Marji's Loss Of Identity In Persepolis

Imagine if everyone had a pre-determined negative image about you? This is what life was like for Marji, the protagonist of the novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. The book is set in the year 1980, in Iran where Islam was a major religion at the time. This is also the time for the Islamic Revolution which kicked the Shau out of office and made Iran a theocracy. In Persepolis, Satrapi challenges negative stereotypes about Iranians through important characters who oppose the Islamic Regime.

At the times of the Iranian Revolution, those who deviated from the norm were perceived to be very controversial. Due to the different ideologies of social groups, conflicts and disputes arise among them. In Marjane Satrapi’s, Persepolis, the Iran Revolution triggers the controversy of morals and beliefs between the modernist and the government. The modernist are perceived as rebellious and westernized.

Everything can be viewed from two perspectives; A fist fight, a murder, bullying, just to name a few situations. This is still the case with Iran and it’s people. Iran and its neighboring countries are often portrayed negatively as terrorist, or failed nations. This is not always the truth, however, and one can learn that through Marjane’s coming of age story, Persepolis. The personal nature of the story is told through Marjane’s loss of innocence, her opinions on religion, and her observation of the prominent gender roles.

Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, is a memoir depicting the life of a young girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran during the late 1970’s. Before the Islamic Revolution the country of Iran was run by a westernized ruler called the Shah. After the Shah is overthrown the country’s new government places new religious rules making if obligatory for women, and sometimes men, to wear specific clothing in public. A key theme I picked up on in the book is the theme of rights, specifically women's rights. Marjane Satrapi writes the women and their roles in her book as strong willed and very active in politics.

While this is happening, none of the people in Iran are fully aware of how to react because the country didn’t have a leader at the time. Marjane had to experience this imperialism during her teenage years and it played a large role in her perspective. To demonstrate this in the book, it says, “‘God did not choose the king. ’[said Marjane’s father] ‘He did so!

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic memoir that reveals the life of a woman growing up in pre-revolution and post-revolution Iran, as well as her experiences in Western countries. In this book, Marjane recalls and highlights historical events that affect her life during her upbringing in Iran. These include the oppression of the Shah, along with the rise and effects of the regime. These events are integrated into Persepolis in order to showcase their effects on Marjane and the other citizens of her country. These events’ inclusion are important due to the context and understanding that they grant readers unfamiliar with the text.

People are like cameras and their personal experiences can be their lenses that change and modify the actual picture. This evident in Marjane Satrapi’s book Persepolis because the whole book is about a girl growing up, and forming her own opinions. Furthermore, Marjane has to mature in the turmoil of an Iranian-Iraqi war, she also has to survive the brutal Islamic regime governing her. This creates a very particular point of view considering that the parents raising Marjane are against the new form of government, and actively protest, risking their lives. As a result, this rubs off on her creating a very rebellious and dauntless little girl, who isn’t afraid of the new oppressors.

Marjane Satrapi uses a variety of graphic techniques, specifically on pages 61 and 137, to describe the way that Iran’s oppressive environment has forced Marji’s young, optimistic mind to think in a way that is painfully realistic. Throughout the book, Satrapi’s style of drawing is signature and

When Marjane is a child, she was very obedient. She followed the rules of Islam and the rules that her parents had established. As Marjane grows older, she begins to lose her innocence. She grows into this girl who is rotten. She does not obey Islam, she begins to not obey her parents, and she causes trouble in her school.

Persepolis, published completely in October of 2007, is a graphic memoir which encompasses the childhood and adolescence of Marjane Satrapi in Iran during and following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and her teenage years spent in Austria. Satrapi uses her life experiences from living in these two contrasting societies, as portrayed in the graphic memoir, to break the many stereotypes that those reading from a Western perspective may or may not have by showing them women’s roles, Iranian culture, youth culture, and the everyday action of the average citizen of Iran. Throughout the entire book, we see Satrapi constantly rebelling against the rules put in place by the Islamic regime, starting out when she was only ten. We see Satrapi and many of the other girls are using the veil to jump rope with, use as a monster mask, and basically everything but its intended purpose (3 / 5).

The theme of repression is an ever-present issue in Persepolis. The picture on the right shows a bearded Islamist explaining to children why the veil needs to be imposed to counter Westernization. However, Satrapi’s home was a place of liberal values and free expression. This is shown in the scene where Marji is split between

An author known as Marjane Satrapi involves cultural aspects that she has encountered throughout her lifespan in her literary work. The book, Persepolis: A Story of a Childhood is a book that is deeply rooted with contexts of contributions that Marjane Satrapi included from her childhood memories. This then allows a reader to

She starts to fuse her views of the revolution to her religious ideology. “ It was funny to see how much Marx and God looked like each other. Though Marx’s hair was a bit curlier”(13). In the quote, Marjane is merging her perspective of her ministerial to her version of a dictative being. She isn’t doing this on purpose, the effect of the war is causing Marji to see people of a bad nature in a good light, she reads books like the Dialectic Materialism which stands in a biased viewpoint.

There is an established thought that every person must be an active participant in their life, and this is done by making choices; however, it is accepting responsibility that controls our lives and the people around us. Marjane Satrapi is an outspoken female, who is not afraid to stand up for something she believes in. As she grew up, Islamic Fundamentalists created strict moral and dress codes for the people of Iran. As a woman, she was forced to wear a hijab in a certain manner. At the time, Marjane was studying at an art school.

The graphic novel, Persepolis that is written by Satrapi depicts the coming of age story of Marjane and her experiences during and after the Iranian war. Through Marjane’s experiences, the character frequently encounters the hardship and conflict of growing up. However, these hardships are major factors that shape Marjane as a character and establish the context of the novel. Within this novel, Satrapi uses graphic novel conventions and literary devices to convey the conflict of Marjane; with herself, with man (in the form of her teachers), and with the society that is revealed in Persepolis.