Persepolis Satire Analysis

Page 70 of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi depicts the main character of the story, the young Satrapi’s despair at the execution of her uncle Anoosh at the hands of the post-1979 revolution Iranian government. The pretense for his execution is that he is a Russian spy, which, at least from the young main character’s point of view, appears to be blatantly untrue. The author’s shock at this apparently unjustified killing is metaphorically expressed through a confrontation with God, a character in the story that, despite frequent appearances in the early parts of the book, never appears again in the story. This penultimate belligerent confrontation of God, Satrapi’s childhood hero also symbolizes Satrapi’s change from her carefree childhood self,

In the first panel of the page, a melancholy mood pervades, stemming mostly from the voice over reading “That was my last meeting with my beloved Anoosh…”. Here, the use of an ellipsis at the end of the voice over can be identified as a stylistic device, making it appear as though the author is trailing off, therefore, effectively communicating the aforementioned melancholy mood to the reader. The panel lacks an outside panel, creating the impression that the newspaper report of Anoosh’s execution and the bread swan stand outside of the main storyline. This shows to the reader that this event is something that the author can still clearly recall, and the melancholy tone instigated by the voice over is associated with the author as of the writing of the work, not the younger self that is being recalled in the pages of the book. This emphasizes just how overpowering the emotions that she felt at the time were, considering that she still feels a shadow of them many years after the actual event. This mood is carried into the second panel, which depicts a distraught, young Satrapi attempting to console herself as she lies in bed. The panel is devoid of any background, and not even the whole bed is shown, with the author instead opting to display only the