Marjane understands how fear fuels despotism. Fear prompts people to act in spite of great personal risk or else repress their true will and even sacrifice their integrity. Wise from a young age, Marjane pinpoints the deeper motivations in human nature to either conform or to rebel, understanding systems of political power and the motivations for social movements. Even prior to the Revolution, Persian people experienced systematic oppression through pressures to conform to their traditions. As her father says, “We Iranians, we’re crushed not only by the government but by the weight of our traditions!” (Satrapi, 342). The Revolution brought with it a far more intense mechanism of social and political control than in generations before, though, leading to the internalization of intense fear and also behavioral externalizations of repression and anger. Marjane’s views are often dichotomous, perhaps owing to her youth, and yet she also exhibits a striking mixture of cynicism and idealism that belies her age. Ultimately, Marjane comes to understand most poignantly the role gender plays in systematic oppression in Iran and elsewhere. She finally decides to leave Iran out of tremendous frustration at the inability to transform her intelligence and passion into meaningful change. The Revolution was in many ways a culmination of oppression, as even during the days of the Shah political dissidents were treated harshly. Marjane devotes a considerable portion of the first part of Persepolis to her uncle Anoosh for this reason: to convey the various ways political regimes use mechanisms of fear and physical oppression...
It is not the nature of the political philosophy—communist or theocratic as it may be—but the mechanisms of social control and the means by which fear is used as a means of social control. Through her uncle’s story, Marjane learns how one either preserves personal integrity, as Anoosh did, or sacrifices their beliefs out of fear of persecution, imprisonment, or death. Marjane contends with the realization that, even within the intellectual social milieu in which she finds herself, that not everyone possesses the courage or personal integrity to work for political ideals and social justice. “The regime had absolute power...and most people, in search of a cloud of happiness, had forgotten their political conscience,” (Satrapi, 326). Even when Marjane’s father points out that half the country is illiterate and vulnerable for manipulation by the government, it becomes apparent that the religious authorities coming to power capitalize on the mechanisms of fear that drive not only the illiterate but the intellectuals as well (Satrapi, 66). Also through Anoosh’s tale, Marjane learns how and why some of her country’s greatest minds end up fleeing. By the time Marjane is in college, the regime has thoroughly succeeded in that the majority of dissidents were either dead or had fled the country.Works Cited
Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persopolis. Pantheon Ebook.
Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel depicting the impact of the Islamic Revolution on daily life in Iran. In particular, Satrapi comments on the effects of the Revolution on education and specifically the education of women. The opening scenes of the book depict the school mandating the veil for all females and banning bilingual education because it represents "capitalism" and European imperialism. Although Satrapi satirizes the occasion with good humor,
Marjane looks over at the iron on the ironing board and is forced to recognize the horror of war through a simple everyday object. (Satrapi, 54). She begins to imagine the many ways to torture people (Satrapi, 53) and eventually allows her religion to help her feel safe. Marjane's experience with traumatic events alters her identity with her society and with her God. Religion is what is familiar to
However, according to some views, "Mahmoody's story of being held hostage in Iran was considered to have great commercial potential and the movie rights were sold before the book was even begun." (McAlister, 162-163) Therefore both the content and the way it was written enabled a rather easy access of the reader to the message the book tried to convey. On the other hand, Satrapi, a regular graphic artist for
Persepolis, a memoir, written in French as a graphic novel is a semi-humorous take on the author's experiences of growing up in revolutionary Iran. Persepolis begins with the depiction of Marjane in 1980. She is 10 years old and part of a group of girls who are all wearing the veil. Almost hidden on the left hand side of the page, she is dour as are all the others who do
Persepolis Love of Country in Persepolis The graphic novel Persepolis: The Story of Childhood offers a glimpse into the life of an expatriate of Iran, Marjane Satrapi. The work is detailed in its representation of the turmoil that was experienced by many people during the Islamic Revolution that took place from 1978-1979 and effected women disproportionately. Iran before the Islamic Revolution was notably progressive, with women and men able to mix in
Krik Krat & Persepolis The Conflict of Culture There are a plethora of similarities that exist between Marjane Satrapi's The Complete Perseopolis and Edwidge Danticat's "A Wall of Fire Rising," one of the short stories in her collection of tales known as Krik? Krak!. Each of these respective works revolves around cultural conflicts between the main characters and their surroundings. Also, the setting for both of these pieces of literature takes place
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