Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis Literary Analysis

Marjane Satrapi’s memoir, Persepolis, portrays her childhood and extends to her early teenage years in Iran. Satrapi grew up during the Islamic Revolution and recounts several of the changes made to society during this time. She gives insight to her personal opinions of having to wear a veil, how children base their opinions off of what they hear and having to deal with friends leaving. Her illustrations aid in showing the emotions felt in certain situations and her young innocence shines a light on how confusing the circumstances could be. Satrapi demonstrates how memoirs can be successful in giving her own perspective as a young girl during this time period through her recollections and illustrations.
Satrapi begins her memoir with the change

Her friend Kaveh is “going to the United States” because his parents “say it’s impossible to live under an Islamic regime” (63). In an attempt to convince her friend to stay, Satrapi repeats what she has overheard about the religious leaders not lasting long. However, she is not successful and Kaveh will be leaving in about a month. Internally, Satrapi thinks she “really [likes] this boy” but later that night, or even after he was left for the U.S., realizes she “liked him very, very much” and “it was the end of the world!” (63). Amidst all the chaos surrounding the revolution, Satrapi shows how the biggest lost for a young girl was the loss of the boy she potentially liked. In an attempt to keep their daughter’s fear in check, her parents tried to convince her that “everyone who left [would] come back” (64). Despite wanting to be involved in the grown-up business, Satrapi’s parents wanted to protect her from the real truth like parents still do

She pretends to be a martyr and screams for the other girls to “kill me” (97). When asked by the teacher what she is doing, Satrapi responds with being a sufferer like the martyrs. When knitting “winter hoods for the soldiers,” Satrapi demonstrates how the girls would wear the hoods themselves distracting the rest of the class (97). Satrapi also shows how the girls made the garlands in the classroom with toilet paper for “the anniversary of the revolution” (97). It could be possible that Satrapi is the one who whispers ‘poo’ causing an uproar among her classmates leading to a week’s worth suspension for all of the girls. In a time where the revolution was supposed to be taken seriously, Satrapi shows how the young girls were tired of following the rules they did not understand and started to make fun of