The Meaning of Satrapi’s Suicide Attempts in Persepolis

Marjane grew up in a place where her ideas did not conform to the laws practices, or society as a whole. After a short amount of time in her youth, she realized that she couldn’t find or even be who she was born to be, giving her several struggles growing up and many identity problems. In Iran, the Islamic fundamentalist were in power, and their rule was extremely strict; the last thing they wanted was women and minorities to rise against the power, so her feelings had to be suppressed in order to survive. After years of being shamed and hidden by the law, she fell in to deep depression, realizing that she did not want to live this way. Her suicide attempts come into play at this point, and you realize how badly oppression and identity struggles can affect a person. 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. She believed that when she returned home, her feelings would be safe and she would be able to act more freely, yet it wasn’t the case. Satrapi uses dark images and writes, “I am nothing”, to emphasize