In Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, The Stranger by Albert Camus, and the current college process that I am engulfed in, existentialism proves itself to be true. Existentialism is intimidating until an overarching lesson is learned through the choices and responsibilities, passions (or lack thereof), and the isolation of a person, such as Marjane, Meursault, or myself. On the surface, the three of us are extremely dissimilar, but we all experience relatively negative things that teach us more than we knew before. Marjane Satrapi is a real woman who grew up in Iran, Meursault is a character from North Africa, and I am a real teenage girl from a small seaside town. Nonetheless, when it comes to existentialism, the three of us stand as examples of the legitimacy of its philosophy.
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.
In the book Persepolis the author shows many reason as to how everyone in Iran didn’t want the Islamic regime. Satrapi challenges stereotypes about Iranians by showing people still want a better life and also by showing Individualism in Marjane. One thing that I have learned in Persepolis is to not have pre-determined images of people because they may not be
To what extent is literary devices used as an instrument to show social, racial, and class differences in Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi? The novelist, Marjane Satrapi, wrote, Persepolis, as a graphic novel to display other countries the progression of the Iranian Revolution through a bildungsroman perspective. The author uses literary devices several times as it narrates the sentiment of Marjane Satrapi as well as civilization in Iran. Marjane Satrapi segregates the western culture to the eastern culture by restating the Iranian Revolution into a graphic novel. The author’s panache affects how the audience interprets the scenario tremendously; Marjane Satrapi ensures this by using imagery. The purpose of this paper is to apprise the roles of
During the Islamic Revolution, religion was very important to the fundamentalist Islamic regime that took power over the secular state. In her graphic memoir, Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, a spiritual young girl, suffers a deep loss of faith due to the oppressive fundamentalist religion in Iran. This loss of faith causes Marji to experience disillusionment and a loss of identity, which greatly shapes her character. Through her experiences with God, Satrapi comments on the difference between spirituality and fundamentalist religion and displays the negative repercussions of an oppressive religious state.
After many years of protest, the Shah's government was overthrown and no longer ruled. We see this on pages 40-42 of Persepolis, as people protest and demonstrate, and finally there is a change in the government. The Shah was overthrown only because people stood up for what they believed in. If the Iranian people had kept quiet about what they believed, then no change would have been made in the government. Similar to this, Jason Rezaian wrote out against political injustice in Iran. This caused him to be arrested, but not before his name became well known. Now, politicians and citizens alike
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
The necessity of Iranian girls wearing veils indicates the regime taking over Iranian society further effect Marjane’s belief towards her identity. The first part of the book presents the background history of this graphic novel by saying, “In 1979 a revolution took over place. It was later called The Islamic Revolution” (Satrapi 3). The readers see right away that every students entered school was asked to wear veil due to the fact that “1980: The Year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school” (Satrapi 3). The veil symbolizes the restriction of social liberties for
Importance of religion in Iran and its society is a crucial point in this graphic novel, Persepolis: A Story of a Childhood. It was mentioned in the novel how the society was corrupted when the Shah took charge. When the Shah took over, this lead to the many rebellions and demonstrations Iran had in order to keep the peoples freedom. The significance of women and how they were treated was also affected when everything changed during the 1980’s. Women are treated not only like trophy wives but they also did not have any sort of freedom for themselves. I had a well-known understanding in the treatment of women is Iran but did not understand why they are treated in such a disgusting manner. Men of Iran are not allowed to interact with women when
Most nations can be identified with a particular culture; this is evidently important. A country establishes a culture which allows other individuals to understand the background on a country like Iran. Within the bearings of certain cultures, individuals can face dilemmas. In addition, these dilemmas can turn into social differences within a society. In the country of Iran Marjane Satrapi encountered many social discrepancies in her youth. Those discrepancies established in Persepolis: A Story of a Childhood includes differences in treatment for women and men. The culture in Iran during the Iranian revolution showed a diverse way of treating women unequally. Certain laws for women were established in Iran for example, women must appear with their husband or a male member of their family. However, men were not put order such vigilant eyes of other men. Other delegations were placed to show that men were placed on a higher pedestal than women. The way women were supposed to dress was also determined by men. In the literary work, Persepolis: A Story of a Childhood Marjane Satrapi illustrates what was acceptable for women in Iran to
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.
Have you ever wondered why girls and women in the Middle East are obliged to cover their heads wearing a black veil? Have you ever wondered why the Shah of Iran was executed? You can find the answers to these questions in the book entitled Persepolis. A nine-year-old, rebellious Marjane lives in Iran in the 1980s during the Islamic Revolution when the new Islamic governmental law forced all young girls to wear a veil and to move to female schools. Her parents and extended family fought against the new Islamic regime, but after four years, fearing for their daughter’s safety they sent her to Austria alone. In Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood Satrapi uses mood, theme, and characterization in her memoir to demonstrate how her suffering during the Islamic Revolution in the 1980s led to her migration and how political problems could lead into suffering of innocent people.
Persepolis is the graphic novel which shows how Marjane grows up under a repressive government in Iran. After the Islamic revolution in 1979, many things were changed by the government such as school curriculums. They closed university to make sure that all books are following the true path of Islam (Satrapi 73). One of the important change, in Persepolis, was the obligation of wearing the veil. The veil is covered women 's skin or hair as a symbol of devotion and modesty for the Islamic religion (Lazreg 10). Until the Pahlavi dynasty was taken the place by Ayatolla Kohmeini after the Islamic revolution, wearing the veil was banned by laws (Heath 31). However, after the Islamic revolution, people start wearing the veil. They are veiling because
To what extent is the literary devices shown in Persepolis increase the impact of the novel and show the culture of Iran in the 1970s? In the novel Persepolis by Majane Satrapi, she tells the story of her life living in Iran in the 1970s. In this novel she discusses the atrocities committed by both sides of the bloody Iranian revolution and how both sides truly were. In the novel, Satrapi uses several literary devices to enhance the meaning of the novel to a much greater degree than directly telling the reader. Still, these literary devices also allow the reader to peer into the very culture of Iran in the novel and how certain objects can mean certain things both from within the culture and the context of the novel. From cigarettes being smoked by only adults, to veils being representative of a harsh and dictatorial regime.
One of the most important symbols throughout Persepolis was the veil because it largely symbolizes Marjane satrapi 's coming of age. It symbolizes this because as a year old child she gets it the first time she doesn 't understand why so she plays with it. As a child many of the schoolchildren play games and don 't take it seriously. It was just given to her by the teacher in 1980. At that time under the new rule it became an obligation for girls to wear them to school. The veil wasn 't introduced to them at this time and separated both genders. Marjane didn 't like this and it seemed unfair to her that all of her friends now had to become separated. However this was only the very beginning of the events to come.