Ignorance In Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

As a child, it is very difficult to see past the walls of your own home, let alone your bedroom - the world is so large that you might as well forget about the parts you don’t see. Growing out of that ignorance is a change that is never easy, and is never without consequences. In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis, Marjane has a shift of awareness throughout her childhood, originally seeing only a narrow view of the world she lives in, and changes to look at things from an objective lense which ultimately makes Marjane understand the importance of her country. As a young girl, Marjane is still trapped in her own world, though she is more aware than most children, she still has a narrow point of view that keeps her from understanding the situation her and her family are in completely. Marjane overheard a conversation which they talk about schools giving young boys “keys to paradise” so when they go off to war, if they die they will be allowed

Marjane understands this upsetting and uncomfortable situation that many people are being put in because of the revolution, but still doesn’t understand the significance. This is shown by the positioning of the panels and the figures represented. Where the young boys are being blown-up, with keys strung around their necks, Marjane goes to a party with her friends who are dancing in very similar positions as the dying boy's above, thus insulating that he doesn’t quite understand how to empathize or know about the current events that occur around her. Furthermore, Marjane is listening in on a conversation her parents are having about a fourteen year old child being forced into a country where he is alone and he doesn’t understand the