In the book Persepolis, a non-fiction piece about the author Marjane Satrapi’s life in a changing Iran, Satrapi explores the idea of tensions between old and new by referencing conversations with her grandma, talking about parties, the transition of the veil into society, talking about her school, noting the demonstrations that took place in the streets, and discussing the cultural revolution that occurred. Satrapi purposefully communicates this theme to the audience to contrast the Iran she grew up in and the one her parents grew up in. The audience needs to understand the differences in order to understand the stance of the author on critical issues she faced in the book.
Satrapi clearly wants us to understand that she is very fond of her grandmother; she shows us in many parts of the book that her grandma is someone Satrapi trusts. Satrapi sees her grandmother as a symbol of the old way of life in Iran. Satrapi’s grandmother says, “The Shah’s Family took everything that we owned. I lived in poverty” (Persepolis 26). This is a reference to the period before the Shah rose to power; the snarky comment that Satrapi’s grandmother made about being poor shows us that there is tension between the old and the new by showing us the utter disrespect that Satrapi’s Grandma has for the Shah.
All throughout the book one thing is clear: Satrapi loves to party. There are quite a few scenes where Satrapi is found in a party. This is something that we can see is clearly illegal in Iran, but Satrapi and many people who are living in time still host secret parties and consume alcohol, which is strictly forbidden. We see the conflict of the old and new when Satrapi’s father tells her and her grandmother to go and pour out the alcohol. “Grandma! ...
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...ray that wearing the veil is a new, modern idea; while “freedom” is a concept that women who lived in the old way of life want. Satrapi clearly wants us to understand the divide between the old way of life and the new way of life in her country Iran.
Satrapi explores an idea in her non-fiction autobiography Persepolis, the tension between the old, and the new Iran. This is shown in Persepolis. Satrapi shows us this though her examples of her grandma, the veil, and the act of ripping pages out her textbooks. These events communicate to the audience what Satrapi’s stance is on the new Iran; she likes the old Iran better. She feels like she had more freedom before the fall of the Shah and the Islamic Revolution.
Works Cited
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon, 2003. Print.
"Alhussainy Blog." Alhussainy Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
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