In Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis, she utilizes this novel in way to overcome the barriers between those who want long novels and those who favor visual representations. This grants readers a unifying and jointed medium that bridges the gap between different types of readers— engaging a wider audience as a genre. Satrapi’s extraordinary story gives us an autobiographic account of her life growing up in Iran during the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Satrapi’s representation of her childhood self illuminates her relationship with her parents and others, depicting herself as bold and honest even in the face of adversity. Though she doesn’t subscribe to the beliefs of Islam like others, she utilizes this to think for herself.
In “Shrouded in Contradiction,” Gelareh Asayesh compares and contrasts her life in Florida with her life in Iran. While in Florida, she wears westernized clothing, but when she returns to Iraq, she must put on the scarf and long jacket that many Iranian women wear instead of a veil. The essay begins by telling the readers that Asayesh “grew up wearing the miniskirt to school, the veil to the mosque” (187). Instantly, we become aware of her double life; she changes her appearance and demeanor depending on her surroundings.
Throughout Sara Saedi’s life, she demonstrated the enervating struggles of growing up in America as an immigrant in her work and writing. Saedi immigrated to the U.S at an early stage of life and grew up in the California Bay Area with her family. She emerged into the world inside the capital of Iran, Tehran, in the
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.
It is possible to say that a stereotype is nothing more than a weapon. It exists merely in thought, but is able to hurt a person as well as a nation. Yet, it is what many people believe to be true, even despite the overwhelming lack of evidence. One of the more accepted stereotypes are those of the people of Iran, in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, the author tries to redefine Iranian stereotypes by illustrating that when individuals and their hopes are taken into account, stereotypes are not as simple as they seem. Throughout the book, Satrapi portrays, dispels, confirms, and challenges stereotypes all to show that people are much deeper than stereotypes and to get to that truth, sometimes rejecting stereotypes is necessary.
Marjane Satrapi uses a variety of graphic techniques, specifically on pages 61 and 137, to describe the way that Iran’s oppressive environment has forced Marji’s young, optimistic mind to think in a way that is painfully realistic. Throughout the book, Satrapi’s style of drawing is signature and
In this text, the author exposes the principal character (Marji) as a girl that is affected by the 1980’s revolution that happened in Iran, and how this situation affected her identity search. Marji started to have critical experiences, when all the revolution began to take place, that’s why this character represent children
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.
As a young 17 year old Persian student, reading this for the first time about a country which shares a border with my own, I was challenged by many of the events depicted by the author Khaled Hosseini. The scene where Hassan is raped by an older male, Asef, is graphic and disturbing. It challenges my understanding and ideas of Muslim culture. Amir’s life is occupied with revealing hardships which tend to shadow
Effects on the Memoir Persepolis Marjane Satrapi’s novel Persepolis describes experiences during the Islamic Regime that leave people suffering, dying, and fighting for a better government. Marjane Satrapi uses a comic layout to illustrate what is difficult to say in words. Her panel design depicts images of her, her family, and friends as well as how people in the community are reacting to the different events of the revolution. The use of panel design assists the memoir by making Satrapi’s purpose of portraying information more successful. Throughout the novel Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi uses panel design to advance the reader 's’ knowledge of the many situations occurring in Iran that cause distress to many individuals rebelling against the regime.
The readers can see the transition of cultural background by noticing details within the image, for example, character’s clothing and how they dress themselves up. The transition of clothing and fashion represent cultural backgrounds that create struggles for Marjane and her search in self identity. The necessity of Iranian girls wearing veils indicates the regime taking over Iranian society further effect Marjane’s belief towards her identity. The first part of the book presents the background history of this graphic novel by saying, “In 1979 a revolution took over place.
Everything can be viewed from two perspectives; A fist fight, a murder, bullying, just to name a few situations. This is still the case with Iran and it’s people. Iran and its neighboring countries are often portrayed negatively as terrorist, or failed nations. This is not always the truth, however, and one can learn that through Marjane’s coming of age story, Persepolis. The personal nature of the story is told through Marjane’s loss of innocence, her opinions on religion, and her observation of the prominent gender roles.
Persepolis, published completely in October of 2007, is a graphic memoir which encompasses the childhood and adolescence of Marjane Satrapi in Iran during and following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and her teenage years spent in Austria. Satrapi uses her life experiences from living in these two contrasting societies, as portrayed in the graphic memoir, to break the many stereotypes that those reading from a Western perspective may or may not have by showing them women’s roles, Iranian culture, youth culture, and the everyday action of the average citizen of Iran. Throughout the entire book, we see Satrapi constantly rebelling against the rules put in place by the Islamic regime, starting out when she was only ten. We see Satrapi and many of the other girls are using the veil to jump rope with, use as a monster mask, and basically everything but its intended purpose (3 / 5).
After the Iranian Revolution, it became compulsory for women to wear the veil as the Islamic dress code and all women were removed from government positions, leading to increasing oppression and inequality in Iran. The use of black and white on the first page of the book creates a very clear image that a lot of people are unhappy with the new rules that are introduced by the government. The use of images shows us the oppression of freedom in a way that it would be hard to imagine with words. The first panel shows Marjane in a somber mood, crossing her arms to show her defensive thinking against the veil and the world. In the following panel, the girl’s expressions range from neutral to dislike or discomfort, which shows the general thoughts from people on how they think of the veil.
The autobiographical memoir, Persepolis, published in the early 2000’s by Marjane Satrapi depicts the struggle of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Similarly, the semi-autobiographical novel, The Things They Carried, published in 1995 by Tim O’brien focuses on O’brien’s distressing experiences of getting drafted into the Vietnam War. Moreover, both O’Brien’s and Satrapi’s literature portray the struggle to be understood through the themes of religion and mental health. In Persepolis the struggle is more concentrated on the protagonist herself. In comparison, The Things They Carried the struggle of identity is presented through the perspective of multiple characters.
