Persepolis: Do Heroes Always Exist? Growing up, heroes are an important aspect of everyone's lives, yet as one gets older those heroes are stripped from the adult and disappear as a result of growth and oppression. In the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the protagonist, Marji, faces many challenging events as a result of the Iranian Revolution. Marji has a very bold idea of what she considers a hero; in her eyes a hero is someone who has seen torture or was tortured, yet in her younger days her undercover hero was the one and only: God. On page 8 in the upper left hand corner, Marji tells the reader about how she has “a discussion with God” every day (Satrapi 8). God is her strongest outlet for the stressful Iranian Revolution. God is her hero in disguise, he does anything to bring her comfort and make her feel safe, yet as she gets older her hero is stripped from her due to growth and oppression. Satrapi demonstrates the removal of her heroes through many graphic techniques such as graphic weight, eminata, and gutter. Furthermore; graphic weight demonstrates the change in the relationship between her and her hero, God. On page 8 she in the upper right panel God is holding her in a dark room when …show more content…
While on page 8 in the top two panels Marji’s face is very relaxed with some worry, but you can tell that comfort is coming to her by the way God is cradling her. With her hero god in her presence stress is relived. In comparison, on page 142 in panels 3 and 4, eminata exhibits fear, an overwhelming rush of emotions, and distress. Marji covers her her face in panel 4 as if to protect herself from the sight of her friend crushed beneath a building. She doesn't have God there to protect her, to lead her away from such a horrific sight. Now that Marji’s older she only has herself and has to face the oppressive, bloodstained Iranian Revolution without her true hero, God, to protect