Reflective Essay On Persepolis

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.

The author of the book “Persepolis” is Marjane Satrapi. She wants to correct the misconceptions of how Iran is portrayed to the outside. People think poorly of Iran because there are many atrocious things going on. Wars and many heinous acts others hear only. She wants to tell the reader her story how Iran was in her perspective. Satrapi’s Persepolis can be analyzed using Feminist Criticism, Gender and Queer Criticism, and Marxist Criticism to reveal what issues occured in Iran.

The graphic novel Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, is an autobiographical depiction of her life in Iran during and after the period of the 1979 Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. It reveals how Marjane’s persona becomes increasingly aware of the cultural and religious influences that surround her. The conflict between pre-revolutionary secular Iranian-Western ideals and the post-revolutionary Muslim beliefs affects the formation of her personal identity. Her struggle is portrayed through a young Iranian woman’s identity, where her ten year old self is seen talking to God about her numerous troubles. She portrays herself as wanting to be “normal” in a country where posters and designer clothes were seen as an opposition to the

Samuel P. Huntington once said, “In the emerging world of ethnic conflict and civilizational clash, Western belief in the universality of Western culture suffers three problems: it is false; it is immoral; and it is dangerous.” Two contrasting beliefs have a tendency to cause conflicts. When groups of people have opposing views, dangerous confrontations will occur to see which view is dominant. The Islamic Revolution was blood ridden, violent, and incessant; the conservative sect of the population, which viewed religion as the proper and only reasonable way for society to operate, and the more liberal side of the population, which had far more westernized views clashed with each other. In Marjane’s Strapi’s graphic novel Persepolis, the

“Persepolis” is an autobiographical graphic novel written by Marjane Satrapi that shows her childhood in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution. (Wikipedia). The book was originally published in 2000, and translations later published in 2003, 2004, and 2005. (Wikipedia). The book was made into a film, co-directed by Marjane. She also directed three more movies after. (Garvin, Kerry). I chose this book because I wasn’t familiar with the topic and never heard stories about the Islamic revolution. I also thought it was really cool how it was made into a comic book and even a major motion picture. The topic was really intriguing because the topic was hardly talked about and the author personally experienced the whole thing and I got to see her point of view during it. The fact that the author was actively involved during the whole war and got to write it down and turn it into a comic book makes it more fun and exciting to read.

The Iranian author of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, narrates a Bildungsroman showing her growth and development in Iran, as well as a memoir, showing the historical events in Iran. She discusses historical events like the Islamic revolution in 1979, which made it compulsory for the Iranian females to wear veils. Satrapi’s life story is mainly set in Iran, where she shows readers the strict, controlling and oppressive government the Iranians live under as well as the importance of clothing and body ornamentation after the Islamic revolution. To show this, she makes use of characters like her mother, Taji Satrapi, who is strongly against the Islamic Revolution in Iran and herself, who disagrees with the Iranian regime and is more modern like

It is hard to tell the story of a “typical” youth and it is hard to write a story that

Marjane wants to participate in the protest that’s being organized against the police, but her parents won’t let her go

Perspective of Persepolis Marjane Satrapi’s perspective in Persepolis is unique because of her gender, social status, and the danger around her. She is a young girl from a royal family when the Islamic Revolution begins in Iran. She experiences many traumatic events in her childhood but is shielded by a lot by her parents. Because of these things, her perspective is slightly altered and not entirely accurate. Being a female in Iran before the Islamic Revolution was not that different than being a female in America, but after the Islamic Revolution, women were expected to wear hijabs, obey their husbands, and conform to traditional gender stereotypes.

As a child, an individual is an unchangeable person, but through experience and growing up, it is learned that said individual will in fact change. Marjane Satrapi presents the topic of coming of age in her graphic novel, The Complete Persepolis, which takes place in Iran during the revolution in the late 1970’s and beyond. The memoir recounts and reflects Marjane’s life during this trying time. Although there are many key events in Marjane’s life that affect her, uncle Anoosh’s general presence in her life, the revolution and her homelessness are the most prominent events to be noted.

Persepolis is a graphic novel that depicts what it was like growing up first hand in Iran during the 1980s’. Through the eyes of main character and author, Marjane Satrapi, the effects of the Western world and the Iranian Revolution are demonstrated to be consistently evolving and influencing Marjane’s childhood. The Iranian Revolution’s outcomes especially. In the beginning, Marjane is considered to be a very religious child who speaks to God all the time, loves to read and wanted to be a prophet when she was grown. As the novel progressed, Marjane’s personality and religious outlooks begin to change significantly from what they were originally. The tensions that built up over the course of the revolution not only shaped the cultural and political relationships between the Iranian world and the Western world, but also shaped what Marjane’s childhood was. Marjane grew up during a time period where things were starting to become especially poor for the Iranian people. Beginning in 1979 when Mohammed Reza Shah flees after being over-thrown by Seyyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, Iran changes from being one of the most secular states to an Islamic-state rather quickly. Being suddenly segregated from her male friends and vailed as they were considered to be capitalist symbols, Marjane’s outlooks were just beginning to shape as well as change. Abruptly images of Shah were outlawed and being destroyed, his pictures ripped from their books; any who worked for him could face

It is almost impossible to fit a person’s entire life in a book. It actually seems somewhat proper that a whole person’s life is not able to be told in a single novel because a human’s life is too complex and longevous to be explained by text itself. Nevertheless, a person can only remember so many things from their life and be able to write every single detail of every moment, emotion, and thought of his or her life down into an autobiography. People often will easily remember strong, brief, and outstanding instances of their past where these memories are very clear and vivid. However, it is thus conversely true to say that people have a harder time remembering exact, unimportant details of their everyday lives because their brains can only hold so much information and is why time sometimes feels to have sped up. In the autobiography, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the author recounts her life story by applying different literary tools into highlighting and revealing not just the events of her life, but the emotions and thoughts accompanying the events as well.

The Islamic revolution started in 1979, and refers to events involving the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was supported by the United States, and the replacement 2,500 years of continuous Persian monarchy with an Islamic Republic under the Grand-ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The author, Marjane Satrapi, was a Iranian-born graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and children’s book author. She wrote the book, Persepolis, which depicts her childhood up to her early adult years in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution. Violence was a big lesson that Marjane had learned and witnessed. She saw and witnessed it in many different ways possible, physical, verbal, and emotional.

Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis is a graphic novel that suggests that there is a sharp discrepancy between the world of the Iranian Revolution, as depicted in the Western media, versus how many Iranians experienced it in the context of their own lives. Satrapi was the product of a liberal home environment. Behind closed doors, the life the young Marjane led was often very different from the images of burka-wearing, angry militants that were popular in the news, particularly in America during the 1970s and 1980s. The novel, based on Satrapi's life, was originally published in French, rather than Farsi, reflecting the international nature of Satrapi's upbringing.

Persepolis is a story about the childhood of Marjane Satrapi, and her life growing up through the Islamic Revolution in Iran. In 1979, the early years of Marjane’s life, her schooling was completely turned around when the Islamic Revolution began. The boys and girls were separated from each other and the girls were now required to wear a hijab, which she referred to as “The Veil.” These were among some of the things that shaped Marjane’s future. People all around began to protest, including her mother and father who fought hard against the Revolution. But often with protest comes brutality. Many of her family members and her friends family members were executed or sent to jail and the way women were treated became more extreme. Throughout this