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 not understand why they have to wear this veil. All complain that it is hot and some take off the veil and continue jumping rope without it.
In pre-Revolutionary Iran, Marjane had studied in a school that was sexually mixed. The "Cultural Revolution" closed all bilingual schools that were alleged to be manifestations of capitalism and so the schools became gender segregated. In 1980, Marjane had to transfer to an all-girls school.
Demonstrations occurred both for and against the Cultural Revolution, and in one of these demonstrations, published in major European newspapers; a picture is shown of Marjane's mother who looks defiant and rebellious. Afraid of results, Marjane's mother takes to dying her hair and wearing glasses.
Marjane cannot comprehend the veil. She sees her family that although being "very modern and avant-garde" are still religious. In fact, they brought her up with religion, and as a young child had believed that she would be "the last prophet." Although she knew (and fantasized) that the Prophets had questioned whether a female could join their ranks, she believed that she wanted to be one "because our maid did not eat with us. Because my father had a Cadillac. And, above all, because my grandmother's knees always ached." Using a fantasy holy book as her guide, she imitates the modes and mannerisms of the first prophet of her country, Zarathustra,...
When Marjane, however, announces in school her belief that she is a prophet, the students ridicule her and the teacher calls in her parents to speak to them. Her parents defend her, and when walking home and they ask Marjane what she wants to be when growing up, she tells them 'a doctor', although she still believes that she is, and wants to be, a prophet. Later confessing to God, she tells Him that she wants to, and is going to be, a concealed prophet. She promises God that she is going "to be justice, love, and the wrath of God all in one."
The entire take is one that questions that traditional Islamic perspective of female in Islam society. Marjane wants to be, and believes that she is, a prophet. She even has God on her side. She and many of her classmates rebel against the veil. Her family -- grandmother, mother, and father -- all abet her in her ambition to become a prophet, and her mother, indeed, seems to e as tricking, educated woman. The memoir seems to be a farce on Islamic society as practiced by the Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary period in the Islamic Middle Eastern world with…
