Heroism In Persepolis

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Marjane Satrapi has a very distinct definition of a hero. Satrapi identifies a hero as a person who has been convicted for standing up for what the people of her country believe in. Not many people see “criminals” as heroes, but in the context of Marjane Satrapi’s book, Persepolis Satrapi makes it quite clear what a hero is to her. People of the United States and of the Islamic Government tend to look at the people she views as heroes as criminals. She uses these criminals, in the face of the government of her people, to emphasize that these criminals are not what they have been portrayed to be. In order to contradict the stereotypes of outside people she uses visuals and her life story. Satrapi aims to convey the idea that there is more to …show more content…

There were 3000 political prisoners and her family associated themselves with two of them. One of them goes by the name Siamak, who is Laly’s father. Laly was completely unaware of her father’s imprisonment. In order to keep Laly from worrying about her father and where he was while he was in prison she was told that her father was on a trip. From Satrapi’s experience “on a trip” meant that someone had died and Satrapi tells Laly that her father had died. Satrapi and Laly from that point on did not get along well. Later on in the text after Laly and Satrapi were informed about what really happened to Laly’s father “trip” the two girls come to the conclusion that Siamak is a hero. Siamak was imprisoned for simply being a communist and being a threat to the Iranian Government. She is upset at the fact that she doesn't know anyone in her family who has done what Siamak has done. Satrapi has to accept the idea that “My father is not a hero. If only he had been in prison”(Page 54 panel 1-2) This directly states what separates Siamak, a hero who is a communist and has been imprisoned , from her father, a communist who was not imprisoned. Satrapi considers Siamak as a hero but the man who most positively impacts her and she considers a hero is her uncle

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