Gender Themes In Persepolis

Have you ever felt a personal connection with a character from a book? The most important feature about an autobiography is the connection you make with the author. In the novel Persepolis, the themes of gender roles, loss of innocence, and social classes create an effective personal connection to Marjane Satrapi’s experience. At the beginning of the book, Marjane is young, around ten, and hasn’t had many life experiences. She has grown up by the end of the book, and has encountered lots of life’s challenges. Through Marjane’s grueling story, we form a deep, personal connection with her. The first theme is gender roles, which is a very important theme in Marjane Satrapi’s life. The image shown at right represents how women

This photo demonstrates social classes because it shows the different tiers of class by income. In the present day, we assign our social classes by income and just like in ancient times, there are less of the elite and the majority are poor. Marjane Satrapi and her family are technically royalty and therefore, they are wealthy . “My grandpa was a prince” (Satrapi 22). Also, her family’s money means she is in the top social class in Iran so her story is a bit different from someone in the lower class. Their wealth gives them many ties, and it allows Marjane to receive a good, secular, French education. It seems like a blessing, but they become reliant on their wealth. They risk their safety and stay in Iran for the perks of their money. “If there was to be a future, in my parents’ eyes, that future was linked to my French education. And Tehran was the only place I could get it” (Satrapi 137). In America, our middle class lives are a lot like Iran’s elite. We get a good education and basic needs like food and shelter are plentiful. This helps us make an effective connection to her experience, because we can relate to Marjane with these