Islam. Children were taught the morals and ethics of society through adults who looked to guide them down a strict, religious path. Furthermore, the education system and government were against any form of self-expression in children, even if they didn’t know any better at such a young age. In the graphic novel Satrapi demonstrates the effects of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and how the implementations obstructed personal growth of identity in young children.

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.

Growing up in warn torn Iran, Marjane Satrapi is surrounded by deaths of loved ones and many new restrictions on freedoms. Under new controlling government, Marjane Satrapi has to figure out her own path to self discovery through her coming of age. In Marjane Satrapi’s memoir and film, Persepolis, Satrapi uses dark and light contrasts in clothing to portray her retrospect of her loss of innocence.

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.

Persepolis, a graphic novel enriched by the autobiographical narrative of Marjane Satrapi, covers her coming of age in the politically unstable Iran in the 1980s. Specifically, the novel concerns defining events in Marji’s character development and in accordance, her ideological perspectives; the Iranian Revolution followed by the rise to power of the fundamentalist Khomeini (1979), the Iraqi-Iranian War (1980), and personally, her uncle Anoosh’s death. Moreover, Marji’s contrasting perceptions of her dynamic and arbitrary world as both as a child and an adolescent are strongly translated into her portrayal of different social groups: women, fundamentalists, intellectuals (such as Marji’s parents), and others. In particular, there is a strong