Religion In Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

“People say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Truth is, you knew what you had, you just never thought you’d lose it – Anonymous” (Quotes). Marjane Satrapi was born to a wealthy family and had parents who adored her. She seemed to have everything, and even as the war raged on, her family still managed to have something more than the next family. In spite of their good fortune, the war was taking a toll on the family and it was decided that Marjane would be sent to Austria. Thus leaving everything Marjane loved behind, leaving her to fend in the darkness of the unknown. In Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, Marjane starts off as a rebel, though naïve at the same time, to an attentive but scared girl in order to show how the war has triggered Marjane's reality to crash down, clarifying the world around her.

In the beginning of the book Persepolis it depicts and retells the story of the author's loss of innocence and faith. As a child growing up, Marjane constantly claims god called her to be a prophet. She had an imaginary friend known as god and would talk to him and god would speak to her. “Yes, you are, celestial light, you are my choice, my last and my best choice.” (Satrapi, 8) Throughout her childhood, God encourages Marjane to become a predictor of the future. The readers begin to see her detach from her faith little by little as Marjane begins

Marji has to deal with things earlier than others the same age as her in different countries. As a child, Marji is exposed to the brunt of events going on in her country, especially

At the beginning, Marji loves God and she wants to become a Prophet. She believes that she was put on this earth to be God’s final Prophet, and that she was “born with religion” (10). Marji talks to God every single night, and she values everything he tells her. When Marji’s Uncle Anoosh from Russia comes to visit her family, she slowly changes.

The story starts pre-revolution, while Marji, the main character is 6 years old. She has a concrete grasp of her identity, even though very elementary and childish . At this age she only has one goal in her mind: "At the age of six, I was already sure I was the last prophet." (6 Satrapi). She has clean-cut idea of what she wants to do, which is to not discriminate on a class basis: "I wanted to be a prophet because our maid did not eat with us" (6). Also, Marji she wanted to ease her grandmother’s suffering : " ...and above all because my grandmother's knees always ached" (6). Marji even attempts to be an avid religious fanatic. She imagines god as her friend, guiding her as she goes and even tries to go and tries and helps her cope with her ideas that she is

Although Marji begins as an outspoken and confident young girl, she quickly has to adjust to the harsh rules of society. Marji’s first conflict arises when she is forced to wear a veil in school. One frame shows her and all of her classmates playing different kinds of childish games with the veils they were forced to wear. In one corner, a girl is jump roping with a veil, and in another corner, two girls are faking an execution (Satrapi, 3, fr. 5). This is because Marji and her classmates do not understand why they have veils and undermine the authoritative power by playing with them. Although a small event in the novel, this mini-revolt sets a precedent for Marji’s actions in response to the regime's rules as she grows older. Later in the story, she is inspired to join the revolution and make a change after seeing her parents protesting. On one night, an audacious Marji storms into her parents’ room and exclaims, “I want to come with you tomorrow! To demonstrate on the street. I am sick and tired of doing it in the garden. For a revolution to succeed, the entire population must support it” (Satrapi, 16-17). Marji’s eloquent words are that of someone who is willing to sacrifice his/herself to make change in a corrupt system. In return for dealing with such heavy political issues, Marji is passionate about protesting and expressing her disdain for the Iranian government.

As Marji got older, it becomes more apparent that she was battling an inner conflict. When she spoke of her plans to her class of becoming a prophet, the children mocked her and the teacher called her parents in to say, “Your child is disturbed. She wants to become a prophet.” (8) Marji’s parents were a modern couple who fought against the new regime. Marji became conflicted when her parents asked her if she

At least once in your life, you will encounter someone with a different opinion than you. You will hit a wall with ideas. Someone will voice their opinion against what you believe, and it will hurt. Everyone can remember an experience where they felt this, and everyone knows how it feels when your opinion is rejected.

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.

Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis, is a spellbinding read. From start to finish, the story grips the reader with its thought provoking content and touching storyline. The author’s depiction of war torn Iran provides its audience with a better understanding of a people that many Western communities deem as ungodly and dangerous. By reading Satrapi’s work, it becomes clear that the Iranian people are much less one-dimensional than most automatically assume. From a Christian perspective, this is particularly important because it reminds us of God’s call to love and care for all people, regardless of their beliefs. The book helps Christian readers to open their eyes and see the needs of a hurting people who see religion as a government mandated obligation rather than a life giving gift. Throughout the graphic novel, Persepolis, religion becomes less and less of a priority due to the increasing basic needs of the Iranian people; however, despite the rather depressing content, Persepolis is beneficial for Christian readers because they can use the information presented in the book to better serve hurting communities.

Imagine a child growing up in a war-torn country, and imagine them having no idea where she or he fits in all this. This child at first holds onto their religion because it is safe and the only thing solid in their crumbling world. Yet, this too will be taken from the child. Now lost and confused the child must find their way in an unfriendly world. This is not a fictitious story. This is an actual event that happened to the author of The Complete Persepolis. Marjane Satrapi, the author of The Complete Persepolis, grew up during the 1979 Revolution. This event changed many people’s lives, either it was for the better or worse is hard to say. Nevertheless, it influenced Satrapi 's whole life. In the book, Satrapi expresses her childhood memories through her eyes as a child. Her experiences and ancestry can be clearly shown throughout the whole book. Satrapi’s family background/past, her parent’s perspective and her own life experiences in foreign countries have caused her to grow and evolved throughout the years.

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

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

Marji’s hatred towards the new Islamic government due to the oppression her loved ones have had to endure, causes her to act out and rebel against the law. There are many instances of Marji’s defiance against the government and religion. One example of her rebellious nature is exemplified when she and her maid, Mehri, decide that “tomorrow [they] are going to demonstrate” (Satrapi, 38). She makes this decision after discovering the truth on social hierarchy and the government in Iran. She wants to support the Iranian citizens in fighting against the rules and religion to make Iran a free country again. Another example

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.