Persepolis - A Girl in the Midst of It All

The graphic novel Persepolis itself chronicles the heartbreaking and tantalizing experiences of Marjane Satrapi. It seems that as her country transforms and changes in her eyes, Marji changes also changes through the eyes of the reader.

From the very start, a reader gets a taste of Marji’s curious yet strong personality and how her persona drives her own views and opinions about her and the world around her. At first, Marji seems to be an intelligent yet naïve girl who is strongly connected by her religion. Every night she would talk to God and she believed that she was the last Prophet. As a prophet Marji wanted to bring upon justice by having maids eat with the families they serve and never let the elders suffer, all of which were ideas that came about because of her experience. Marji seemed to realize the hierarchical society that she lived in. A society where the proletariat were at the bottom, because they were the working class people who didn’t have fancy belongings. Her religious belief also affects her views about her country, because she believed that the Shah was chosen by god himself. She later finds that her grandfather was the true prince and was overthrown by the Shah’s father. However, being the child that she was she didn’t recognize the significance of what her father told her, but just the fact that her grandfather was the prince.

When the Islamic Revolution came, her charismatic and determined personality was brought out as she herself wanted to join the revolution. She had different alter egos that ranged from Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Leon Trotsky, whom she admired because they were revolutionaries. Her parents were very liberal and participated a lot in demonstrations and protests. Marji wanted to join them on their endeavors, and she seemed to be proud of how passionate her parents were about the revolution. However, soon Marji felt somewhat disappointed and felt like her parents weren’t true “heroes” or martyrs of the revolution because they weren’t punished in jail for their beliefs, nor did they die for them. She later rewarded with an uncle who in her perception was a true hero, because he was incarcerated for numerous years for fighting for what he believed in. After her uncle’s death, Marji’s views started changing even more. When the Iran and Iraq War began, Marji was truly able to feel the oppression that the Islamic Revolution had brought upon their country. Unlike other Middle Eastern secular countries, like Iraq, Iranian government is led and is based on the religion of Islam. Marji had to lead a life where freedoms were taken away, because certain rights or actions were considered decadent. Under they eyes of the Islamic fundamentalists those actions were immoral. By this time, Marji was more rebellious against the Islamic Rule and against the war itself. She was quite affected when she learned of how boys close to her age were already being trained and set out for war. She felt it to be unjust because people who lived in the poorer areas were often the ones who went to war.

As a teenager Marji’s rebellion seemed even more apparent, as she opposed the teachings at school and the teachers themselves. Marji realized that the words spoken by the teachers and from the textbooks were anything but veritable, because she knew that what was said was propaganda. Marji had a reservoir of knowledge about the revolution and about the war, because she knew so much. She knew the real truth, and did not want to let the teachers extract it. One of the most pivotal moments she experienced as a teenager was when a bomb hit the area where she lived. Although her family and her were not hurt, she witnessed the atrocities and gruesome result of it. In a way she was traumatized by it, because she knew that it could have been her and her family. As the story progresses even further, Marji delves deeper into her transition from childhood to adulthood, as the war and her experience under Islamic Law intensifies. She is confused yet wise about how the people of Iran viewed martyrs. One of the things that confused her the most was the saying, “to die a martyr is to inject blood into the veins of society”. However a woman that she knew that died for a cause as a communist, did not seem to inject her blood in society, but her blood was spilled onto the hands of society. The government, specifically the Iranian National Guard, try to execute their wrongdoings in clandestine, so that the public wouldn’t know. However, everyone knew what happened to those who opposed the regime.

Marji’s parents understood and realized all of the injustices as well, and knew that their daughter could no longer stay in Iran. They wanted to provide Marji with the best education possible, and unfortunately she would not get it in Iran. So it was decided that she be sent to Austria to continue the education someone like her so rightfully deserved. When she knew she was going to leave, she knew her parents wouldn’t come along with her, and most likely wouldn’t visit. So as she boarded the plane to Austria, she took with her the experiences she endured, the sweet smell of her grandmother’s bosom, her magnetic personality, the knowledge of war and freedom, and most of all, the memory of her country.