Persepolis page 70 Analysis

In the novel Persepolis Marjane Satrapi not only grabs the reader’s attention with words, but also with detailed comic illustrations. The common saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is spot on in this story. The pictures bring the story to life but in particular page 70 really stood out to me. God often appears to Marjane throughout the story especially when she is having a hard time in her life. After a tragic death in the family instead of letting him comfort her she turns her back on him forever.

            To understand Marjane's strong emotion we must look at the first image and the history behind it. The first picture on page 70 is her uncle Anoosh in the news paper, announcing his death. The heading says “Russian Spy Executed” (70). Marjane had never heard about her uncle until she was about ten years old. She immediately connected with him; she looked up to him and thought of him as a hero because he was imprisoned for attempting to create a democracy. He was against the Shah and that was a major crime. The story never says he was a spy; he only lived in Moscow to get away from the Iranian government. This image shows how unjust the government was at this time. By portraying him as a Russian spy it makes the Iranian government look like the hero, when they really just don’t want the idea of a communism spreading.

            When Marjane found out this devastating news she laid on her bed and said to herself “Everything will be alright…” (70), a phrase her uncle Anoosh often said when anything went wrong. When suddenly god appeared and her face changed from very sad to a look of hatred. She went from sobbing to yelling in a few seconds. She stood up on her bed, pointed towards the door, and screamed “Shut up, you! Get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again!” (70). He was only concerned for her and she projected all of her anger towards him.

            In parts of the story earlier on, Marjanes face lit up when god came into her life. He was her protector. Someone she could lean on. When the tragic death happened her attitude towards him completely flipped. At that moment she pushed him out of her life forever. She probably reacted so strongly because she blamed him for the death of her uncle. He was supposed to protect her and he let her down. God listened to her command because he never appeared in the novel again. This marks a significant shift in the story because after this she no longer cared what god thought about anything, she focused on what she wanted and no longer had that faith and innocence she had when she was younger.

Persepolis

The comic book style story Persepolis written by Marjane Satrapi gives the reader a sense of what Iran was really like in the revolutionary times. Marjane expresses the things she experienced as a young, rebellious, and witty girl. Marjane had a keen awareness for the world around her at a very young age. She was in the midst of the revolution, but by reading a lot of books and understanding the country’s problems she was still able to form her own opinions.  The theme of rebellion occurs throughout the entire novel.  

                In 1980 the revolution began and the people were forced to conform to a lot of changes especially in the schools. Marjane was 10 years old when she was forced to wear the traditional Muslim veil at school, and girls and boys were also no longer allowed to go to school together. Most of the kids were not used to it so they used the veils as everything except what they were meant for. She was also taught in school that the king was chosen by god. This directly conflicted with her parents’ belief, so when she went home and said she liked the king, her parents felt entitled to tell her about their family history. Her great grandfather was the emperor before he was overthrown by the Shah's father. He was put into power as a puppet of the British because they were after Iran’s oil. The Shah was very uneducated, so Marjane’s grandfather was made the prime minister because of all the education under his belt. The power struggle weight heavily on him so he became a communist and because of this he was thrown in jail. After she learned about the family history she was on the same page as her parents when it came to protesting the government, which they often participated in.

                She was a very independent and smart girl, and she did not take on all the beliefs that her parents had. Unlike her parents she realized that the divisions of social classes made her feel ashamed. They had a maid named Mehri who had been working for them since she was eight years old. Mehri was left alone to take care of her at the early age of 10. They essentially grew up together and when Mehri fell in love with the neighbor next door she had Marjane write letters for her because she was not able to read or write. When Marjane’s father found out that this was going on he went over to his house and informed him that Mehri was the maid and not his daughter. The boy next door never spoke to her again. After this incident Marjane said with frustration, “But is it her fault that she was born where she was born???” (pg.37). She believed that it shouldn’t matter where Mehri came from, she should have the same rights as everyone. This was not the traditional way of thinking in Iran at this time and it showed her rebelling the cultural norm.

 Marjane decided she wanted to go out demonstrating with her parents. When they forced her to stay home because it was too dangerous, she decided to go out anyway and she took Mehri with her. Of course when they got back her parents were furious at the girls. Later, that day was known as Black Friday, the worst day they could participate in the demonstrating because there was a huge massacre in one of the neighborhoods. Many unjust things happened after this time. Her uncle Anoosh was arrested and executed in the prison for being communist. Her mom was also assaulted for not wearing the veil out in public. After this all happened, her mom was so angry that she let Marjane go out and demonstrate with them. She was finally allowed to fight for what she believed in.

This rebellion continued when she went to school. After Iraq invaded the war was in full swing. It was custom to whack your heart to mourn the fallen soldiers so they were forced to do this in school, they also made winter hoods for the soldiers. All this was a joke to Marjane and her class mates. Parties, drinking alcohol, card games, and many other activities were illegal at this time. This did not stop the Satrapi family from doing all this things. They believed it was the only way to stay sane in the hard times they were living in. Her parents also went to Turkey on vacation and smuggled back westernized posters, clothing, and shoes. All of which were highly discouraged by the powerful fundamentalist. Marjane even called out her teacher about lying to the students; she said there were no more political prisoners when there were really 300,000. After their next door neighbor’s house was bombed by the Arabs, Marjanes parents decided it would be best to send her off to school in Austria. They wanted her to get a good education and be safe, both of which she could not have if she stayed in Iran. Marjane was upset she had to leave her parents at the age of 14 but she understood it was best for her.

Marjane Strapi’s complete understanding of Iran’s problems at such a young age was incredible. All these events that happened in the novel forced her to grow up very quickly. Her fundamentalist school had a completely different view than what was taught at home, and for the most part she stuck with her family. The easy thing would have been to conform to the government’s ideals, but that was the opposite from what she did. She rebelled to stay true to her family and what she believed in.

Factions and Political Pluralism

Iran’s political factions ironically appear very similar to the United States’, however when looked into further there is actually quite a bit of variance between the two. According to Sussan Siavoshi in the article "Cultural Policies and the Islamic Republican",For the most they have a biofactional policy between the conservatives and the liberals. Like the United States these two groups are in constant battle with each other. One group wants the country to keep old traditions and beliefs and the other loves to embrace change. Although, the amount of power the dominant group has is the huge difference between USA and Iran. Liberals had an upper hand in government control, until Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic public, sided with conservatives after 1992 elections. As a result, the conservatives took complete control of the government. This power change lead to some major changes within the country.      

Western influence had been instilled into the Iranians for half a century, and Khomeini’s goal was to recapture Iran as a Muslim country. The ministries and their religious leaders were some of his main supporters. To achieve his goal, Ayatollah Khomeini had to destroy the whole western value system. He strongly states that "Americans are the great Satan, the wounded snake" (AyatollahKhomeini). By demonizing the Americans, he hoped to get more Iranians against foreign influence. He attempted to get the general public against foreign countries utilizing their oil. Most of the conservatives were in the older generation and they remember how Iran used to be before their country was taken over by foreign countries, so they wanted Iran to be more like it was in those times. The main point was to revert back to older, post revolutionary days. This means that a lot of things considered to be a part of the modern day society were discouraged.

 Cultural freedom was so feared that censorship was taken to the extreme. Liberals believe education and the arts should play a major role in society, but the powerful conservatives think the opposite. They wanted to oppress the freedom of expression that art encourages.There are two groups of conservatives, so beliefs do vary, but all put an emphasis on religious dedication and war participation instead of education.

 So where does this discrimination leave the liberals? As a result of Khamenei's conservative approach, and when Ali Larijani got the position of minister in the summer of 1992, attacks on the intellectual community started to increase. A lot of authors were arrested .Newspaper and publishing houses were closed. On a television program called Huvayyat, intellectuals were even portrayed as foreign spies. Acording to the "World Savvy Monitor", Khomeini gave a speech targeting university curriculum. He demanded that they have more of an Islamic emphasis on the learning material. School children were also forced to wear the traditional Muslim veil. He saw it as the states responsibility to enforce all of these traditional Islamic values. The liberal’s response to all of this was very defensive. Although they did not really have a say in the government, they could only respond with news paper and magazine articles.

 It is unclear how long the conservative power will be so dominant in Iran’s politics. The discrimination of intellectuals will most likely go on until there is a power shift. The ongoing battle between the liberals and conservatives is likely to continue for generations to come.

 

 

Work Cited

"World Savvy Monitor." World Savvy Monitor. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.

Siavoshi, Sussan. "Cultural Policies and the Islamic Republic: Cinema and Book Publication." International Journal of Middle East Studies 29.04 (1997): 509. Print.

"Ruhollah Khomeini." Ruhollah Khomeini. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.

 

 

Persepolis (draft #1)

The comic book style story Persepolis written by Marjane Satrapi really gives the reader a sense of what Iran was like in the revolutionary times Marjane expresses the things she experienced as a young, rebellious, and witty girl. Marjane had a keen awareness for the world around her at a very young age. She was in the midst of the revolution, but by reading a lot of books and understanding the country’s problems she was still able to form her own opinions.  

                 Marjane was only 6 years old when the story begins. She grew up very religious and was convinced she was going to be a prophet. God came to visit her every night, but when she expressed that she wanted to be a profit when she grew up it only made her teachers and her parents worried. She was side tracked of this dream in 1980 at the age of ten when the revolution had begun. When she went against her parents beliefs and told them that she liked the king because god had chosen him, they felt entitled to tell her about their own family history. They told her that her great grandfather was the emperor before he was overthrown by the Shahs father. This man was an uneducated low ranking soldier but when the British caught wind of his ideas to build a republic they took their opportunity to make him into the leader of Iran in exchange for oil. Although her grandfather was made a prime minister because of all the education he had under his belt. The power struggle weighed heavily on Marjane’s grandfather, and in turn he became a communist and was thrown in jail. Their family had nothing. After all the information on the history of her family she could not stand the king just like her parents. Her parents went out demonstrating every night. This was not the kind of protesting Americans are custom to. Police would shoot at the demonstrators and they threw stones back. Violence was unavoidable and people were killed because of it every day.

                She was a very independent and smart girl, and she did not take on all the beliefs that her parents had. She realized that the division of social classes made her feel ashamed. They had a maid named Mehri who had been working for them since she was eight years old. Mehri was left alone to take care of her at the early age of 10. They pretty much grew up together and when Mehri fell in love with the neighbor next door she had Marjane write letters for her. Mahri was a servant so she was not able to read or write because she did not go to school. When the girl’s father found out about what was going on between her and the neighbor he went over to his house and informed him that Mehri was the maid and not his daughter. The boy next door never spoke to her again. Marjane said with frustration “But is it her fault that she was born where she was born???” (pg.37). She believed that it shouldn’t matter where Mehri came from, she should be able to eat with the family not in the other room, and she should marry who she wants.

 Marjane decided she wanted to go out demonstrating with her parents. When they forced her to stay home because it was too dangerous, she decides she is going to go out anyways and she takes Mehri with her. Of course when they get back her parents are furious at the girls. Later, that day was known as Black Friday, the worst day they could participate in the demonstrating because there was a huge massacre in one of the neighborhoods. After Black Friday massacres happened one after the next, and the Shah’s reign was reaching the end. The events that occur in the last part of the forty pages foreshadow of what is to come in the rest of the story. The theme of rebellion was a dominant feature in Marjane’s personality and it can only increase as the novel continues.