Marjane's Loss Of Innocence In Black Friday

Innocence, by definition, is the lack of guilt or corruption, meaning pure. At the start of the book Marjane shows this trait. Marjane grows up throughout the novel, learning new things and becoming more mature. At the start of the book she is naive and doesn’t know about all the many hardships that others go through everyday. Later in the book she is exposed to much more and learns new things along the way. So although Marjane was young and naive at the start of Persepolis, she ultimately lost her innocence due to many instances such as her attendance at the Black Friday Demonstration, the discovery of social classes, and the loss of her Uncle Anoosh. Marjane attending the Black Friday demonstration contributed to the loss of her innocence. Before going to the Black Friday protest Marjane had never been exposed to something even remotely similar. She was a part of something with so much meaning and was surrounded by people with lots of heart and determination. This demonstration showed Marjane that much more is going on in her lifetime than she had thought previously. “We had demonstrated on the very day we shouldn’t have: on ‘Black Friday’. That day there were so many killed in one of the neighborhoods that a rumor spread that Israeli soldiers were responsible for the

Immediately after seeing that her Uncle Anoosh had died she had a falling out with God; someone who she was previously very close with. During this falling out Marjane said, “Shut up, you! Get out of my life! I never want to see you again!” (Satrapi 70). In this evidence, we see that the loss of Marjane’s Uncle chips away at her innocence by making her question things she used to believe in. She no longer trusts God, showing a loss of her religious faith. She has become skeptical about things she used to whole-heartedly believe in and trust. Skepticism demonstrates corrupt thinking and a lack of