Persepolis is a bildungsroman/coming-of-age story, which displays the life of Marjane Satrapi, a child living in Iran during the Islamic revolution. In the last panel of page 121 (online document), author Marjane Satrapi uses significant phrases and facial expressions to show/convey the growth of the main character and Marjane transitioning from a state of immaturity to a state of making “mature” responses and decisions at a rapid rate. In the panels leading up, Marjane has matured to the point where she can see past her nationalism and understand that Iran’s war with Iraq. Marjane finds a way to rebel against what she feels like is a war at home against her mother’s rules. Marjane smokes her first cigarette as an act of typical teenage rebellion, believing that she left behind her childhood in the process. …show more content…
Infuriated, her mother states that “In this country you have to know everything better if you are going to survive.” Storming off, Marjane yells at her mother and calls her a dictator and “the Guardian of the Revolution of the house.” Later throughout the day, Marjane asks her mother if she can go down to the basement (which she also considers her hideaway), where she takes out a cigarette that she stolen from her uncle two weeks before. Also in the panel, she states that “I sealed my act of rebellion against my mother's dictatorship by smoking the cigarette.” Lighting the cigarette, she starts coughing but tells herself that it was not the moment to give in, then raising her arm and stating “With this first cigarette, I kissed my childhood goodbye.” signifying in her mind that she is now a “grown