In Persepolis, a bildungsroman genre graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, the main character experienced many events that made her become fully grown up in Iran, yet the turning point was her life in Vienna. A bildungsroman is a novel that describes the process in which the character grows from child to adult, which he or she has a reason to start a journey while the coming of age is difficult, suffering, uncomfortable, and long. There are many particular events where Marjane has many difficulties on the process of maturity. When Marjane is still a child in Iran, terrible historical events happened around her and formed her to become more mature. Although they made her become a mature child, the real part of her life that changed her were her days in Vienna where she really understood the cruelty of the outside world and herself. Her friends, boyfriends, and surroundings were the causes that altered her in her journey. Marjane came of age through her struggles in both Iran and Vienna by the surroundings and people around her..
Persepolis shows that coming of age can be affected by the historical and cultural events of the character’s childhood. In this novel, Marjane will unrestrainedly do whatever her parents are doing or did even though they command her not to. For example, when Marjane asked if she can go to the demonstration with her parents, she was refused. Then Marjane decided to go with her maid Mehri “Tomorrow we are going to demonstrate” (Satrapi 38). Of course