Many Characters in novels face a challenge where rebellious acts are necessary. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, some characters face a difficult challenge where they thought rebellious acts are necessary. In the Lowland, Udayan is one of the main characters who believe equality. He believes violent and disobedient acts against the Indian government to bring equality. Udayan focuses to bring equality to the peasant and poor classes. He manages to protest and act after India is freed from imperialism from England. And, in Persepolis, Marji believes in her ideal to pursue western and secular lifestyle. The depiction of her life in the graphic novel reveals many rebellious phases …show more content…
Readers see that Udayan tries to use his radical ways to bring equality, but failures because he never achieves his dream. He finds himself in the dark after his failed mission when the chemical explodes. His hand gets hurt and becomes disabled, and readers predict that end is coming soon for him. Udayan fails and struggles to cope with his failure, then the Indian police capture him and execute him while his family watches. Udayan’s radical rebellious actions illustrate that damage can only do harm. There is no righteousness in Udayan’s injustice action and faces his consequence. Unlike Udayan, Marjane holds her belief in her western idea. She does not conform to Islamic Revolutionists’ ideal and then escapes from her country. Udayan dies following his goal, but Marjane lives even though she holds the western ideals to be free. She is a citizen of Iran who supports Iran government before the Islamic revolution. She also enjoys the freedom that Iran had after the tyrannical king was overthrown. She embraces freedom for the short time and continues to practice during the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Readers can analyze her rebellious nature. She practices her western ideas while the Islamic revolutionists banned all western practices. For example, she listens to western-cultured music. Also, she asks her parents to buy western music posters which were illegal. Her family promoted Marjane’s freedom by celebrating in parties. They
Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) is one of the most influential presidents in history of the United States. In FDR’s 1941 speech, “On the War with Japan,” he discusses the necessity of going to war in Europe and what it means for America’s future. His leadership skills in combination with his speech causes society to go from an isolationist policy to being motivated to enter and win the war. Through the use of rhetoric, FDR is able to captivate the listeners and encourage them to actively participate in the war. Not only does he play on the emotions of the audience, he also appeals to their sense of patriotism and logic in order to persuade them to get involved in World War II.
Western culture has often misperceived the east and the way that their society functions. In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Satrapi uses graphic novels as a way to demonstrate to the western culture how the east has been misrepresented. The use of media helps to depict to the west how their views of the east may have been unfairly formed in the past. The media has only revealed limited knowledge that only shows partial perspectives because it is difficult to get perspectives of the minorities although they are the ones who hold the most truth. In other words the use of graphic novels and a child’s perspective give the west a new idea on how it is that society in the east functions. This style of writing brings the connection between the two
Amazing, intriguing, and unimaginable are just a few words to describe how I felt about Persepolis while I read this true life story of Marjane Satrapi. This book has helped me to see all the life struggles, good times, and adversities that Marji faced between the ages of nine to thirteen. The Islamic Revolution had such a daunting effect in the Middle East, especially in the county of Iran where Marji and her family resided.
One of the main theme’s of Persepolis is class conflict. Class conflict is also referred to as class struggle. Throughout the entire memoir, Marjane, her mother, and her father have to face the challenge of class conflict. In some specific chapters, the class struggle is referenced. The class conflict mainly affects social classes, and during the revolution and the war in the graphic novel, the social classes begin to divide the people, and soon, divides the entire country of Iran.
In the Greek civilization, the gods and goddesses were a major influence on the Greeks. The Greek gods and goddesses consisted of the twelve Olympian gods who lived on Mount Olympus. These twelve Olympic gods included the three major gods: Zeus; ruler of the gods; Poseidon, god of the sea; and Hades, god of the underworld. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were brothers commonly referred to as “The Big Three” in books such as Percy Jackson, by Rick Riordan, and the Pegasus series, by Kate O’Hearn. They were also sons of the Titan King Kronos.
Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis, illustrates her own experience of the Iranian world through revolutions and corrupt dictatorship. Throughout her life, Marji is faced with numerous hardships that challenge her life from a young age. From struggling to adapt into diverging cultures to standing up for her identity, Marji’s conflicts force her to choose between family and herself. Unlike the people from her homeland, Marji has many opportunities to explore her liberty, however, she has to face the consequences that once she commits to one decision, she loses the other.
In Marjane Satrapi’s novel “Persepolis”, the story of a young girl and a nation are both at the forefront. The main character, Marjane, is growing up in the midst of the Islamic revolution in Iran and experiences both the cultural and societal disarray that follows. Despite Marjane modern lifestyle and beliefs she experiences internal dissonance regarding her past ideas, her current ideals, and the reality of her nation. Similarly, Iran also faces a lack of identity surrounding the revolution. The idea of Iran as a singular and separate nation is questioned and such disarray leads to a radical change in ideals and daily life. Even after the revolution, Iran is faced with inner disputes and conflicting ideas within the society. In this way, both Marjane and the nation of Iran experiences a lack of identity and inner turmoil in light of the revolution. Satrapi’s childhood figure embodies not only the conflicting ideas within an individual living in Revolution-era Iran, but also the internal dissonance within Iranian society during this time.
As we learn a third of the way through the novel, Marjane parents identify themselves as secularists. Since the Islamic regime is governed by a strict theocracy, Marjanes parents had to take precautions to continue to live their secular lifestyle. The precautions they undertook are illustrated on page 105, as Marjanes mother starts to put curtains on their windows so the police don’t catch them. On page 106, Marjanes parents host a wine party, which is against the Islamic law. Although they knew they could be prosecuted for such a risky act, they choose to ignore the possible repercussions and throw the party anyways. Then on page 110, there is an illustration of Marjane pouring the alcohol down a toilet drain with her mother after, her farther was stopped by the police while driving. They weren’t caught by the police because the father bribed the police officers; however, showing that they quickly ridded of all the alcohol, reveals how fearful Marjane and her family are of the regime and the theocratic rule. Marjanes mother and father are apart of the small secular group that reside in Iran because, most people obey the theocracy in fear of being tortured or executed for disobeying the law; however, knowing that Marjanes family is middle to high class, they have more power to bribe police officers and hold illegal events such as
The author explores Marji's transition from an idealistic, young girl to a rebellious teenager in order to emphasize how the political turmoil in Iran forced Marji to grow up fast. Marji rebels against her mother by breaking
In the book, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, the main character is the author as a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution of 1979. She starts off as an incredibly positive child with enormous faith in herself and her relationship with G-d. Through her experiences, especially when she was in her crucial, early teenage years, she completely loses her faith in G-d and also rebels against her environment. The author wants to show the Western world that there are many people in Iran, like Marjane, that are no different than Westerners. She does this by describing her childhood teenage conflicts with her parents, with oppression and with her faith in G-d, all of which most Western teenagers could easily relate to.
Many people grow up surrounded by poverty in war. During the late 20th century and into the 21st century, the children in the unstable and war-ravaged Middle East were forced to grow up surrounded by persecution, death, and a constant fear that that day may be their last. Women experienced an even more brutal, as the Islam religion, which governed parts of the Middle East, carried traditional values, which constrained the individuality and freedom of women. This hardship of growing up in an environment where one feels choked out of one’s own skin is prevalent in the graphic novel, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi. Persepolis is an autobiographical graphic novel depicting Marjane’s life from the time she was a child up to her early adult years in Iran
What does freedom mean to one person? How do they define it, and do different groups of people interpret the importance of freedom differently? These questions have been asked by philosophers since the beginning of the Enlightenment. After the Protestant reformation, freedom meant the right to practice your own religion. The English colonies of America in the 1770’s valued a say in parliament. Black revolutionaries such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr fought for equal social and political standing for blacks in the United States. Throughout history, the definition of freedom has meant similar things to different groups of people, especially the freedom to express oneself and the promise of basic human rights. These ideas are greatly focused on in Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis, a memoir of her experiences and her personal life as a child during the Iranian Revolution. From a young age, Satrapi begins to develop her own opinion of what freedom means, using the circumstances around her as motivation to stand up for what she believes in. During the whole of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi defines freedom for herself due to influences of those around her, witnessing a fundamentalist regime brainwash her generation in order to remain in power, and fighting back for what she believes is right.
Marjane Satrapi says in multiple interviews that she does not subscribe to feminism; instead, she describes herself as a humanist. However, her graphic novel memoir, Persepolis, has several themes at its core that convey feminist ideals. Throughout the novel, Marjane constantly expresses frustration with Iran’s strict regulations on women. She also grows up with strong female relationships in her family; these women help shape Marjane into the woman she is today, a woman who won’t stand for inequality.
The story of Marjane opens during a fundamental time period of Iranian history, a period that consisted of the Islamic Revolution. As stated earlier on in the novel, this revolution was the force that caused the Shah to flee from Iran in the year of 1979. Like many others in Iran during this time, Marjane and her family found no interest in the Shah. During his reign, the Shah showed signs of diluting Iran's value of a constitutional monarch, and instead moved the country towards an absolute monarchy. Additionally, with the U.S peddling the Iranian oil supply, many Iranians felt betrayed by the Shah, as he became a so-called puppet for the U.S. Because of this, his popularity slowly plummeted, and an uprise began within the country. This uprise, is then shown through Marjane's perspective. Therefore, through
After the revolution that was sparked by a group of islamic fundamentalists, the people’s support for western ways of life had to be abandoned. That made Iran a more islamic country with a government that reinforces the word and doctrine of Allah. This affected Marjane because she is a westernized woman and grew up in a westernized environment. The context proves that Marjane felt alienated from her culture and society because it’s not where she belongs. This is proven in the chapter ‘’The Socks’’, where Marjane organizes private parties in which she has fun with other women without respecting the society and its restrictions. It also shows a juxtaposition between her behaviour in public and and her behaviour in private. This shows that even if the society obligates her to act less westernized, she continues to do whatever she likes but privately. This proves again the theme of rebellion, she is a rebellious person since her