Persepolis Literary Analysis

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.

The book, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, was written by Marjane Satrapi; it is the story of her life in Iran from birth to fourteen years old. The perspective of Marjane, in her novel, affects the overall presentation of revolution, religion, and social classes. Consequently, with no background knowledge, we only have her perspective which affects our own opinion about the events of the book.

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.

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.

The first part of Persepolis adventures into the life of Marjane Satrapi during pre and post-revolutionary Iran alongside the Iran/Iraq war, as well as the political and social changes that accompanied the war. Due to the intense content of the book it was surprising that Satrapi wrote in such a blunt and direct manner. Satrapi shows her direct and to-the-point style when she draws and talks about the torture of those people taken to prison during the revolution (54). The drawing is showing how graphic and brutal the tortures were, and that alone creates an emotional response for the reader without any additional sympathetic words. Regarding what the book includes about the revolution; many aspects were enlightening, but also gloomy. Most of

Iran went through a very rough time during the revolution, and Marjane Satrapi grew up right in the middle of it. In the book Persepolis, Marjane effectively uses graphic images to show Revolution, Imperialism, and Loss of innocence. Persepolis is a graphic novel about herself growing up during the Iranian revolution. She shows her perspective on important events like the revolution against the shah and the fundamentalist revolution. Also the Iraqi, Iranian war.

Marji would continue indeed, in the search for answers of why things were this way, but not before making her dream come true. Marji wanted to become a real prophet. She was born into religion; enjoying her daily talks with God. She remained dedicated that year to being the only prophet left and confiding in only her grandmother with this secret. Marji found comfort in reading her favorite book Dialectic Materialism, which taught lessons of the mind, is this reality or not, and the phenomenon of nature. She found herself at a very young age referencing her imagination often; wondering what makes a solid world’s reflections as being non-existing (panel 7, 12). In fact, Marji a ten year old child in the middle of the Islamic Revolutionary war, claims her faith to be unshaken.

To begin with, Marji’s lifestyle changed as she grew up in various unique ways. For example, when she

Throughout history, there has been countless movements of women fighting for equal political, social and domestic status against men and to end discrimination based on gender (Scholastic). In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi uses the circumstances of Iranian Revolution (also known as the Islamic Revolution) to present how women disobey traditional standards to stand up for themselves. The novel tells the tale of Marjane, a young Iranian girl, who is growing up during and after the Iranian Revolution. Marjane represents the wave of feminism that grew throughout her country as the strict regulations and social norms(I'm bsing to lengthen paper) on women grow. Satrapi unveils these thoughts of the women in these events throughout Marji’s life by illustrating the female characters standing up for themselves.

Persepolis is a coming of age story for Marji living in the middle of the Iranian war and adapting to the changes to both her culture and her personal life. Inequality between genders is heavily discussed within the story, as well as the struggles between the fundamentalist ideas and customs compared to the less extreme morals of some families: it is shown through the simplistic, but effective images by Satrapi.

The main character and also narrator of Persepolis was raised in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, the second Iran war as well as the Iraq war. The Islamic Revolution had a strong impact in regards to women’s rights, specifically the legislation which was meant to improve conditions for women, but unfortunately resulted in a setback. Marjane Satrapi chose to illustrate her story and enlightening experiences in a way I’ve never encountered before. Satrapi’s comic book style approach about this intense time period within history displayed a bit of foreshadowing. Throughout this essay, I will discuss how her unique style enhances the readers understanding as well as provide examples regarding the feminist approach within anthropology.

The title of the graphic novel I choose to read during the summer is called Persepolis. Persepolis follows the life of Marjane Satrapi as she lives in revolutionary Iran. The plot of the story is Marjane’s growth and development as a free minded woman in a close minded country that is trying to restrict her freedom to be proud as a woman. Marjane’s life is best portrayed through the use of splash panels and pages, captions, and open panels.

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.

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.

In her graphic novel “The Complete Persepolis,” Marjane Satrapi explores different identities and works through troubling hardships as she comes closer to who she truly is as an educated Iranian woman. Satrapi expresses the many trials and tribulations she endured while living in and out of Iran during parts of the Islamic Revolution, all whilst trying to find her identity as a child, teenager, and adult. Although she loses herself along the way, she always finds her true identity and self-worth by putting her interests and wellbeing first, and learning she must be proud and comfortable in her own self in order to thrive. In the midst of losing family, friends, and herself, Satrapi learns what she believes her purpose in life is, and what