PERSEPOLIS RR1 edited

Chris Dunfield

Stacey Knapp

English 1A

03 March 2013

PERSEPOLIS READING RESPONSE #1

The novel Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, depicts her childhood and life growing up during the Islamic Revolution. It is written is comic book form, with images that reinforce ideas and help the reader to be in the story more vividly. Marjane Satrapi writes with a motive to show that, “an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists.” (Preface-PERSEPOLIS). She hopes to show the readers another perspective on the Islamic Revolution, one that depicts those who lost their lives defending freedom and those that lived through it.

After reading the novel, I have gained some insight into how it must have been for Marjane during the Islamic Revolution and to some of the history of Iran and its' people. As a young girl, Marjane experienced firsthand the beginnings of a cultural revolution. In 1979, she attended a French school, (non-religious), did not wear a veil, and was educated along-side all of her peers, not just women. Yet just one year later, the Shah closed all bilingual schools because they were “symbols of capitalism.”(4).

She was very confused as a young girl and was drawn to self educating herself through reading; after learning about the history of tyranny and oppression in Iran and of other revolutionary leaders, she came to a better understanding on why their was a revolution taking place. She learned how the English helped bring Reza Shah into power and consequently his son, too; referred to as just the Shah, Reza's son succeeded him and tried to instill a Republic, which eventually motivated the population (and herself) to revolt.
Throughout the rest of the book, Marji's character develops in age and intellect and some Influential family members and their friends come into her life. One in particular Anoosh, Marji' uncle, I found compelling. He was imprisoned for nine years for helping support Marjis' grandfathers' independence movement towards a democratic state, and for going against the shah. He joined the U.S.S.R and went to Moscow to be educated in Marxism-Lennism. His views on the Islamic Republic illustrate how chaotic the political sphere in Iran was at the time, “But the religious leaders don't know how to govern...the proletariat shall rule!...”(62).

Later on, they declare making the veil mandatory to protect women against rape. Even though some are against it, some fundamentalist radicals scared the government into making that decree. Marjis' mother was threatened herself, but was still against the veil. Eventually, the type of veil women wore became a symbol for which type of idealogy they stood behind, and the beard a symbol for funamentalist men.

It has been interesting to gain a firsthand perspective from someone that was in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Marjane offers an inspiring view on the power of society and of the goods of human nature while depicting the battle that went on between and the roles played by the corrupt Shah, religious leaders, and rebellious society. The comic strip format helps enforce and depict ideas and help sympathize with the people that contributed their lives to the roots of and the actual Islamic Revolution.