In the 1970's a great power struggle began in Iran, leading to a profusion of civil unrest
and mass emigration. In 1941 Iranian monarch Reza Shah, was removed from power by the
United States and replaced by his son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who Westernized the
highly conservative and religious nation. He continued implementing the Westernized laws set
by his father, which were known to "discouraged democratic political expression in the public
sphere" and condemned Islamic fundamentalism (Khosrokhavar 3). The largely conservative
citizens of Iran protested the alterations in multiple movements in response to the westernization,
financial failures, and perceived belief that the Shah was being controlled by Western powers for
control over Iran's vast oil supply. January of 1979, the Shah went into exile in Egypt and the
devoted Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini assumed power, reinstalling the strict, Islamic law;
"The Constitution allows all laws to be revised [...] by an Assembly of Expert, which is
dominated by conservative clergymen" (Khatami 122) . In 1980, Iraqi troops invaded Iran in
hopes of capturing the oil- rich country amidst the Revolutionary turmoil, further contributing to
Iranian emigration to European countries. The Iran Iraq War continued until 1988. The mass
exodus resulted in the "forced dispersal, immigration, displacement and establishment of
reconfigured transnational communities", now known as the Iranian diaspora (Agnew 19).Such
abrupt uprooting of a citizen's identity and physical connection to their homeland leads to a
conflicting sense of identity and belonging in individuals who are involved in the sudden
transition.
As a member of the Iranian diaspora, Marjane Satrapi endured many h...
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America and Iran had tricked the Soviets which left them very angry, and this inevitably led to the Cold War. But less than a decade later, America had done something which caused Iran to change their opinion of them. In 1951, Iran had recently elected a prime minister by the name, Mohammed Mosaddeq, which he nationalized the countryś petroleum industry, long the domain of the British-dominated AIOC. This move, however, pitted the two governments against each other in a bitter political fight. The Truman administration had tried to work between both sides, but Dwight Eisenhower had quickly concluded that Mosaddeq represented the problem rather than the solution to the crisis. They decided that they wanted him out and later he was kicked out and Mohammad Reza Shah took his place for the next twenty-five years. Shah not only gained access to sophisticated American weaponry, but also obtained tacit White House permission to forgo any serious effort at reform. Over the years, the internal resentment against the Shahś political and economic policies was building to a peak, but the depth of the problem escaped the notice of American
Prior to the Islamic Revolution, Iran was ruled by the Shah, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and furthermore, not governed by religion. The Shah’s White Revolution launched a series of reforms in 1963 that are indicative of where women’s rights for Iran were heading prior to the Islamic revolution. The reforms included, giving women the right to vote, run for office and to become lawyers and judges. This large of a reform in regards to women’s rights, was far more drastic than anything Iran had experienced in the past, and the shock of these “extreme” measures, received a large backlash from over 90% of the population1, the Shia Muslims.
In the graphic novel, Persepolis, the main character, Marjane, faces many coming of age moments. Each one of these change her in a way that impacts her view on the world around her as her and her family strive for a better life amongst a war that hinders their ability to follow their beliefs. Marjane learns to forgive, experiences pain and suffering, and changes her opinions on God and her own views on religion forever. Marjane’s life has been filled with hard times, but also glorious moments as well.
Orientalism is a way of viewing the world as divided into two unequal halves: the Occident and the Orient. Occidental means Western Hemisphere, and Oriental means Eastern Hemisphere. These ideas of orientalism are challenged in Satrapi's Persepolis. A book about a young girl Marji who lived in Iran in the 1980’s, and therefore is placed in the beginning years of political and religious turmoil in Iran. Satrapi Juxtaposes the western view of Iran to Iran by showing similarities between America and Iran through Marji’s youth and adventures throughout the book.
A few years later in 1979 the Islamic revolution began, causing the Shah to flee (introduction pages one and two).
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” This quote by Helen Keller sums up the book Persepolis perfectly. Margi went through many hardships but in the end it strengthened her character and she was able to embrace the world in a better way. Margi is like a baby. The first time they try and take their first steps they topple over in a few seconds but each time they fall they learn and soon enough they are running as happily as can be. The events Margi experiences throughout the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi helps her be able to deal with life`s hardship in .
When writing any sort of narrative, be it novel or poem, fiction or non-fiction, scholarly or frivolous, an author must take into account the most effective manner in which to effectively convey the message to their audience. Choosing the wrong form, or method of speaking to the reader, could lead to a drastic misunderstanding of the meaning within an author’s content, or what precisely the author wants to say (Baldick 69). Even though there are quite a bit fewer words in a graphic novel than in the average novel, an author can convey just as much content and meaning through their images as they could through 60,000 words. In order to do that though, their usage of form must be thoughtfully considered and controlled. Marjane Satrapi, author of the graphic memoir The Complete Persepolis, took great pains in the creation of her panels in order to reinforce and emphasize her narrative, much like a novelist utilizes punctuation and paragraph breaks. Through her portrayal of darkness and lightness, Satrapi demonstrates that literary content influences, and is primary to, the form.
In the 1970’s Iran, under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was a very centralized military state that maintained a close relationship with the USA. The Shah was notoriously out of touch with working class Iranians as he implemented many controversial economic policies against small business owners that he suspected involved profiteering. Also unrestricted economic expansions in Iran lead to huge government expenditure that became a serious problem when oil prices dropped in the mid 1970’s. This caused many huge government construction projects to halt and the economy to stall after many years of massive profit. Following this was high rates of inflation that affected Iranians buying power and living standards. (Afary, 2012) Under the Shah, political participation was not widely available for all Iranians and it was common for political opposition to be met with harassment, illegal detention, and even torture. These measures were implemented by the Iranian secret police knows as ‘SAVAK’. This totalitarian regime combined with the increasing modernisation of the country paved the way for revolution.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of an oppressive regime on the child Marjane Satrapi as depicted the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.
The late 20th century was a very turbulent time in American history. In 1976, Jimmy Carter was elected to the presidency, and he had many goals to help better America. However, on November 4th, 1979, a group of radical students seized the United States’ embassy in Tehran, Iran. This completely altered the course of American history and relations with the Middle East. This crisis had many impacts on the United States. It caused the Energy Crisis which in turn caused the Recession of 1979. The Iran Hostage Crisis also had political consequences for President Carter. It was a major factor that contributed to him losing the election of 1980 to Ronald Reagan. Additionally, this crisis led to many instances of racial discrimination toward Iranian-Americans and Iranian immigrants. Even after the Hostage Crisis was resolved, the bad blood between the two countries continued; the United States helped Iraq in the war against Iran, and the Iranians backed a second hostage situation in Lebanon. The Iran Hostage Crisis was a very important event that impacted America in many ways and destroyed our relationship with Iran. The consequences of this event are still felt today and continue to our foreign policies toward Iran.
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.
It all started when the Iranian people grew tired of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ( the leader of Iran from 1941-1979) using the secret police as a terror tactic to get the people to not be disloyal to his rulings. Many were killed using the Savak ( secret police), and as the more lives gotten taken away more people turned to Ayatollah Khomeini for what they thought would be a better and safer place to live. As Khomeini used his powerful words to get the people to go on his side the less people were with the Shah, and as it went on Shah Pahlavi was overthrown and in his place was Khomeini, who was a very strict religious man who believed that the country should follow the rules of Islam. With the Iranian revolution Iran’s oil was then booming, during the 1970’s it was the best time economically for the country. During the time that the shah was still in power from 1954 to 1976 the oil went from 22.5 million to a shocking 19 billion, which made the west see Iran as a country in the Middle East that could really be good for
In Iran, early 1900’s, discovery of oil gives the country an enormous source of wealth. The King that reign Iran from 1925 until 1941, Reza Shah Pahlavi, and his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, which reign until 1979, use all the revenue from the oil export to promote economic and social development. Revolutionaries, rule by the religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, took control of Iran after 1979, putting an end the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi regime. Revolutionaries change the government from being a constitutional monarchy to an Islamic republic.
Although the Iranian Revolution was caused by combination of political and religious motivations and ideas, the desires of the people supporting the movement were more dominantly religious ideas that were wished to be imposed in society and in a new government. The Shah, or king, of Iran at the time was Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who had developed relations with nations in “western” world, specifically with the United States. The United States supported the White Revolution, which was a series of social reformations the Shah made to remove Islamic v...
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.