Persepolis: Marjane Satrapi's Relations With God

In the novel Persepolis, their religion is their way of life. The revolution exerted power and influence over so many people and this included several educated/middle class people like Satrapi and her parents. The people of Iran were restricted and lived in fear to be free and express themselves. Many people left after the revolution because they couldn’t or didn’t want their kids to be conformed to what society wanted them to be. Religion in Persepolis defines each and every character in the novel, from the way they dress to the way they speak. These laws were based on religion during the revolution. Religion in the story defined Margi at one point and how she viewed god, what they were allowed to wear, and how religion impacted the society. Despite the oppressive regime, the people tried to make the best out of the situation they lived in.

    In the very beginning of the book, Marji’s rebellious side is slightly shown to the reader. “We demonstrated in the garden of our house” (10). This was the beginning of Marji’s own rebellion for religion. The thing that makes this illogical though is that she doesn't fully understand what she is rebelling against. All she knows is that the adults around her, including her parents, are rebelling and that she should follow suit. In order to fully understand why she’s doing what she is doing, she reads plenty of books. “To enlighten me they bought books” (12). Marji learned more and more of what she was fighting against, and for, but she then decides that she wants to go to an actual demonstration. “‘I want to come with you tomorrow!’ ‘Where?’ ‘To the demonstration on the street! I am sick and tired of doing it in the garden’” (16-17). This is yet again an illogical choice that Marji makes, however it can be justified due to the time and her own reason. The choices Marji makes for religion show just how much effort she puts into rebelling. Marji puts plenty of effort into rebelling in something that she does not fully understand, and it shows that shes has personality traits that reflect from what her parents do. Her parents rebel against the shah, and so does Marji. She does not understand why she does, but she decides to do it anyways. Her personality is reflected from her parents, and show how she is so rebellious.

Marji asked her parents if she could go, but they declined every time;however, Marji still snuck out and went. Marji and her maid Mehri proceed on with their plans and go. When they arrive, Marji sees first-hand how people are really being treated, and she does not like it. A little while after the demonstration, Marji decides she is going to wear her new jean jacket and new nike shoes. She gets caught and makes up a lie so she will not get into too much trouble. She wanted to express herself a little bit, and show her own style. She comprehends now that she cannot wear what she wants, and she becomes angry and disappointed. Marji is tired of having to be who someone else wants her to be, and always having someone holding her back. Because of everything going on, Marji starts to do everything her parents ask her to, and she starts rebelling. Marji’s school teacher started being rude, so Marji decided she had enough and stands up for herself. She accidently hits the teacher and gets herself expelled. This promotes a big change in Marji, because she seems as if she really does not care. The final event that changes Marji is the bombing in her neighborhood. She thought her house was her safe place, but the bomb was an eye opener to her that she really was not safe anywhere. Some of the events that change Marji are: Uncle Anoosh’s death, the demonstration, the Nike shoes, getting expelled, and the bomb going off.

Marjane’s friendships are few and far between, after the wake of the revolution. In the beginning of the novel, Marjane’s best friend is God and how she mainly identifies herself. This is significant to understanding the depth of Marjane’s thoughts as a child. She is very different from the rest of the kids. This is evident when Marjane’s says when she wants to be a prophet and her classmates say they want to be doctors, or teachers. Growing up in Iran makes it hard for Marjane to express herself and really identify herself. This affects her friendships with children her age. Marjane is very sympathetic for a child her age, and she deeply understands what her country and family has been suffering through. She sat in a bathtub for hours trying to understand how her grandfather felt. Other children her age were not doing things like this. She often talks to God as mentioned before and this is when Marjane can express herself. She cannot do that with other children so she leans on God and identifies with him. As Marjane grows she meets her uncle who be¬comes the light of her life and her new best friend. He tells her stories about his struggles and Marjane begins to identify herself in his stories. In this quote her Marjane is talking to other children her age, she says “ There are lots of heroes in my family, my grandpa was in prison, my uncle Anoosh too: For nine

Taji says this because she also believes strongly in what she has taught her daughter and to her, Ramin is too young to fully understand the meaning behind his words. Although she criticizes Ramin’s parents for this, she does the same thing with Marji. Marji’s opinions on the revolution are shaped by the stories her father tells, what her teachers tell her in class, and what she hears from her friends. As Marji grows and gains her own experience and knowledge about the world, she is able to use it to form her own opinions about the Iranian Revolution. However, as a child, she is too young and inexperienced to form a well-thought opinion.

An additional traumatic event occured when Mariatu gets attacked by the rebels in her home village. She experiences many people she knows getting not only murdered, but also tortured mentally and physically. In order to get through what is happening to her, she relies on god; “Please let me die quickly. Let it be over quickly, too. Don’t let the rebels cut my body piece by piece.” (Kamara 35). Although Mariatu wasn’t trying to live, she tried to deal with her fear by praying to god

"My mother was the first to open my eyes to God when I was nine. We knew our family would be separated at auction, so my mother told my siblings and I '...there is a God, who hears and sees you, … he lives in the sky... and when you are beaten, or cruelly treated, or fall into any trouble, you must ask help of him and he will always hear and help you ' (Monges). 'If you ask him to make your masters and mistresses good, he will ' ("Sojourner Truth

(7). Her grandmother also buys her books to help educate her on what is going on in their country (28). Both of these actions display that her grandmother wants her to be educated and also wants Marji to do whatever she desires and teaches her that she truly can be whatever she wishes. Before Marji leaves to go to Austria, her grandmother tells her “always keep your dignity and be true to yourself” (150). This is something that continually goes through Marji’s mind as she begins to make mistakes, being true to herself is something Marji is constantly struggling for and becomes a major theme throughout the novel. In the end of the novel Marji learns how to be true to herself and her ambitions as she divorces Reza and moves to Paris, which was an action heavily based on the ethics and teachings of her grandmother.

The Satrapi family were really good people who always did what they supposed to do if they knew that it was the right thing to do. They believed that you should have the liberty to make your own decisions, which is why Marjane was so independent, brave, rebellious, generous, understanding. Marjane believed that you should always do what is right because every one is considered equal. Well even though Marji was taught that by her parents she soon learned that not everyone is considered equal according to what socio-economic class that they were a part of. When Marjane's family maid fell in love with the teenage boy next door, she did not see anything wrong with them both wanting to be together and get married. It's only when Marjane's parents found out about the maid's relationship that it was soon ended because her father told the young man that she was their

Introduction: God guides and protects us through all crisis by showing his power in faith to overcome. Sometimes we ask God “help us” or “save us” only when a crisis is present in our lives and forget

Because of these things the guardians were going to take her in, but Marji rebelled against that by crying her eyes out and also by lying.

Marji's role in life changes drastically throughout the novel. In the beginning, as a young child, Marji believes that she is a prophet. As the story progresses and they the revolution continues, Marji begins to feel dismay towards the revolution and towards God. Later in the novel, Marji’s mother also feels sadness. Her former revolutionary spirit is gone and replaced with fear. When Marji’s principal calls the house to complain that Marji disrespected of the teachers, her mother in the past would have been proud, but this time around she fears for her daughter and goes on to explain the things that happen to girls in Iranian prison. Her mother had given up optimism and established that war

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

How does religion affect people’s everyday lives when living under Islamic rule? In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis, she discusses living in Iran after the Shah’s exile and when the new Islamic regime is implemented. Religion, primarily Islam, plays a significant role in the novel, and not only affects how people perform their religious acts, but also how they behave publicly. Religion has forced changes upon characters in the book and has made their interactions with each other mostly centered around their beliefs. Throughout the book, there is ample evidence of how religion has defined characters. Specific evidence is depicted through Satrapi’s growing rebellion, Marji, and her family feeling pressured to lie to the police and people around them, and citizens beginning to give up on religion and everything they believed in prior to the revolution.

Her personal perception of religion also justifies that she is product of a very spiritual upbringing. For Marjane to develop a personal relationship with whom or what she believes to be God and to further that relationship with claims of being a prophet at such a young age, it can be assumed she has a deep knowledge base of her religion. Marjane Satrapi’s religious belief is heavily influenced by her environment and interactions with others. Furthermore, the role of religion acts as a safe place for Marjane in her times of uncertainty for a majority of the plot. “I didn’t know what justice was. Now that the revolution was finally over once and for all, I abandoned the dialectic materialism of my comic strips. The only place I felt safe was in the arms of my friend.” (9. 53) Yet again referring to God as something less of authority, she uses her religion as a form of self-comfort.