Identity is a concept that evolves over the course of one’s life, which is a personal development that establishes one’s characteristics. Identity is shaped through the ideological mannerisms revealed by “isms”. “Isms” isn’t necessarily a word, but it’s a simple way to show many different ideologies where many types end with the suffix “ism”. Ideologies portray a person’s identity, depending on which type the person embodies. Such as nationalism, which is feeling of a person being loyal to their country’ and proud of it that the feeling becomes into a belief that the country is superior than others. On the other hand, consumerism can play a well part to individuality since consumerism is the promotion of consumer’s interest, giving detail …show more content…
In 1979, the Revolutionary war undertook a cultural revolution, where even young Marjane has become embroiled with the influence of the war. There has been many changes in the Iranian society: Bilingual schools have been closed, girls no longer go to school with boys, and girls are required to wear the veil which is a controversial symbol. The Islamic regime has been an ongoing political struggle where the country showed to be very nationalistic. In an article of Marjane’s childhood the text states, “Both of Marji’s parents, Ebi and Taji, protested against the Shah’s policies” (unknown). Which her parents have stated how the country’s violence is getting out of hand due to their islamic …show more content…
Which is where their motivation to fight against their beliefs against the countries was based on the marxist politics and it had shaped them to disvalue what the country believe is better. As the country becomes lost in the conflict, Marji is forced to find her identity which has changed due to the war. Marji was onced a very religious person before the war and when the commotion has started her parents soon stopped paying much attention as much towards her, so has her journey to find herself where she was cautious and peculiar towards her environment. In the book it states”I would have a big discussion with god” (Satrapi 7). Marjane would talk through God about her thoughts and her beliefs, soon she stopped and became patriotic where she wanted to support her country. Hence, she stopped being religious and became as known as a “rebel” where she believed how the new laws are not necessary. In the end, Mari’s parents sent her to europe before events in the country became
Society has created a world where people believe that they need to act and look a certain way to be accepted and liked. The media, celebrities, and the culture someone grows up in influence how people perceive themselves. In the film Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and the poem “A Far Cry from Africa” by Derek Walcott, the characters in both must face the difficulty of finding themselves after being impacted by their surroundings.
As a young girl, the power she saw in the revolution lead her to want to be powerful, as portrayed in this picture. She longed to be related to a hero, a person she believed went to jail, was tortured, and made it out. She did not understand everything she heard, and took it into the wrong context. By the time Marjane was a teenager, the war between Iran and Iraq had exposed her to immense death, destruction and violence. She was old enough to better understand such actions, and they negatively affected her actions. Marjane made fun of school rituals, skipped class, and got expelled for hitting the principal. She saw her mother as a dictator and rebelled against her my smoking a cigarette. This theme gradually changes Marjane’s personality, and by the end of the book all her fear was
This is much bigger than just Marji life it’s the entire lifestyle in Iran. Marji explores the transition with references to torture to human rights when she shows it being done in society through media and images. In the novel, the author could be visible the struggles that the main character Marji in socialism is true between the world of Iran’s such as the social classes, Morality, freedom and
Being a young girl during the Islamic Revolution must have been extremely confusing and even frightening. Marjane was forced to veil and was segregated from the boys at school. Despite her revolutionary ideas, a theocratic Iran probably was not what she had in mind. Her desire to be a “liberated woman” did not mesh with the policies of the new Iran. Gender is something that we are stuck with. Unlike class which sometimes changes, and political views which can be molded, gender is intrinsic. Marjane did not choose to be a young women in an oppressive environment, but her opinions were certainly molded by it. If she were a boy, she might not take such issue with the veil or segregation. Perhaps the inequality she was subject to contributed to her revolutionary spirit.
Even as a child, Marji is trying to be a responsible adult. Her attempt is shown when she makes a prophet’s law book after the veil was issued to be worn at all times in her country. She is reading her rules to her grandmother, and she says, “Old people will no longer be allowed to suffer...It will simply be forbidden” (Satrapi 7/5-7). Her
The author writes that the purpose of her book is to show that Iran is not a country of fundamentalists and terrorists, and that characterizations of the country by the West are inaccurate. Marjane's father explains the history of the Revolution to her: Reza Shah had been a foot soldier fighting against the King of Persia in order to install a republic. Marjane's grandfather had been a prince before Reza Shah came to power and, after had been the Prime Minister of Iran. Marjane tries to imagine what such torture would have felt like. Marjane's father is missing that afternoon and the family believes him dead. He returns late to tell an incredible story about a mob that commandeered a dead man's funeral in order to protest against the Shah.
In the Islamic Revolution, education was seen as unnecessary luxury. Through the limited education Marjane had she was able to realise that faults of the Iranian government towards their society. It was because of her questioning nature that she was able to separate herself from the crowd mentality and form her own ideas. Which was something that the Islamic government was trying desperately to diminish. The government made it a priority to lower the importance of education, when the war was at its strongest school was often cancelled. This was not a big issue with them, because this way they didn’t have to worry about what was being taught. Children would therefore only have access to controlled media, and only be able to view what the government wanted.
In the year of 1979 all that Marjane knew what it was like to not have to be forced into wearing a veil. Before the Islamic Revolution she was able to attend a a French Non-Religious school where girls and boys were allowed to study and play together. Unfortunately her world of carefree ness ended once the Islamic government decided to change their ways and force others to conform to their religious beliefs of what is right and wrong. Marjanne was raised by two very independent and brilliant parents who were upper middle class people. Her parents tried to raise her to believe that she could be anything that she wanted to be as long as she put her mind to it. Mr. Satrapi would give Marji books on communism and by Marz, because her father was a Marxist. Once the Islamic revolution took over Iran Marji had to wear the veil and was not allowed to go to school with her male friends because it is not of Islam for children of different sexes to be educated in a unisex school environment. Marjane's mother Mrs. Satrapi was a protester and her and her husband believed in protesting for things that they did not believe in. Protesting was seen as demonstrations that meant bad to all who participated in them. Well Mrs. Satrapi, was photographed by a German photographer in the act of protesting one day...
During our class discussions, the issue of identity in Marjane Satrapi’s novel, Persepolis (2004), became a contentious issue. The question was asked whether Persepolis might be understood to being in-dialogue with western ways of seeing and did the effects of modernization influence the identity of Marjane’s protagonist in Persepolis. How does the novel involve the issue of identity? I will extend the argument and, through the exploration of Marji’s changing ideologies, I will attempt to prove that Marji is caught between the traditional eastern culture and western modernization.
To understand the changing role of women starting during the Islamic Revolution, it is important to briefly review the lives of Iranian women and the role of Islam during the final years of the secular regime of the Shah. Mohammad Reza Shah was disliked by the majority of Iranian population, but his secular and prominent Western attitude allowed for some reforms of women’s rights in Iran. For example, in 1963 he created a reform program which would eventually be known as the “White Revolution,” which included suffrage for women (Beck and Nashat 114). This decision led to a violent reaction, especially from strong Islamic leaders such as Ayatollah Khomeini, whom would eventually play a pivotal role in the revolution and women’s rights. Although the Shah allowed for women’s reform, he was popularly known as a dictator and appeared to be in complete favor of maintaining a traditional patriarchal society.
Religion, government, and social organization all played a part in Marji’s journey in Persepolis from childhood to adulthood. Religion caused many arguments between Marji and parents, friends, and teachers. The Iranian government affected Marji by making her more rebellious than she already was. Social organization was a big issue in her life, because she had a good relationship with her maid and was angry that she could not have the same opportunities. The revolution in Iran has changed Marjane Satrapi’s life, in ways good and
Despite the fact that Marjane is born and raised in Tehran, Iran, she is as much a product of Western customs as of Middle Eastern customs. The younger Marjane showed how the Iranian Revolution affected her life. The Iranian Revolution was the exiling of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and its concluding substitution with an Islamic republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, supported by a mixture of leftist and Islamic organizations. The new government became more suppressive by enforcing Islamic laws into the constitution and prohibiting westerner influence of any kind. On the contrary Marjane is raised by Marxist parents, who believe in freedom and tend to adapt to a more westernized upbringing. Marjane is similar to any other teenager, she starts to grow up and rebel against her elders and her traditions. Her revolt takes the form of a better awareness of and interaction with western culture. Marjane have many items ...
Iran’s society became more fundamentalist, which made Marji more disillusioned of her religion. At the beginning of the story, when the westernized dictator Shah governs Iran, Marji defines herself as a “very religious” (6) person, although she and her family think of themselves as being “very modern and Avant-Garde”(6). Religion, and its many stories and traditions perspectives allowed Marji to think of herself as “the last prophet”. Thinking of herself as a prophet somehow made her to escape to an imaginary religious glory where there were not violent atrocities. But, ironically, that religious imaginary boundary was only a façade that blocked her to see the violent reality. However, in the story “The Sheep” she began to see the cruel reality. In the story “The Sheep” Marji’s uncle Anoosh got executed by the so-called “Divine Justice”. Although the
Her mother encourages her, saying, ''Our revolution set us back fifty years. It will take generations for all this to evolve. ...You are a free woman. The Iran of today is not for you.'' For the entire book, Marjane's parents emphasized to her that education, and particularly self-education, is equated with freedom. Marjane's leaving Iran is a fulfillment of what they wanted for her.
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