Are revolutions always good and beneficial for the general population? Marjane Sotrapi’s chapter “The Veil”, from Persepolis, demonstrates the extreme oppression of the Iranian people due to the Islamic and Cultural Revolution. The Author Marjane Sotrapi distinctively shows the intense feelings of the Iranian individuals through facial expressions, the eerie blank background, the stark black and white colors, and the way she makes readers identify with the story. The rich and intense feelings of the Iranian individuals are distinctively delineated in the section "The Veil" through the outward appearances of the characters inside of the story. The visages and body language of the characters are very pellucid and facile to read because of the
In the novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Satrapi’s childhood was highly impacted by American culture. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the affect American culture had on how Satrapi viewed the Iranian Revolution.
In Persepolis, Satrapi develops the central idea of Marji and her parents rebelling against the social injustices held by the Shah and the government. This is demonstrated in chapters “ The Trip”, “The Passport”, and “Kim Wilde”. Early in the revolution, females were forced to cover themselves up. They were told to wear their veils because it didn’t show a sign of western American style or sexual
In this particular story, the author’s emotions in Persepolis are not just her own, but also the feelings,emotions, and opinions of her people and their country. Throughout the expressiveness can not only be felt but they can visually be seen. The opinions of the Iranian people is expressive of their emotions which led them to demand that their voices be heard to the point where they cannot be ignored. The demonstrations shown on page five, first frame shows the strong opinions that the people have regarding the addition of veils. Their opinions are filled with so much emotions that it eventually lead them to protest publicly. On one side of the protest were those for the veil and on the other side were those who opposed it. Those against the veil felt as though it took away their freedom and the visual representation of their personality; those for the veil felt as though the veil was a representation of order which to them was what their country needed. The author’s emotions are seen throughout the story on various occasions. The year of the revolution was a very difficult time for Iran; even though she knew very little about the dangers of the revolution, she still very much wanted to be apart of it. After speaking with her parents and being told that she could not participate in it she began very upset and somewhat angry. This made her feel as though God had abandoned her which hurt her little heart very much. Emotions are expressions that are a way to show who people are on a deeper level and different situations present different
The introduction to Persepolis gives a great deal of background information to the unrest in Iran leading up to the Islamic revolution. Iran had been in a state of unrest for “2500 years” (page11). Iran was ruled by foreign nations and exploited by the western world for its rich expanses of oil. In 1951 the prime minister of Iran tried to take back his country’s wealth by nationalizing
In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi’s childhood experiences allow her to demonstrate the cultural changes that occurred in post-revolutionary Iran, as well as those perpetrated by western culture. In Persepolis, western culture plays a major role in the author’s attempt to dispel the
The short story “The Veil” by Marjane Satrapi used drawing to describe how she was a ten year old forced to wear a veil and how it changed her view of her surroundings. Using drawing and writing makes readers think and interpret the feeling and the situation that was going on. Satrapi uses dark faces and bright backgrounds for the things that made her insecure, and she uses a black background and a white face to show the happy faces or the positive feelings. In the February 1, 2012, article in Library Journal “Drawing on Reality” by Bonnie Brzozowski, Bonnie wrote, “A black-and-white illustrations are simply, yet capable of portraying great emotion.”(Brzozowski 34) Satrapi was struggling and trying to find reason and meaning in the world that she now came across that forced her to wear a veil and oppressed her with the strict Islamic revolution in the black and white graphic short story. Wearing a veil changed a ten-year-old Satrapi’s perspective on the world.
In the graphic novel, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, Satrapi’s childhood was highly impacted by American culture. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of American culture on Satrapi’s view of the Iranian Revolution.
Islam was very corrupt in the 1980’s, and in Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis the reader experiences primary accounts of the events. She uses themes such as imperialism, revolution, nationalism, religion, and social classes in her novel to express herself and prove that graphic novels can be an effective source of literature. Writing Persepolis as a graphic novel really benefits the plot line, the illustrations help explain the complicated themes better than words could.
The story consists of many characters, but it does not have a lone main character. Every character's background is explored quite thoroughly, giving you an idea of their personality as well. For instance, Maryam is a religious, independent Iranian woman who treasures her country's customs and values, despite living in the US for decades. She values her cultu...
Nowadays, there are many religions that one can choose from. Religion, to some, is a guide line, but to others it’s more like falling in love. In 1979, Iran was in the midst of the Islamic Revolution. During this time, some people held tight to religion while others let it go. Marjane Satrapi wrote Persepolis about her life at that time. At the beginning, Satrapi grasps religion tightly; however, by the end of the book, she seems to let it go. Throughout Persepolis, religion acts like a security blanket and enhances the understanding of the graphic novel’s theme, which is “stay true to yourself.”
Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis introduces the Islamic veil as an attempt by the Iranian government to control women. Islamic radicals promised safety and security for those who abided by their rules. Rebels who refused to wear the headscarf were threatened with beating, rape or death. These modern women who fought against religious oppression met the minimal requirements of the government rules to safely live in the hostile environment. Through being forced to wear the veil, the control of the Islamic government drives its people to a rebellion.
Marjane Satrapi in her memoir, “The Complete Persepolis” enlightens readers with the reality of living in Iran, as she tells her journey through her life of becoming a woman during the Islamic Revolution. Iran similar to other countries has made different prescribed roles for their women and men based on their cultures religious and traditional set of laws. Society to them was a depiction of what their people were expected to look, and act like when in public. When trying to understand the importance of gender along with their roles in society, it’s crucial to acknowledge outside factors, for instance things like culture and social class. The characters throughout her memoir illustrate how their
Persepolis, a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, is not a run-of-the-mill comic book. It is written with purpose. Satrapi wrote and illustrated this book to show Americans that their perspective of her home country, Iran, is askew. She believes Americans are too focused on the “fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism” (Satrapi ii), of the nation and that they forget to notice the normality and humanness of it. Since these two perspectives have vast differences, Satrapi wants to change their minds. Thus, it is crucial that she effectively communicate this humanness of Iran to the literary audience in America. Since the literary devices in a work are needed to correctly convey a message, she found it necessary to include these and manipulate them in her favor. Satrapi uses the innocence of a child along with morals in her pictures and a relation of cultures to effectively communicate her message. It is necessary to examine how she manipulates such literary devices in order to gain a full understanding of the text.
In the passages “Cairo: My City, My Revolution”, “Reading Lolita in Tehran”, and “Persepolis 2”, the authors had different perceptions of the world they were living in and had decided to share the experience of their rebellions to give their story’s and an example of the situation they were living in. Each author handled the idea of rebellion in their own, but similar way in each passage.
Marjane Satrapi, the author of “The Complete Persepolis” tells her story of living through the revolution of Iran in comic book form, through the use of pictures and explicit words she conveys the many different emotions being felt from the characters. The importance on the sequence of panels I chose was the fact that each panel portrayed a lot of emotion, made the reader feel all the emotions and represented gender inequality very perfectly. Throughout the panels, Satrapi uses strong words to stress the importance on what is being said and the pictures to show just how the character is reacting to what is being said. The panels chosen end with all women being obligated to wearing the veil, the reason being that men couldn’t control themselves. With this obligation to wear the veil, gender inequality is set into play and normalized.