Marji's Loss Of Identity In Persepolis

During the Islamic Revolution, religion was very important to the fundamentalist Islamic regime that took power over the secular state. In her graphic memoir, Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, a spiritual young girl, suffers a deep loss of faith due to the oppressive fundamentalist religion in Iran. This loss of faith causes Marji to experience disillusionment and a loss of identity, which greatly shapes her character. Through her experiences with God, Satrapi comments on the difference between spirituality and fundamentalist religion and displays the negative repercussions of an oppressive religious state. When Marji was younger, her faith was very important to her identity. Marji 's parents were not religious so her close relationship with God

Without God as a guiding presence in her life, Marji began to rebel against the ever-encroaching fundamentalist institution as much as possible. Under the pretense of religion, Iran strictly enforced new laws against social gatherings and all items of decadence, “They found records and video-cassettes at their place. A deck of cards, a chess set, in other words, everything that’s banned… It earned him seventy-five lashes”(105). This sudden loss of mediums to enjoy one’s self and prevalence of excessive punishment enforcing the declared moral code (132) were invitations to rebel for Marji. She refused to comply with her school’s dress code, wearing jewelry, and when the principal attempted removing Marji’s bracelet (143), Marji knocked her over leading to her expulsion. Later, at another school, Marji continued to rebel and spoke out against her religion teachers assertion that the Islamic Republic kept no political prisoners. Marji retorted with facts about Anoosh’s execution and disproved her teachers claims, asking, “how dare you lie to us like that?” (144). These actions, though respected by her father, were met by outrage from her mother in fear of how the new government exercises laws stating, “You know that it’s against the law to kill a virgin[…] a Guardian of the Revolution marries her[…]and takes her virginity before executing her” (145). Shocked by this information, Marji became increasingly troubled by the morals of Islam. To escape imminent religious persecution, Marji was sent by herself to Austria where she fell further away from her faith experiencing the sexual revolution, drugs, and alcohol. She defied the religion she was one close to, was manipulated by loved ones, experienced failing health and self esteem, and an overall loss of pride in her culture. These events ultimately led to Marji’s acceptance of defeat and her return to Iran along with the