Persepolis Veil

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In the graphic novel Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, the visual details of a young woman’s life growing up in the middle of the Iranian revolution are eloquently portrayed. One of the key motifs of this book is the symbolic veil. As the story progresses and the main character Marjane starts to grow and develop, so does the representation of the veil. When Marjane was younger, the veil was seen as a form of her religious freedom and as she matures it begins to alter into a cage of enslavement. Later the veil evolves into her only means of protection. Hijab (the veil) is an Arabic word meaning barrier or partition. Some women from the Muslim culture wear the veil as a way to show a literal symbol of their faith and a stronger connection …show more content…

The veil does not give Marjane the opportunity to express herself in a way that a modern western girl would be able to. She was not able to create her own hairstyles or wear clothes that she felt were different and unique to her own personality. Not being able to show your own identity can be very dangerous in a young adult, because it can slow down their development as a person and effect their personality. This is a one of the reason why Marjane was led into her own teenage rebellion stage. Marjane saw numerous accounts of how women were antagonized for not wearing the veil correctly. Satrapi came from a family who went against the regime and did not always try to follow the laws that were put in place. Marjane’s mother did not wear her veil much because she felt the veil was too oppressive and one night she was caught without it by a few fundamentalist men. The experience that she had with the men turned out to be a very nerve shattering experience. “They insulted me. They said that women like me should be pushed up against a wall and fucked. And then thrown in the garbage… And that if I did not want that to happen, I should wear the veil.” (Satrapi 74). Satrapi saw this as wrong and confining and wanted to break the laws that were used to restrict women. This is a reason why Marjane rebelled as a teen against the stander dress

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