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Nationalism And Perspective In Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

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What is something that every single human on Earth has in common? Very few things can be put into this rare category, but perspective can. A person’s perspective influences how they view almost everything. For example, it influences their religion, their political opinions, the way they raise their children, and many more areas of life. A specific instance of this is shown in Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical book Persepolis. Marjane Satrapi’s unique perspective plays a strong role in her views of nationalism, religion, and social classes throughout her life. Marjane Satrapi’s unyielding sense of nationalism plays a huge role in developing her perspective. The photograph at left (Erdbrink Online) exhibits Iranian women waving their nation’s flag in a surge of pride and nationalism. As can be seen, these women are concerted, patriotic, and proud of …show more content…

In Persepolis, the Satrapi family has immense pride in their magnificent country of Iran. Even the simplest thing as hearing their country’s national anthem brings tears to their eyes and leaves them “overwhelmed” (Satrapi 83). Mr. and Mrs. Satrapi, in the beginning of the book, ventured out to demonstrate in the streets hoping to bring an impact and help the revolution. Later on in the book, they began to include Marjane in their spirited demonstrations of nationalism. As Marjane is enlightened about the history of her family, she discovers that her grandfather was once the Prime Minister of Iran. Marjane’s views of nationalism are influenced by her unique perspective that is brought forth by the high political ties within her family.Another important aspect and key theme in Persepolis is how her religion, Islam, influences her perspective. The photograph at left (Shutterstock Online) depicts several Muslim women bowing and reading in a

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The imperialism that took place in Marjane’s country, the religion that Marjane strongly believed in, and Marjane’s loss of innocence while she was very young, all affected her perspective throughout the graphic novel, Persepolis. As a demonstration

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Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic memoir that reveals the life of a woman growing up in pre-revolution and post-revolution Iran, as well as her experiences in Western countries. In this book, Marjane recalls and highlights historical events that affect her life during her upbringing in Iran. These include the oppression of the Shah, along with the rise and effects of the regime. These events are integrated into Persepolis in order to showcase their effects on Marjane and the other citizens of her country. These events’ inclusion are important due to the context and understanding that they grant readers unfamiliar with the text.

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803 Words | 4 Pages

Do you believe in innocence? In Persepolis Marjane Satrap, gives readers a view of how was her childhood , and what main factors were affecting her innocence and her personality , that’s why she decided to show her life, by doing a autobiography . This book shows in what extend social groups, in this case children, are being marginalized in the text. Marji is the one that is going to interpret this by her own experiences.

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People are like cameras and their personal experiences can be their lenses that change and modify the actual picture. This evident in Marjane Satrapi’s book Persepolis because the whole book is about a girl growing up, and forming her own opinions. Furthermore, Marjane has to mature in the turmoil of an Iranian-Iraqi war, she also has to survive the brutal Islamic regime governing her. This creates a very particular point of view considering that the parents raising Marjane are against the new form of government, and actively protest, risking their lives. As a result, this rubs off on her creating a very rebellious and dauntless little girl, who isn’t afraid of the new oppressors.

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570 Words | 3 Pages

It also illustrates a belief in personal freedom because she is wearing clothes that are frowned upon. In this panel, Satrapi is challenging the negative stereotypes about Iranians by showing that people do still want to be free and not part of the Islamic regime. In the book Persepolis the author shows many reason as to how everyone in Iran didn’t want the Islamic regime. Satrapi challenges stereotypes about Iranians by showing people still want a better life and also by showing Individualism in Marjane.

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1032 Words | 5 Pages

Importance of religion in Iran and its society is a crucial point in this graphic novel, Persepolis: A Story of a Childhood. It was mentioned in the novel how the society was corrupted when the Shah took charge. When the Shah took over, this lead to the many rebellions and demonstrations Iran had in order to keep the peoples freedom. The significance of women and how they were treated was also affected when everything changed during the 1980’s. Women are treated not only like trophy wives but they also did not have any sort of freedom for themselves.

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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.

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There is an established thought that every person must be an active participant in their life, and this is done by making choices; however, it is accepting responsibility that controls our lives and the people around us. Marjane Satrapi is an outspoken female, who is not afraid to stand up for something she believes in. As she grew up, Islamic Fundamentalists created strict moral and dress codes for the people of Iran. As a woman, she was forced to wear a hijab in a certain manner. At the time, Marjane was studying at an art school.

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Throughout Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi clearly links her identity struggles and oppression to her suicide attempts and ongoing depression. As Satrapi slowly starts to fall into this depression, many facets of her life are changed in horrific ways. Her relationship with her grandmother quickly goes down the drain, and her friends hated who she was becoming. Along with her friends, her therapist even begins to be a cause of her diminishing self-confidence.

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923 Words | 4 Pages

With this in mind, It is obvious that Marjane’s Satrapi’s innocence is lost due to imperialism from Great Britain and the United States, nationalism from Marjane and her support for the resistance, and social class situations in Iran during the 1980s revolution. This photo

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1614 Words | 7 Pages

The role of politics in Marjane Satrapi 's life is a critical one, as seen in her graphic novel Persepolis, which narrates her experiences as a young girl raised by revolutionaries during turbulent times in Iran. Particularly, Satrapi uses juxtaposition between her parents and children to highlight the hypocrisy and myopia of the upper class revolutionaries when it comes to the interpretation and implementation of their political ideology. Satrapi builds the foundation of her criticism through the superficial comprehension her child self exhibits regarding her parents '—and, by extension, upper class communists '—ideals, then warns about the dangers that such lack of understanding presents through child soldiers who are fed ideologies and then sent to war. However, while pointing out the shortcomings of the movement, Satrapi 's use of children as the vessels for comparison entails that there is room for the communist community to develop, like Marji does as she matures from child to teen, and encourage equality through the removal of social barriers created through binaristic thinking to truly promote communist ideals. The first point of juxtaposition is Marji herself, particularly her initial myopic thinking as a child.

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957 Words | 4 Pages

The theme of repression is an ever-present issue in Persepolis. The picture on the right shows a bearded Islamist explaining to children why the veil needs to be imposed to counter Westernization. However, Satrapi’s home was a place of liberal values and free expression. This is shown in the scene where Marji is split between

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976 Words | 4 Pages

The graphic novel, Persepolis that is written by Satrapi depicts the coming of age story of Marjane and her experiences during and after the Iranian war. Through Marjane’s experiences, the character frequently encounters the hardship and conflict of growing up. However, these hardships are major factors that shape Marjane as a character and establish the context of the novel. Within this novel, Satrapi uses graphic novel conventions and literary devices to convey the conflict of Marjane; with herself, with man (in the form of her teachers), and with the society that is revealed in Persepolis.

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1088 Words | 5 Pages

It is later that Marjane and her family watch a man decree on television that “Women’s hair emanates rays that excite men. That’s why women should cover their hair” (Satrapi 74). Women of Iran and around the

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1183 Words | 5 Pages

Have your younger siblings ever had a completely different view on something such as where to go out for dinner or what show to watch on television? It is important to realize that the two of you are going to have different perspectives because you are at different ages and the two of you have different interests. As a matter of fact, Marjane Satrapi’s perspective as a child is different from when she gets older because of her loss of innocence, her political and social awareness, and her views on religion. At the beginning of Persepolis, Marjane is around the age of ten. By the end of the story, Marjane is around the age of fourteen.

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