Persepolis Critical Analysis

Young children usually don’t comprehend the flawed world they live in for various reasons. For instance, parents tend to shelter their children from traumatic events; however, at some point children are forced to grow up and become involved in real world problems. In her novel, Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi experiences a numerous amount of events that shape and develop her perspective throughout the novel. Her perspective influences her presentation of loss of innocence, social classes, and gender roles. These things all alter the way she acts towards her family, friends, and God. The image to the left portrays a young girl smoking a cigarette. The girl in the photograph demonstrates the loss of innocence in the sense that smoking a cigarette,

For example, she can’t grasp the veil or getting separated from the boys at her school, so she takes it upon herself to learn about topics regarding SmiEmily SmithZimmerman 3rdFriday, February 23Persepolis photo essay Young children usually don’t comprehend the flawed world they live in for various reasons. For instance, parents tend to shelter their children from traumatic events; however, at some point children are forced to grow up and become involved in real world problems. In her novel, Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi experiences a numerous amount of events that shape and develop her perspective throughout the novel. Her perspective influences her presentation of loss of innocence, social classes, and gender roles. These things all alter the way she acts towards her family, friends, and God. The image to the left portrays a young girl smoking a cigarette. The girl in the photograph demonstrates the loss of innocence in the sense that smoking a cigarette, if done at all, should be done by an adult, not a child. Not only is the theme of loss of innocence depicted in this image, it is also shown in Marjane’s story,

Marjane continues to say, “I read all the books I could.” (Satrapi 40). Not only does Marjane read about the events raging in Iran, she experiences them as well. Marjane soon realizes, from her real life experiences and the books, that her world is very much imperfect. After she learns the terrible ways of the people around her and the reasons behind the revolution, she decides to smoke a ciggerate and lose her innocence compleatly. Marjane states, “With this first cigarette, I kissed childhood goodbye. Now I was a grown-up” (Satrapi 117). Marjane, just like the girl in this image, has shown her loss of innocence through her perspective. She can no longer be sheltered from her parents or be ignorant in relation to the world around her. The theme of gender roles has heavily impacted Marjane 's perspective in regard to the events occuring in Iran. In the photograph to the left, the wife is in the house cleaning, while the husband is outside working on a car. This photograph is demonstrating gender roles, seeing that the wife is an ordinary housewife doing all of the cleaning in the house, while the husband is outside working on his car. The theme of gender roles is also identified in Persepolis. In the novel, the theme of gender roles is displayed when the law against killing a virgin is revealed to Marjane. This law was symbolizing how women were treated as property of men. Marjane 's mother stresses, “Its against