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Coming Of Age In Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

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Coming of age can be a difficult part of the journey of one’s life, but it may prove to be essential to understanding the world in which one lives, even if it evokes a sense of loss of innocence. In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir Persepolis: A Story of a Childhood, Satrapi describes the story of her childhood and the various events that contribute to her coming of age journey. The journey of the main character, Marji, reveals what it is like to grow up bombarded by war and the effects that this has on both her innocence and knowledge as a child. In the beginning of Persepolis: A Story of a Childhood, Satrapi conveys that Marji has a yearning for knowledge to better understand the world she lives. The readers first see this when Marji the character realizes that she does not understand anything in the conversation amongst her parents and grandmother in the previous panels (32, 8). Marji then says that she pursued her reading to better understand the conversing of her parents. This is a crucial moment when Marji first starts to want to comprehend her surroundings. It also demonstrates how being so young can impact and lead to an early knowledge of the world she lives in through her experiences and exposure to adults. …show more content…

Marji contemplates the beliefs and idealisms of the socials classes in the world in panel 7 (33, 7). In the panel Marji demonstrates her struggles with the idealism of the social classes, by declaring her shame through a written letter (33, 7). Marji is first introduced by the realities of the class divisions through reading books by Ali Ashraf Darvishian. Marji then experiences this social class division when her maid, Mehri is not allowed to be with a boy she falls in love with. Marji’s identity undergoes a sense of revolution and gains knowledge of injustices of her

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Expressing the theme of identity and impactful religions, Daisy Gard created a critical essay that summarized, analyzed, and described Persepolis as a “coming-of-age story”. According to the document, Persepolis is a coming-of-age story that describes the change in Marjane's identity as she loses faith in her religion. Looking back to the story, this is an accurate description because Marjane starts the story as a faithful child, but then the war starts, causing conflicts such as being oppressed because of her religion. Even though the war was devastating, the event that caused Marjane to stray away from her religion completely was the bombing of Baba-Levy’s house. This major point in her life caused her to act out in school and left her uncertain of how to live her life the same.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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