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Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

1562 Words7 Pages

In recent times there is the common belief that Iran is filled with fundamentalists, fanatics, and terrorists, however in the graphic narrative Persepolis the author Marjane Satrapi tells the tale of the common people in Iran those who do not agree with the fundamentalist beliefs, the extremes ideals of the fanatics, nor the terrorists of the region. She shares her story of rebels in Iran who fight against the government whether through rebellious behavior or outright rule-breaking. Satrapi tells of her family and their history like her Communist uncle and royal grandfather. She is unable to avoid the fundamentalists, fanatics, and terrorists as they were and still are in Iran. They even controlled most of the public under their repressive …show more content…

To do this they would get her as many “western” things as they could, in any way they could. “Here, this is for you. Nike’s latest model. And this..’ ‘Wow! Michael Jackson’ ‘And here’s your denim jacket’ ‘Cool!” (Satrapi 130). Satrapi’s parents loved their daughter and wanted the best for her so they went to great lengths in order to make her life a tad different than what the fundamentalist law wanted them to. This included numerous parties which Satrapi attended, both in her youth with her parents and later in life with her friends. For Satrapi these parties were full of fun and rebellion, they allowed for her and her friends to be free of the veil and be themselves in a private place with little fear of being found out and sent to jail for being themselves. This is just one instance of Satrapi working around the government as she and her family do this numerous times. One of these other times was when Satrapi’s parents are bringing Satrapi a couple of posters from Turkey to Iran even though it is an illegal item and they could be jailed for bringing it. “And then my mother had a great idea… ‘Take off your coat.’ ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ ‘Wait, you’ll see.’ She tore out the lining then, she placed the two posters behind it and then sewed it back in,” (Satrapi 127-128). Her parents successfully got through customs and brought Satrapi her posters among other things. Another time of Satrapi going against the government's reactions would be when she went to get tapes from the black market. “For a year now, the food shortage had been resolved by the growth of the black market. However, finding tapes was a little more complicated. On Gandhi Avenue you could find them sometimes,” (Satrapi 132). Satrapi shows that the people of Iran are just like any other people around the world. She shows them having fun, defying the government, and being themselves. However, she cannot avoid having to share

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