Character Analysis: The Complete Persepolis

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All teenagers struggle with wanting to fit in and Marjane Satrapi is no exception in her autobiography The Complete Persepolis. Marji learns that it is better to be proud of who you are when she shouts "I am Iranian and proud of it!" (Satrapi 197) The contrast of how she feels about her identity before and after her exclamation shows that Marji decides that being herself is more important than assimilating. Marji adopts a new punk look in order to fit in with her friends but does not feel comfortable with her new appearance and behaviors. Desperate to keep her friendship she changes herself to appease them but finds that doing so makes her feel guilty, "The harder I tried to assimilate, the more I had the feeling that I was betraying my parents …show more content…

Marji's guilt over this lie causes her to exclaim her nationality when some girls reveal her lie and insult her and Iran. After her initial embarrassment for her outburst, Marji is surprised that she feels comfortable again, "I finally understood… If I wasn’t comfortable with myself, I would never be comfortable" (Satrapi 197). Being Iranian is part of Marji and it's a part that she had been suppressing in order to be liked by her peers. By showing her pride in being Iranian, she reaffirms her pride in who she is and realizes that accepting that is the only way she will find peace. This experience is what leads her into choosing to stay true to herself. The next time that readers see Marji, she says she "I had abandoned, my punk look, I no longer wanted to be marginal" (Satrapi 199). Marji has stopped assimilating and instead embraces herself. Marji says that she does not want to be marginal, meaning on the edge. Marji realized that dressing and behaving like her friends did not make her one of them. She was on the edge of the group because she was not truly like them. She also does not want to be living on the edge of who she is she wants to fully be herself. Marji accepts who she is and cuts off the friends that she was trying to

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