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Teacher Notes: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Persepolis begins with a short introduction. It is an abbreviated history of Iran from its first occupation by Indo-European nomads, to the establishment of the Persian Empire, to the 1979 Islamic revolution. 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.

As a ten-year old girl, the author is forced to wear a veil to school by those that called for a cultural revolution in Iran. There are many protests both for and against this cultural revolution. Her French non-religious school is abolished and boys and girls are separated for education. Her mother protests against the changes and her picture appears in newspapers across Europe. She is afraid after that. The author believes that one day she will be the last prophet. She has conversations with God in which she imagines that there will be cultural and social equality and that old people will not suffer from pain. When she announces her plan, her classmates and teacher ridicule her but she retains the hope that she will one day be the symbol for justice, love, and the wrath of God.

She and her friends often pretend to be revolutionary figures such as Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. She knows of world history because of books that her parents give to her, and her favorite book is a comic book called Dialectic Materialism, in which Marx and Descartes argue over the validity of the material world. One night, while talking to God, she overhears her parents talking about a fire at a local theater in which 400 people died. The fire, they say, was ordered by the Shah and the people plan to demonstrate. The author begs her parents to let her attend the demonstration, but they refuse because she is too young.

Marjane's father explains the history of the Revolution to her: Reza Shah had been a foot soldier fighting against the King of Persia to install a republic. This had been during a time when Western democratic ideals were being instituted in many countries around the world. The British had learned of Reza Shah's desire to overthrow the king and, seeing an opportunity to profit from the country's rich oil fields, the British had supported Reza Shah's plans. The British made sure he had been instituted as Emperor. Marjane's grandfather had been a prince before Reza Shah came to power and, after had been the Prime Minister of Iran. Her grandfather had become a communist, however, and had been imprisoned and tortured by being put in cells full of water. Marjane tries to imagine what such torture would have felt like.

Her grandmother visits and tells her more about the Shah. The Shah is a very harsh ruler who sees himself in the line of Cyrus the Great and other great Persian rulers. When Marjane's grandfather had been imprisoned, her mother and grandmother had been very poor, sometimes boiling water on a stove just so that the neighbors would believe that they had food. 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.

Marjane has a maid named Mehri. Mehri's parents had given Mehri to the Satrapi's as a child because they had too many children to feed. Mehri falls in love with the neighbor's son and they write passionate love letters to each other. Mehri tells Marjane all about their love for each other. The news about their relationship gets out, however, and Marjane's father finds out. He goes to the neighbor's boy and explains that Mehri is not their daughter but is, instead their maid. The boy decides not to see Mehri anymore. When Mr. Satrapi finds that Marjane had written many of Mehri's love letters for her, because Mehri is illiterate, he explains that their love for each other is impermissible because social classes cannot mix. Defiant of her parents, Marjane takes Mehri to demonstrate at the marches. When Marjane's mother finds out, she slaps both her and Mehri for putting themselves in such a difficult situation.

Many people are beginning to die in the revolution. The Shah's rule becomes impossible and so he leaves the country for the United States, a move that Mr. Satrapi interprets as the United State's greed for the world's oil. At school, Marjane and her friends try to beat up a boy that was in the Shah's secret police. The boy defiantly tells her that he is proud that his father killed communists. Marjane is told that she must forgive those that torture. Marjane gives up her "Dialectic Materialism" comics and retreats to the arms of her imaginary God friend.

After the Shah steps down, the political prisoners are released. Two of them, Mohsen and Siamak, are good friends of the family and come to visit. They tell stories of torture and imprisonment. The torturers, they say, had been trained by United States CIA agents. Marjane and her friends begin to play games in which they pretend the losers are tortured. Marjane feels badly for such games and her mother again tells her that she must forgive those that tortured.

Marjane learns that her Uncle Anoosh had also been in prison and she is proud that he is a hero of the Revolution. Anoosh had defied the Shah's rule by taking a position in a government that had declared independence from the Shah. He had moved to the U.S.S.R. where he had become a Marxist and had married. His wife had divorced him and he had returned to Iran where he had been captured and imprisoned. Anoosh tells her that her family's memory must live on through such stories.

Her father and her uncle have intense and somewhat confusing political conversations. The revolution was leftist, yet the republic is led by religious fundamentalists. Anoosh predicts that the religious leaders will soon relinquish control to the people. Many people, including some in Marjane's family, begin to move to the United States and to Europe to escape the new fundamentalist regime. Marjane's father does not want to leave Iran because he would lose his social status. The situation becomes perilous, however, and the family learns that Mohsen and Siamak's sister had been killed by the Guardians of the Republic, a kind of military police force. The former revolutionaries soon become the enemies of the republic.

Marjane finds out that her Uncle Anoosh has been arrested and is being held in captivity. Her father tells her that Anoosh has asked that she be the one visitor he is allowed. Marjane goes to see her uncle and he tells her that she is the daughter he wished he could have had. Soon, they learn that Anoosh has been executed on the false charges of being a Russian spy. Marjane banishes her God friend forever and feels empty and alone. At that moment, bombs begin to fall and the Iraq Iran war begins.

[pic] Other events begin to occur quickly. The American embassy is overtaken and the Americans are forced to leave Iran. This crushes Marjane's dream of one day going to the United States. Soon, the religious leaders close all of the universities so that the curriculum can be changed. This crushes Marjane's dream of being a famous scientist like Marie Curie. When the car of Marjane's mother breaks down, a group of men assaults her because she is not wearing the required veil around her head. Women are then required to cover their heads in public and Marjane has to lie about how much she prays every day. Marjane's parents allow her to attend a rally demonstrating against the new regime. The demonstration erupts in violence and they do not demonstrate again.

The war intensifies and one day a group of bomber jets descends on Tehran. Marjane is for the war because, as she explains, the Arabs had forced their religion and culture on the Persians 1400 years earlier. Her father believes that the real Islamic invasion is occurring in their own government. A group of fighter pilots is released from jail and they agree to fly for Iran if the old national anthem is broadcast on television. One of Marjane's friends has a father who is a part of the bombing but he is killed during the raid.

During the war, food and rations are low in the country and tensions run high amongst the people. A bombing on the border town of Abadan sends Marjane's friend Mali and her family to stay with them. Mali had been wealthy and her family must sell their expensive jewels, the one salvaged item from the bombing, in order to survive. One day, while shopping in the grocery store, a group of women sees Mali and calls her, and all refugee women, whores. Marjane is ashamed for herself and for Mali.

Young male children are each given keys by their schools. The keys, they are told, represent their ticket into heaven once they are martyred during the war. The key is their ticket to women and a mansion in heaven. One of Marjane's friends is given a key and Marjane's mother tries to tell the boy that this is nothing but nonsense that the schools are telling the children, but the boy seems oblivious. Marjane's cousin Shahab returns home from the front lines and tells Marjane about the horrible things that they do to children there. They send them out into the minefields where they are blown up and killed.

During a party to celebrate the birth of a new cousin, a bombing raid begins. Marjane's aunt becomes scared, hands her child to Marjane, and runs off. The party continues, however, and there is dancing and wine, things that are strictly forbidden by the regime. On their way home, Marjane's family is stopped by the Guardians of the Revolution. Smelling wine on Mr. Satrapi's breath, they follow the family home to search the house. Marjane and her grandmother run up to their apartment to dump out all the wine in the house. The guard, however, only wants a bribe and so the family avoids the search, but they lose all their alcohol.

Marjane makes friends with some older girls at school and one day they all sneak away "Kansas," a Western style burger diner that the regime has overlooked. They flirt with boys until a bombing raid begins and the boys dive in the gutter to stay safe. At home, Marjane's mother is upset that she skipped class and Marjane goes down to her basement where she smokes a cigarette that she had stolen from her uncle.

The war has become very bad with millions of people dying. Marjane's Uncle Taher is very stressed about the war and about sending his son overseas to avoid serving in the military. Because he smokes heavily, Taher had had two heart attacks and soon he suffers a third. At the hospital, a doctor tells Taher's wife that he must go to Europe for heart surgery, but the hospital director refuses to give him a passport. Taher dies on the same day that his passport arrives and he never realizes his final wish of seeing his son one last time.

A year later, the Iranian government reopens the borders and Marjane's parents are allowed to leave the country on a vacation. They leave for Turkey, and when they return, they bring Marjane many presents of Western culture. They sneak in a poster of the rock band Iron Maiden and the rock star Kim Wilde. Marjane goes out wearing a jean jacket, sneakers, and a Michael Jackson button, but she is accosted by two women Guardians. They threaten to arrest her but let her return home safely. Marjane does not tell her mother about the incident for fear that she will become stricter and not let her have such Western things. One day, Marjane goes out of the house to buy a pair of jeans. While shopping, a bombing occurs in her neighborhood. Marjane rushes home to find the house next to hers demolished. She sees the arm of her Jewish friend, Neda Baba-Levy, sticking out from the wreckage. She had been killed in the attack.

Marjane grows up to become a "rebel" and, after a confrontation with one of her teachers, she is kicked out of school. Fearing that the country is no longer safe for their daughter, the Satrapis decide to send Marjane to Austria to attend a French school there. Marjane spends one last night in the arms of her grandmother who advises her not to carry resentment or hatred towards anyone. The next day, her parents take her to the airport. Marjane senses that, though she will see her parents again, they will never again live in the same household. At the customs gate, Marjane turns to see her parents leave. Her mother has fainted in her father’s arms.

Character List

Marjane: Marjane is the novel's main character. The book is a narrative of her life from six years of age until fourteen years of age. She provides the childhood perspective from which the historical events of the novel are understood.

Mr. Satrapi: Mr. Satrapi is Marjane's father. He is a leftist political protestor that takes part in the demonstrations of 1979, yet he is also an established engineer and maintains a middle class lifestyle.

Mrs. Satrapi: Mrs. Satrapi is Marjane's mother. She holds leftist political views and often urges Marjane and her friends to rely on education as a way to further themselves and their country. Marjane often equates her with an overbearing presence as she grows older, yet she maintains a close bond and relationship with both her parents.

Anoosh: Anoosh is Marjane's uncle. He was imprisoned by the Shah for his communist views, but was released after the Revolution. He had been married in Russia, but his wife divorced him. Anoosh is arrested by the Islamic regime and executed on the false charges that he is a Russian spy.

Grandmother: Marjane's grandmother lives with Marjane's family for a while. Her husband had been a prince of the Shah and had been made prime minister. He had been arrested for conspiring with communists and tortured in a water cell. Her grandmother provides Marjane with a matriarchal figure.

Siamak: Siamak is a hero of the revolution. He had been captured and tortured by the Shah's police and had been released after the Revolution. The Islamic regime also seeks to capture him and they kill his sister in the process. Siamak escapes Iran by hiding in a group of sheep being transported across the border.

Mohsen: Mohsen is a hero of the Revolution and a friend of Marjane's family. Mohsen had been captured and tortured by the Shah's forces. He is murdered by the new Islamic regime by being drowned in a bathtub. The regime frames his death as a suicide.

Mehri: Mehri is Marjane's nanny and maid. She was taken in by the Satrapi's as a young child because her impoverished family could not support her. Mehri falls in love with a neighborhood boy but she cannot be with him because she is from a lower social class than he is.

Mali: Mali is a close friend of the Satrapi's. She comes to live with them for a while after their border town is bombed by Iraqi forces. She and her husband had been wealthy, and the work portrays them as quite materialistic, but they lost everything in the bombing.

Taher: Taher is Marjane's uncle. He suffers numerous heart attacks from smoking and from the stress of war. After his third heart attack, he is refused a passport by the hospital director and dies without seeing his son for a last time.

Khosro: Khosro is a friend of Marjane's family. He is asked to make a fake passport for Marjane's Uncle Taher, but he leaves the country before he is able to complete the job because of government persecution.

Niloufar: Niloufar is a young girl that hides in Khosro's basement. She is captured and executed by the Iranian government.

Glossary of Terms

Bolshevik: A Bolshevik is a member of the Communist party. The Bolsheviks are credited with founding the Soviet Union in 1917 and encouraging communist revolt throughout Europe and Asia.

Communism: Communism is an economic theory in which social classes are abolished and all property enters into common ownership.

coup d’état: A coup d’état is a sudden overthrow of a sitting government.

F-14: An F-14 is a type of fighter jet plane.

fatwa: A fatwa is a religious proclamation of rule or order.

fundamentalism: Fundamentalism is usually related to a religious belief in certain "fundamental," usually conservative, aspects of faith.

Guardians of the Revolution: The Guardians of the Revolution were the secret police agency of the Islamic Fundamentalist regime.

Iran-Iraq War: The Iran-Iraq War was a conflict occurring from 1980 to 1988. The Iraqi Sunni government engaged the Iranian Shi'ite government for control of the Middle East.

Leftist: The term "leftist" refers to a liberal political position.

Matriarchy: Matriarchy refers to a family's lineage from the mother's side of the family.

Persepolis: Persepolis was an ancient capital of the Persian Empire and a symbol of Persian greatness. Many Persian kings are buried there.

Prime Minister: A Prime Minister is a political leader in a constitutional monarchy.

Self-flagellation: Self-flagellation is the act of beating or whipping ones self, usually in an act of contrition or demonstration of toughness.

Shabbat: Shabbat is the Jewish Sabbath, celebrated every seventh day.

Shah: In a general sense, the term "Shah" represents a Persian name for king or ruler. In a specific sense, Shah was the name of used for Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, ruler of Iran from 1941 until the 1979 Revolution.

Sharia: Sharia is the term for Islamic law and rule.

Shi'a: The Shi'a are the second largest Islamic denomination. Shi'as differ from other Islamic denominations in their belief that Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, is the rightful successor to Muhammad and first Imam. Iran is the country with the largest Shi'a population.

Socialism: Socialism is an economic and political theory that stipulates common ownership of the means of economic production.

Sunni: The Sunni are the largest Muslim denomination in the world.

The Iranian Revolution: The Iranian Revolution was the 1979 coup by the people of Iran to overthrow the Shah. The coup was lead by leftist political leaders, but a fundamentalist Islamic regime ended up holding power after the revolution.

Vintner: A vintner is a person who ferments and bottles wine.

Western: "Western" is a term that generally relates to the culture and society of the Western Hemisphere, often specifically meaning Europe and the United States.

Major Themes

The Graphic Novel

The medium of storytelling is as important as the story itself in a graphic novel. By using frames of drawing with minimal text, the graphic novel calls on the reader to enter into a different kind of textual interpretation. A reader must read the captions of the frames and interpret this text within the context of the paneled art. Artistic style becomes as important as text for relaying narrative to the reader.

Persepolis brings a particular graphic style to the autobiographical narrative. Satrapi draws in a minimalist style: black and white, often only six to eight panels on a page. This style is meant to represent a childlike understanding of the world since the novel follows Satrapi's own childhood. The black and white symbolizes both the past and how the Islamic revolution left Iran devoid of its rich colorful cultural history. The medium of the graphic novel is also important here because iconic representations of Islam are forbidden by the Islamic regime. The novel is, thus, a form of protest as well as art.

Tension between Past and Present

Throughout the novel, Marjane feels a tension between the great and glorious past of the Persian Empire and the violence and problems of modern Iran. In the novel's opening chapters, she identifies herself with the great prophets of the past dating back to Zarathustra. She imagines herself as a symbol of love and tolerance. When the Iran-Iraq War begins, she vehemently defends it as a just cause and relates it to a 1400-year conflict that has been waged between the Arabs and the Persians.

This unwavering belief in the past is put in tension with the novel's present day political intolerance and religious fundamentalism. Marjane's pride in her history is in direct conflict with the imprisonment of political revolutionaries and, later, the execution of those that speak out against the strict cultural demands of the Islamic regime. Marjane's journey through the novel is an exploration of how one can love one's past while denouncing its present condition.

Bildungsroman

The bildungsroman is a genre of literature in which the protagonist undergoes a process of intense moral growth and self-actualization. For a work to be considered a bildungsroman, the protagonist must progress from childhood to adulthood, leave home to undergo a journey, and develop a more mature understanding of his or her self.

Satrapi's novel, especially if considered in the larger context of the second volume of the series, falls into all of these categories. Marjane begins Persepolis as a child and by the end of the novel declares her independence from her mother and father through the ritual of smoking a cigarette. Marjane's parents force her to leave her war torn home for her safety and this begins her journey. Throughout the novel Marjane must reconcile her own beliefs and understanding of the world with the strict cultural rules of the Islamic regime.

Class Conflict

Class conflict is an underlying tension throughout the novel. At the beginning, Marjane cannot quite grasp how her father can drive a Cadillac and her family can have a maid while also preaching the virtues of class-consciousness and equality. Iran's history is seen as a history of both great wealth and great poverty. The 1979 Revolution is characterized by Satrapi as largely a Marxist revolution undertaken by the urban cultural elites on behalf of the impoverished people of Iran's countryside.

This conflict is more clearly seen in the chapter "The Letter." In this chapter, Marjane's maid is forced to abandon her love for a neighbor. They cannot be together, Mr. Satrapi tells his daughter, because their social classes are not supposed to marry. Marjane sees a great injustice in this belief because, at the same time, her parents march in the streets for a Marxist revolution in the nation.

Modernity vs. Fundamentalism

The inability of the Marxist and Socialist revolutionaries to gain political power after the 1979 Revolution causes a great strain for families such as the Satrapis. These families see themselves as modern people. They hold Western political and social beliefs. This is not just seen in the kinds of Western material things that Marjane and her family seek out -- things like rock posters, jean jackets, hamburgers, and Cadillacs. It is also seen in the social values that they hold -- a belief in the rights of women, liberal education, and human rights.

Religious and ideological fundamentalism is portrayed as a hindrance to the development of Iran. This fundamentalism represses its people. It not only takes away the material things that the people enjoy but it also takes away their identity and dignity. According to the author in the book's introduction, one of the chief reasons for writing Persepolis is to show the perspective of a modern Iran persecuted and punished by a few "extremists."

The Abandonment of Faith

Much of the novel's first half is a recounting of the author's loss of naivety and faith. As a child, Marjane sees herself as a prophet in the line of Zarathustra, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Her imaginary friend is her vision of God as an old man with a long flowing beard. In these scenes from childhood, God encourages Marjane to become a prophet and to stand up for love and justice.

As Marjane begins to confront the political and social realities of her world, the reader sees her slowly detaching from her faith. As she hears stories of political imprisonment and torture, she finds that God no longer gives her comfort. As the Islamic regime comes into power, she feels that she cannot defend a faith represented by such fundamentalism. The imprisonment and execution of her Uncle Anoosh causes a break in her faith and she describes herself as lost and alone in the universe.

The Relationship between Parents and Children

Throughout the novel, Satrapi uses her own relationship with her parents as a metaphor for her relationship with her country and the wider world. The conflict and love she experiences with her parents is a necessary part of her growth as a person. Her relationship with her mother and father is both tender and full of tension. Her parents love her and seek to provide her with the best in education and upbringing. They hope to provide her with a life full of privileges.

At the same time, however, Marjane feels a great tension between her parents' political views and their actions. Their belief in equality and liberation for the working classes conflicts with the privilege that they hold and seek in society. On one occasion, Marjane compares her mother to the Guardians of the Revolution, the secret police force of the Islamic regime. The end of the novel is a representation of the eventual break that all children must have with those that raise them. In Marjane's case, she also breaks with the country and culture that raised her.

Quotes and Analysis

1. For a revolution to succeed, the entire population must support it

Persepolis, 17.

In this quote, the young author argues that she should be allowed to attend revolutionary demonstrations with her parents. Her parents do not want her to attend the demonstrations because the Shah is taking violent action against protesters. This quote is darkly humorous because it is a revolutionary maxim spoken by a young child.

This quote illustrates the author's young naïveté in regards to the political turmoil of her country and it symbolizes many of the naive assumptions of the Iranian revolutionaries. In previous frames, the author dresses up, plays childish games, and pretends to be historical revolutionary figures such as Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. This is meant to symbolize how a young generation is forced to become revolutionary even though they know little about the turmoil they fight.

2. The reason for my shame and for the Revolution is the same: the difference between social classes.

Persepolis, 33

Here, the author struggles with the competing idealism of her parent's political persuasion and the reality of their middle class life. The author discovers the realities of class divisions from reading the work of a famous Kurdish author. She experiences this division when her maid, Mehri, is not allowed to be with a boy she fell in love with because of differences in their classes. Marjane feels a great sense of dissonance in her own life because of these disparities. In a sense, her identity is undergoing a revolution just as the nation is undergoing a revolution because of these class conflicts.

3. ...it is not for you and me to do justice. I'd even say we have to learn to forgive.

Persepolis, 46

This quote, spoken by Marjane's mother, represents both the liberal ideals that her family sought to practice and the naiveté of the Marxist and Socialist revolutionaries. Marjane's family sought to ground their beliefs not in the religion or past societies but in the leftist political ideology. In this ideal, all blame for the atrocities of the nation is placed on the Shah and when he is overthrown during the Iranian Revolution, the ideal is that the revolutionaries will forgive the Shah's followers to create a unified nation.

This, however, was not the reality. Marjane's mother asks her to forgive those that perpetrated violence against the revolutionaries without considering that the Shah's followers were not ready to abandon their allegiance. This naiveté on the part of the former revolutionaries is one reason that a fundamentalist Islamic regime was able to take power after the Revolution.

4. Russians aren't like us...it's hearts they don't have. They don't know how to love.

Persepolis, 59

This quote, spoken by Marjane's Uncle Anoosh, is an indictment on the Russian form of communism that ruled the country during his time there. Anoosh left for the U.S.S.R. because he believed that Marxism was the political system that would be best for Iran and for the world. However, while there, he learned that the communism of Russia was as cold and dictatorial as the Iranian regime. This became personal for him, as well, for the heartache that his Russian wife gave him by divorcing him.

5. Anyway, as long as there is oil in the Middle East we will never have peace.

Persepolis, 43

Marjane's father gives her this diagnosis of the Iranian problem with the West. The history of Persia is a history of foreign invading forces entering the country in order to exploit its natural resources. This history continued in the modern age as the British orchestrated Reza Shah's overthrow of the Persian dynasty. According to Marjane's father, the United States had been the latest foreign power to mettle in Iran's affairs. It is because they have an interest in the rich oil fields of Iran.

6. I didn't know what justice was. Now that the Revolution was finally over once and for all, I abandoned the dialectic materialism of my comic strips. The only place I felt safe was in the arms of my friend.

Persepolis, 53

Here, Marjane continues a process of shedding the intellectual and spiritual structures that sustained her development as a child. The first structure to fall is her unwavering belief in the efficacy of the leftist revolutionary forces. Marjane's mother sends confusing messages telling Marjane both that she must forgive all while harboring deep hatred for those that tortured and persecuted the revolutionaries.

Marjane first attempts to take on the guise of the torturers whom she sees as having great power. She plays games in which she pretends to torture her friends. At first, she says that she has a feeling of "diabolical...power," but this feeling soon turns in self-loathing. Her mother can offer no political answer to how one should treat their enemies and so Marjane puts away the elementary politics of her youth and finds comfort in the arms of her God friend.

7. 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 didn't want that to happen, I should wear the veil...

Persepolis, 74

This event happens to Marjane's mother when she is assaulted by a group of men angry with her for not wearing the conservative dress for Islamic women. This quote demonstrates the misogynistic nature of the fundamentalist Islamic regime that took power after the 1979 Revolution. Marjane sees this kind of misogyny as a way of depriving women of their individuality and their identities. In the eyes of these fundamentalist men, women who do not voluntarily deprive themselves of their humanity must be dehumanized. This leads to the threats and the violence that Marjane's mother experiences.

8. "The Arabs never liked the Persians. Everyone knows that. They attacked us 1400 years ago. They forced their religion on us."

"Ok, enough of that. The real Islamic invasion has come from our own government."

Persepolis, 81

In this conversation, Marjane and her father discuss the legitimacy of the Iran-Iraq War and the legitimacy of the Iranian religious government. At the outset of war, Marjane claims a patriotic identity rooted in the long history of Persian subjection by Arab invaders. She sees the Iraqi attacks on Iran as the same as the Arab invasion of Persian over a millennium ago in which Islam was brought to the country.

Marjane's father, on the other hand, sees a different cause for the war. He blames the Islamic regime, which he says, is corrupting the country from the inside. As the war continues, Marjane will slowly realize that his view on the war is more correct than hers is. The real danger to the country comes not from an outside invading force but from her fellow citizens that turn on each other in brutal and heartless ways.

9. I think that the reason we were so rebellious was that our generation had known secular schools. Persepolis, 98

This quote demonstrates the book's belief in the power of education to free people from the superstition of religion and the subjection of political dictators. Throughout the novel, Marjane's parents put an emphasis on her education. Here, Marjane sees the root of her rebellious nature as being rooted in the education that she had received before the regime took over. In an earlier chapter, Marjane's Uncle Anoosh claims that the Iranian people allowed the Islamic regime to come to power because they were uneducated and illiterate and needed a strong symbolism in order to bring order to the country. By becoming educated, Marjane sees the power of her family to reject the strictures of the regime and to rebel against its brutality.

10. Dictator! You are the Guardian of the Revolution of this House!

Persepolis, 113

This quote is illustrative of the contentious aspect of Marjane's relationship with her mother. While most of the book shows a tender and loving relationship between Marjane and her parents, through the process of growing up Marjane also finds fault in her parent's viewpoints and beliefs. In this fit of anger, Marjane compares her mother's strict oversight of her schooling and social activities to the violence and strictness of the regime's secret police force.

Throughout the novel, Satrapi compares her reliance on and disagreements with her parents as a symbol of her love for and critical attitude toward her motherland. By accepting certain aspects of the relationships and rejecting others, Marjane is able to construct her own identity and grow into her own self.

Chapter Summaries

"Introduction," "The Veil," and "The Bicycle"

Introduction

The book’s introduction begins with a brief history of the nation of Iran. Iran is first given the name “Ayryana Vaejo,” which means “the origin of the Aryans,” by semi-nomadic Indo-European invaders who come to the land in the second millennium B.C. Iran remains a land of nomadic peoples until the seventh century B.C. when the Medes establish Iran as a nation. Cyrus the Great destroys the nation soon after and he incorporates it into “one of the largest empires of the ancient world, the Persian Empire....” From the sixth century B.C. until the twentieth century A.D., the name of this empire is Persia. The Persian Empire is often attacked by foreign invaders because of its wealth, but the culture of Persia remains intact.

In the twentieth century, Reza Shah renames this Persian territory Iran. He seeks to modernize Iran and engages the country with Western civilization. Oil is also been discovered in Iran which brings “another invasion.” Iran remains a neutral zone during World War II, and so the allied powers invade and occupy the country. They send Reza Shah into exile. He is succeeded by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, “known simply as the Shah.” In 1951, a new ruler, Mohammed Mossadeq, institutes a number of reforms and takes back national control of the oil industry. The United States and Great Britain help to organize a coup against Mossadeq and he is taken out of power. The Shah returns to Iran and rules until 1979 and the Islamic Revolution.

Satrapi notes that since 1979, Iran has largely been discussed “in connection with fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism.” She says that as a person who has lived half her life in Iran, she knows that this characterization is not true. This, she says, is why she wrote Persepolis. She believes, “that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists.”

The Veil

Persepolis begins with a school picture of Marjane in 1980. She is ten years old and wearing a veil. In the picture, she is with a group of other girls, all with dour faces. She is on the far left of the picture and is partly left out of the frame so that she is only partially visible. She says that in 1980, it becomes obligatory for girls to wear the veil at school. The girls do not like this and do not understand why they have to wear it. They complain that it is too hot and some take them off and play with them, jumping rope and throwing them away. Other children playfully mimic scenes from the Revolution.

This requirement of veils is a shock to the children. Before 1979, Marjane had attended a French non-religious school where boys and girls had studied together. In 1979, the revolutionaries call for a “Cultural Revolution” in which bilingual schools should be closed because “They are symbols of capitalism.” The people are depicted as agreeing with this idea and so the children are divided between sexes.

There are demonstrations both for and against the strictures of the Cultural Revolution. During one of the demonstrations, a picture is taken of the author’s mother. She is angry and looks rebellious and her picture is published in European newspapers. It is also published in a magazine in Iran and this is a scary thing. Marjane’s mother dyes her hair and wears dark glasses to avoid persecution by the revolutionaries.

Marjane says that she does not really know how to feel about the veil. Her family is “very modern and avant-garde.” She tells of how she had been “born with religion,” and as a very young child, she had believed that she would be “the last prophet.” There are drawings of some of the earlier prophets and in Marjane’s vision, these prophets question whether a woman can also be a prophet. She says that she had wanted to be a prophet “because our maid did not eat with us. Because my father had a Cadillac. And, above all, because my grandmother’s knees always ached.” She has a holy book as well in which she imitates the rules of the first great prophet of her country, Zarathustra, who had proclaimed that everything in life must be based on the commands to “Behave well, Speak well, Act well.” Her grandmother is the only person that knows of her holy book and her rules that all should have cars, that maids should eat with others, and that “no old person should have to suffer.” When her grandmother questions her on how she will make it so that no old person will suffer, she says, “It will simply be forbidden.”

She has conversations about her future as a prophet with an imaginary friend that looks like God, an old man with a white flowing beard. She begs for more time, but God tells her that she is ready. She announces in school one day that she is going to be a prophet when she grows up. Other children laugh at her and her teacher calls her parents in to the school to discuss this. Her parents defend her to the teacher. As they are walking home, they ask her what she wants to be when she grows up. To herself, she thinks that she will be a prophet, but she tells them that she wants to be a doctor. That night she feels guilty in front of God. God is confused at her choice to be a doctor, but she tells him that she will be a prophet but that no one can know. In an imaginary vision, she holds a scale of justice, makes a sign of love, and holds a sword and shield and declares that she wants “to be justice, love, and the wrath of God all in one.”

The Bicycle

Marjane begins by saying that her faith "was not unshakable." As the revolution begins, she and a few friends play in the yard and pretend to be great revolutionaries -- Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and Leon Trotsky. Sitting under a tree, the author tells her friends, "The Revolution is like a bicycle. When the wheels don't turn, it falls." This, she says, is the Revolution in Iran.

Over the course of 2,500 years, Iran has been occupied by many invading forces. First, the nation had its own emperors. Then there was an Arab invasion from the West, which had been followed by a Mongolian invasion from the East. In the modern era, the invasion has come from "Modern Imperialism," represented by the image of several historical characters including Britain and America. She knows all of this because her parents bought her many books. She knows about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, about Communism in Cuba, the American conflict in Vietnam, and about famous Iranian revolutionaries like Frezai, Fatemi, and Ashraf.

Her favorite book, however, is a comic book entitled "Dialectic Materialism." In the book, there are captions of Marx and Descartes conversing. Descartes tells Marx that the material world only exists in the imagination. Marx takes a stone, asks Descartes if it only exists in his imagination, and then hits Descartes over the head to prove that it is real. The author notes that, in the book and in her visions, God and Marx look very similar, since they both have long white beards. God still comes to visit her sometimes. He asks her if she still wants to be a prophet and she tells God to talk about something else. He changes the subject and tells her the weather will be nice the next day.

She hears her parents talking in the next room and sneaks up to their door in order to hear their conversation. They are talking about how "They burned down the Rex Cinema..." The Rex is a theater that shows modern movies. The poster on the matinee depicts a scene from a crime thriller. The doors to the theater are locked and police stand guard outside, preventing anyone from rescuing those inside. The police loom large over the people, and soon they attack those outside. Firemen do not arrive until much later to extinguish the blaze. According to the news, 400 people die in the fire. The people know that the Shah had ordered the theater be burned to the ground, but the Shah blames a group of religious fanatics. In a large half-page frame, the ghosts of those trapped in the theater fly towards the exit, engulfed in flames. Marjane's father tells her mother that there will be demonstrations the next day.

Outside her parents’ bedroom, she tells God that she wants to go to the demonstrations. She tries on several different hats in a mirror saying that she will go to the demonstration as Che Guevara or maybe Fidel Castro. As she looks at herself in the mirror, God quietly walks out of her bedroom. She looks for him when she realizes he has left. Not finding him, she storms down to her parents’ bedroom and demands that they take her with them to the demonstration the next day saying, "For a revolution to succeed, the entire population must support it." Her parents tell her that it is dangerous and that she can participate later on. Her father takes her to bed as she begs to be a part of the demonstrations. Lying in bed, crying, she cries out for God but "that night he didn't come."

Analysis

Persepolis is the story of Marjane Satrapi’s childhood in Iran. Much of the book centers on the author’s family during the Iran-Iraq War, which lasted from 1980 to 1988. Broadly, the book can be considered a memoir. The story is a personal reflection on Satrapi’s own life but sheds light on a wider historical period. Satrapi is the protagonist throughout the novel. If combined with the novel’s sequel, Persepolis 2, which describes Marjane’s early adulthood, the novel can be considered the first part of a Bildungsroman. A Bildungsroman is a novel that follows a specific course in which the author moves from childhood to adulthood, is forced to leave home because of a tragedy or tragic circumstance, and undergoes a process of self-actualization characterized as a conflict between the protagonist and the cultural order.

The title of the book alludes to the ancient capital of Persia, Persepolis. At a deeper level, it alludes to a theme of tension between past and present. Persepolis had been a great historical city of Persia and now holds the burial grounds for many Persian kings. Persepolis represents a flourishing of culture. The purpose of the novel, as the author says, is partly to contrast this previous great culture with a culture of intolerance and fundamentalism found in modern day Iran. The title also alludes to the fact that within its fundamentalist exterior, a great Iranian culture and people still exist, one that the Western world is not often allowed to see.

The novel’s introduction gives a very general history of Iran from its ancient founding to its modern political turbulence. This is given more detail in “The Bicycle.” This introduction is meant to give context to the book’s more personal history while “The Bicycle” represents a personal reflection on a history of revolution, invasion, and ideas. The novel can be understood as a form of “lived history,” a narrative that gives privilege to the understanding and interpretation of those that lived through historical events. Persepolis is valuable in the way that it creates an interpretive lens of childhood from which to view the historical circumstances of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War.

The opening pages of the narrative are a reflection on the search for identity. Like the graphic representation of her life, Marjane’s childhood is very black and white. She understands right and wrong and seeks to proclaim justice. Satrapi uses personification to create a God character as a child might imagine it. This reflection on childhood, however, is also a reflection on partial identity. The opening frames of the novel depict a group of girls, covered in veils. Marjane tells the reader that she is only partially in the picture. This represents the author’s own search for identity. Her identity is fractured both because of her childish understanding of the world and because of the religious fundamentalism being imposed on the country by the Islamic rulers. The novel, thus, is her attempt to recount and reclaim her own personal identity as a person and as an Iranian.

The opening chapter also sets up one of the central conflicts of the novel -- the conflict between the Satrapi’s “avant garde” life and their loyalty to Iran, its culture, and its people. The Satrapi’s life is a study in contradictions and inconsistencies. They have benefited from the Shah’s westernization of Iranian culture yet they demonstrate against his rule. They fight for the poor and working class people while also holding on to their privileged class distinctions. Marjane strongly identifies herself in a prophetic religious heritage and says that she was born with religion, yet her family is secular. Their faith is not in religion but in political ideology. This tension will be played out throughout the novel.

"The Water Cell," "Persepolis," and "The Letter"

The Water Cell

An angry mob gathers in the street. They are shouting “Down with the King!” Marjane’s parents are a part of the mob. The police shoot at the mob and the mob throws stones at the police. At the end of every day, Marjane’s parents return from the demonstrations with aches and pains in their bodies. Marjane asks her parents to play the game Monopoly with her but they laugh. In defiance, she tells her parents, “I love the King, he was chosen by God.” She tells them that her teacher, as well as God himself told her this. In addition, she says, it is written in the front of their schoolbooks.

Her father then tells her the story of how the King came to power. He tells her that Reza Shah, the father of the current King, had been a soldier who had helped organize an army to overthrow the Emperor of Persia and install a republic. Her father’s history is a flashback to Reza Shah’s rise to power: Reza Shah and his conspirators sit around a campfire and plot their attack. Reza declares, “If it is God’s will, we will reach the capital in 19 days.” One of his co-conspirators thinks, “And even if [God] isn’t, what can stop us?”

Marjane’s father tells her that during this time there had been great movements all over the world to install republics; Gandhi had advocated for peace to overthrow the British in India, Ataturk had declared that Turkey should be a Western nation. Reza Shah had wanted to follow these men’s example but he had not been a lawyer like Gandhi or a great General like Ataturk. Instead, he had been “an illiterate low-ranking officer.”

He tells her that the British had learned of Reza Shah’s desire to overthrow the Persian emperor and had decided, because of Persia’s great wealth of oil, that they would help him. They had approached Reza and told him that he could be Emperor, a political situation that would be much better for him personally. The British had dissuaded Reza Shah from starting a republic because, as they said to him, “The religious leaders are against it...a vast country like yours needs a holy symbol.” Reza Shah had asked what he needed to do and the British tell him that he must give them the oil when he becomes Emperor and that they would do everything else.

Marjane wonders if God had helped Reza Shah nevertheless. Her father then tells her that her grandfather had once been a prince, a son of the Emperor. Marjane imagines a fantasy in which her grandfather, as a young man, rides an elephant with symbols of royalty – castles, the sun, a lion with a sword – all around him. When the Shah had come to power, he had taken everything of her grandfather’s. Then, because her grandfather had been an educated man, the Shah had made him Prime Minister. Her grandfather had begun to read Marx and to meet Bolshevik intellectuals. These Bolshevik’s had persuaded him of the political fraud of the new Persia and he had become a Communist, disgusted that “people are condemned to a bleak future by their social class.”

Her mother then comes in and tells how her grandfather had been imprisoned for his political beliefs. When her mother had been a girl, soldiers had often come and taken her grandfather to prison where “sometimes they put him in a cell filled with water for hours.” Her mother had sometimes visited him, but his health had deteriorated quickly. He had had rheumatism and suffered in pain. Ending the story, her father asks her if she would like to play Monopoly now. Marjane tells him that she only wants to take a long bath. She sits in the tub with God beside her, trying to understand what it was like to be in a water cell. When she gets out of the tub, her hands are wrinkled, just as her grandfather’s hands had been in the water cell.

Persepolis

After school one day, Marjane returns home and finds her grandmother visiting. She asks her grandmother about her grandfather and about his arrests. Her grandmother does not want to talk about him and instead tells her about the poverty she and her family had had to endure. Sometimes, she says, she had simply boiled water on the stove so that the neighbors would not know that they had nothing to eat.

Her grandmother tells her that Reza Shah had been very harsh, but that his son had been “ten times worse.” Every king since the dawn of time has kept their promises to the people, but the Shah had not. He had spent his time throwing celebrations of the past dynasties of Persia. He had visited the tomb of Cyrus the Great and bowed before the headstone while the giant man lied in the ground under him. The people, however, did not care about any of these celebrations. Now, her grandmother tells her, there is a revolution.

When they go to the kitchen to eat, they learn that Marjane’s father has not come home. He had left to take pictures of the demonstrations, something that is strictly forbidden. They wait and worry for hours. Finally, he returns and they all tell him that they thought he was dead. He tells them that he saw something incredible. He had gone to the hospital to take pictures and he had seen a great crowd carrying out the body of a young revolutionary. The crowd had called him a martyr. Then, an old man being carried out on a stretcher had also been picked up by the crowd. They had called this old man a martyr. The old man’s widow had stopped them, telling the crowd that he was not a martyr but that he had died of cancer. The crowd had told her that it is okay and that he can be a martyr anyway. The old woman had then joined in their chants: “The King is a Killer!”

Marjane’s parents and grandmother start to laugh at this story. Her grandmother says, “If I die now at least I will be a martyr!! Grandma Martyr!” Marjane does not understand why they would be laughing at a story about an old man dying of cancer. She decides to find out what she is missing and begins reading a book entitled The Reasons for the Revolution.

The Letter

Marjane reads constantly of the reasons for the revolution. Her favorite author is a Kurd named Ali Ashraf Darvishian, “a kind of local Charles Dickens.” Darvishian writes stories of children that have been forced into hard labor. Because of these stories, Marjane finally understands why she feels ashamed when riding in her father’s Cadillac. “The reason for my shame and for the revolution is the same: the difference between social classes.” Then she remembers that they have a maid at home, which also makes her ashamed.

She recalls Mehri’s story. Mehri had been only eight when she had come to live with the Satrapis. Mehri’s parents had given her up because they had too many children at home to feed. When Marjane was born, Mehri had been ten and she had taken care of the new baby. She had played with her, cooked her food, and told her stories. They got along well.

At the beginning of the revolution, in 1978, Mehri falls in love with the neighbor’s son. They begin to write letters to each other, but because Mehri is illiterate, Marjane has to write the letters for her. Mehri tells the boy that she often talks to her sister about him. Marjane asks who her sister is and Mehri tells her that she is her sister.

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One day, Mehri talks with her real biological sister who works as a maid for Marjane’s uncle and tells her that she has a fiancé. Mehri’s sister becomes jealous and tells Marjane’s uncle who then tells her grandmother who tells her mother. Eventually the story comes to her father. Her father goes straight to their neighbor’s son. The boy is wearing a Bee Gee’s t-shirt when he answers the door. Mr. Satrapi tells the boy that Mehri is not really his daughter but is, instead, his maid. The boy decides that he does not want to continue seeing her and give Mr. Satrapi all the letters they had written to each other.

Seeing that the letters are in Marjane’s handwriting, Mr. Satrapi asks his daughter why she had not told him of the situation. He explained that Mehri’s love is impossible because “in this country you must stay within your own social class.” Disgusted with this answer, Marjane goes to Mehri and tells her that the next day they will go and march with the demonstrators. They sneak out of the house and spend the next day marching and protesting. When they return, Marjane’s parents are furious and her mother slaps both of them across the face. It is revealed that they had decided to protest on the most dangerous day of the Revolution, “Black Friday,” when there had been “so many killed in one of the neighborhoods that a rumor spread that Israeli soldiers were responsible for the slaughter.” Marjane and Mehri sit on her bed, both with dark hand marks across their faces from the slap, and Marjane thinks that it is “really our own who had attacked us.”

Analysis

“The Water Cell” is written as a narrative of Iran’s political past. The chapter starts with a scene of ironic humor. Marjane’s parents had been in the streets all day supporting the Marxist revolutionary forces. When they return home, Marjane wants to play “Monopoly,” a board game that symbolizes Western children’s indoctrination to Western capitalist values. It is a humorous situation but, by the end of the chapter, Marjane begins to come to a nascent understanding through her mother and father’s stories of why symbols of capitalism, such as the game, are looked down upon in her household.

Throughout the novel, Satrapi plays with techniques of point of view. She relates the history of Iran and the persecution of its people not just from her perspective but also from the perspectives of her parents, her grandmother, and from others with firsthand knowledge of the political and social situation of Iran during this period. These points of view, however, are always interconnected to the author’s own point of view. Satrapi connects and interweaves the stories of those around her into her own process of self-actualization and growing up.

The historical narrative that Marjane’s mother and father present to her is an alternate telling of the historical fall of the Persian Empire and rise of the Shah. It is important to note how official history is often only loosely connected to the personal experiences of history. In this way, Persepolis offers a particular perspective on history, largely a political and leftist retelling of Iranian history. This historical understanding is shaped not by an outside, subjective understanding of the events occurring in the country during this period but, instead, by those who are directly affected by the political turmoil of the twentieth century.

Satrapi uses alternating tones of seriousness and humor to play with the notion that the novel involves serious themes of violence, persecution, torture, and corruption all seen from the viewpoint of a child. In these chapters, one can see these themes in the imaginative reconstructions of history that Marjane envisions while her parents and her grandmother tells her the stories of her people. Much of the adult humor, however, such as the old man being proclaimed a martyr, is over the head of the young child and it will not be until later that she will understand the ways in which dark humor pervade the people’s situation. Humor, thus, becomes a tool of sanity.

The dissonance between social classes becomes a central theme in these chapters. Marjane first learns that her own family has suffered through poverty and social disadvantage. Her grandfather had been a political enemy of the Shah and so Marjane’s mother had spent much of her childhood with little food or clothing. She feels a certain kind of pride, knowing that her family had suffered for the ideals that it believes in. As the novel progresses, the theme of suffering and dignity will take on more resonance. Marjane will begin to question her own family’s sacrifice in the light of the forced sacrifice of so many of the poor and underprivileged people of the nation.

Marjane first becomes aware of this class dissonance in “The Letter.” This chapter tells the story of Marjane’s maid, Mehri, who comes from an impoverished family and is adopted by the Satrapis. Marjane has a difficult time coming to grips with the idea that Mehri’s adoption was not a completely benevolent act. Mehri becomes the housemaid for the family and does not receive the advantages of education or upbringing that Marjane receives. Mehri remains illiterate; illiteracy is often seen as a symbol of control because the illiterate are often not able to come to a self-understanding of the systems of power that govern their lives. The idea that Mr. Satrapi would deny Mehri a chance at love with a neighbor highlights the nuanced, yet confusing, circumstances of class conflict in Iran. In this chapter, Marjane has not yet come to understand it fully, but it does add to the general sense of injustice that she feels in her childhood self.

"The Party," "The Heroes," and "Moscow"

The Party

There are many more massacres after “Black Friday.” In a large frame, there are rows of the dead, all with their eyes open and the mouths agape in terror. These demonstrations mean that the Shah’s reign is in trouble. The Shah makes a declaration that he will move the country towards democracy, but he is never able to install a real government. He finds fault in all the Prime Ministers. This only makes the demonstrations more violent; statues of the Shah are torn down and his effigy is burned. Finally, the Shah steps down and all the people celebrate the biggest celebration in the country’s history.[pic][pic][pic]

Jimmy Carter, President of the United States, refuses to give refuge to the Shah. Mr. Satrapi says, “Carter has forgotten his friends. All that interests him is oil.” Her father insists that Anwar Al-Sadat will accept him into Egypt because they have been friends since both betraying their region by making a pact with Israel. Marjane does not understand. Her father declares, “as long as there is oil in the middle east we will never have peace.” As a large snake wraps around the frame, her mother and father decide to talk about something else “now that the devil has left!”

At school, Marjane’s teacher tells them to tear out the picture of the Shah. Marjane is confused and says that the teacher told them that God chose the Shah in the first place. The teacher tells Marjane to stand in the corner for saying such a thing. Other strange things happen as well. Their neighbors rejoice that the demonstrations are over and one man’s wife shows off a small mark on her cheek that she claims is where a bullet almost hit her. Marjane’s mother, knowing that the woman did not protest, complains that the mark has been there all along.

At play, a boy tells Marjane and a friend that Ramin’s father had been in the Savak, the Shah’s secret police, and that he had killed a million people. Marjane and her friends decide to put nails between their fingers and beat up Ramin. Marjane’s mother stops them and tells Marjane not to do such things, that it is not Ramin’s fault that his father had killed people. She tells Marjane that she must forgive. The next day, Marjane goes up to Ramin and tells him, “Your father is a murderer but it’s not your fault, so I forgive you.” Ramin replies that his father is not a murderer and that “he killed communists and communists are evil.” Marjane’s mother is shocked that Ramin would repeat such things, and Marjane stares in the mirror, repeating the mantra that “You have to forgive!”

The Heroes

A few days after the Shah steps down, the political prisoners are released. Marjane’s family knows two of them, Siamak Jari and Mohsen Shakiba. Both had been convicted of being communists. Siamak’s wife is Mrs. Satrapi’s best friend. One day, Laly, Siamak’s daughter, visits Marjane and Marjane tells her that her father is dead and not away on a trip, as she had been told. Laly runs to her mother and Marjane is punished for saying such a thing. Marjane thinks, “Nobody will accept the truth.”

Then, when the prisoners are released, Siamak comes to visit and Marjane sees that she has been wrong. Siamak is relieved to see his family and friends once again. Soon, Mohsen joins them. They nonchalantly retell their stories of torture and abuse. Their fingernails had been pulled out and the bottoms of their feet had been whipped with electrical cords. The torturers had been trained by CIA agents, so they “knew each part of the body” and how to cause the most pain. Marjane’s parents are so shocked that they forget to tell Marjane to leave the room. One of their friends, Ahmadi, who had been a member of the guerilla army, had been captured and tortured in especially awful ways. The torturers burned his back with an iron. Marjane looks at their house iron and says that she “never imagined that you could use that appliance for torture.” In the end, Ahmadi was killed and they cut him to pieces.

Marjane tells Laly that she had been partially right in telling her that her father was not on a trip. Laly is angry and declares, “All torturers should be massacred!” Out at play, Marjane devises new games. The losers will be tortured with the “mustache-on-fire” method, the twisted arm, and the “mouth filled with garbage.” When she returns home, she looks in the mirror and feels powerful. She sees small devil horns coming from her head. Then, she becomes overwhelmed and cries to her mother. She asks her mother if she should still forgive, and her mother tells her, “Bad people are dangerous but forgiving them is too. Don’t worry, there is justice on earth.” Marjane does not know what justice is, but decides to give up her “Dialectic Materialism” comics. She only feels safe in the arms of God, her friend.

Moscow

Marjane wishes that her father had been a hero and she makes up stories about how he lost limbs, though none of the stories is true. She then meets her Uncle Anoosh, one of her father’s brothers, and they tell her that he had been in prison. She immediately loves Anoosh because now she has “a hero in my family.” Marjane invites her Uncle to stay with them and he tells her that he will stay for one night and tell her stories.

That night, he tells her the story of how he had come to be imprisoned. Anoosh’s Uncle Fereydoon had stood up to the Shah and had proclaimed independence in the province of Azerbaijan. Fereydoon had become the minister of justice. Anoosh had similar political ideas as his uncle, but Anoosh’s father had remained loyal to the Shah. Anoosh had become Fereydoon’s secretary but one day he had come to work to find that the Shah’s soldiers had arrested Fereydoon. Anoosh had run away to his family’s home and had arrived at his parents’ doorstep half dead from his journey. His father had welcomed him back, but the Shah’s police had still been on his trail. Anoosh had learned that Fereydoon had given himself over the Shah instead of running away. In prison, his girlfriend had come to him and they had made a baby in order to have a “living memory,” but she had left for Switzerland soon after.

Anoosh himself had left and gone to the U.S.S.R. Marjane wants to know what he did there and he tells her that he had become a student of Marxism. She asks him if he had studied dialectical materialism and he is surprised that she knows such a term. He tells her that he had married and had had two children. He shows her a picture but the face of the woman is blacked out. Marjane asks why and he tells her that the Russians are different, that they have no hearts.

Anoosh tells her that after his divorce, he had decided to return home with a false passport and a disguise. The Shah’s guards had recognized him, however, and he had been put in prison for nine years. Marjane tells him that she had heard he was tortured, and he tells her, “What my wife made me suffer was much worse.” He tells her that he recounts these stories because, “Our family memory must not be lost. Even if it’s not easy for you, even if you don’t understand it all.” Anoosh puts her to bed and gives her a carved swan that he had made out of bread while in prison. In the last scene, Marjane dreams of walking down a tree lined street, telling her friends that many people in her family are heroes and have gone to prison for their political beliefs.

Analysis

“The Party” deals with issues of collective and individual forgiveness. As the Shah is deposed from his throne, the nation erupts in a huge party. The Shah finds that he is not welcome in any of the western countries that he had formerly been in alliance with. In an important graphic frame, Marjane’s parents say that they must forget about the whole thing and move on with their lives. In this frame, a large snake dragon wraps around the picture, a symbol of evil and lies. This represents the innate injustice still at work in the Iranian conscience. Forgetting, thus, is not as easy a process as Marjane’s parents believe it will be.

This issue of national forgetting is contrasted with Marjane’s personal issues of forgiveness. When she and her friends learn that their friend Ramin’s father had been in the Shah’s secret police, they attempt to reenact the violence of the Revolution by meting out justice on Ramin. Luckily, they are stopped and Marjane learns from her mother that she must forgive. Satrapi uses the rhetorical device of anaphora. She and her mother repeat the phrase “have to forgive” as a way of convincing both themselves and, on a literary level, the reader that they are the moral centers of the novel. When she attempts to forgive Ramin, however, she finds that he is utterly defiant and even proud of the murders that his father committed. This demonstrates to Marjane that, just as forgetting the past is an impossible task, so too is forgiving those that find no fault in their past actions. Satrapi alludes to the idea that this is a planted seed of coming injustice.

The question of heroism is also dealt with in these chapters. The issue that Marjane deals with is coming to understand what makes one a hero. There is a spectrum of heroism presented: on one end of the spectrum, Marjane sees her own father. He is not a hero because he had not been imprisoned or tortured, though he had demonstrated and stood up for his political beliefs. At the other end of the spectrum is Ahmadi, the guerrilla war leader who not only had been tortured but also had been killed and cut into pieces. Marjane mistakenly thinks that he had been tortured with a household iron instead of a branding iron, a bit of childish humor thrown in to remind the reader of the narrator’s childhood perspective.

Satrapi uses techniques of juxtaposition in “The Heroes” to create an atmosphere of danger. She juxtaposes images of a familial gathering - friends and family together, sharing stories and memories - with scenes of intense torture and death. In one panel, the top third of the page is taken up by Ahmadi’s body, which has been cut into pieces. The next panel shows a family gathered together. This creates a mood of uneasiness and fear in Marjane and in the reader. It suggests that even in one’s own home, surrounded by one’s own family, one is not safe.

The hero that Marjane finally comes to identify with is her Uncle Anoosh who had been a political prisoner because of his Marxist views. Anoosh becomes her hero because he is both her blood relation -- this means that she is able to take on a familial identity of suffering -- and because he risked his life for his ideals. Anoosh, however, does not see such nobility in his suffering and tells Marjane that the pain of his divorce is greater than that of his torture. Anoosh’s character suggests that the bonds of family and love are, in the end, more important than political and social ideals.

The term “dialectic materialism” (referred to in philosophy as “dialectical materialism”) is a running theme through these early chapters. Dialectical materialism is considered the founding principles upon which Marxism is based. The materialism aspect of this theory is that all things are material, i.e. - all created things come from physical matter and natural processes and not some supernatural force such as God. The dialectical part of the theory refers to Hegel’s dialectic of history, a complicated philosophical statement on the patterns of human history. Marx theorized that all human history could be seen as class conflict.

Whether or not the author actually had and read a comic book version of this Marxist philosophy is not as important as the symbol of the comic book. Satrapi is attempting to express the ways in which her child’s eye understands the complicated and nuanced political arguments happening around her. This is a self-referential statement since the reader is also reading a “graphic novel,” a comic book for grown-ups. These situations show that, though she attempted to educate herself in these political nuances, the real power of Iran’s political turmoil and suffering did not occur in some philosophical sense but, instead, in a real way that affected people’s lives. Anoosh, for instance, does not attempt to engage the young Marjane in a discussion on Marxism and its causes and effects. Instead, he shows her the picture of his wife with the marked out face and declares that the communists in Russia have no hearts. Acts of love and heartbreak become paramount.

"The Sheep," "The Trip," and "The F-14's"

The Sheep

Marjane’s Uncle Anoosh stays with the family for a time. He and her father have intense political debates. Marjane’s father is a bit perplexed by the political trajectory of the country -- the Revolution had been leftist while the Republic is now Islamic. Anoosh explains that because Iran is largely uneducated and illiterate, the people cannot unite behind ideas. They must unite around nationalism or a religious ideal. Anoosh predicts that the religious leaders will have no interest in ruling the country and will soon return to their mosques letting the people rule the country.

Outside at play, Marjane finds out that a boy she has a crush on is moving to the United States. The boy’s parents fear living under an Islamic regime. Another boy is excited for his friend, saying that he will probably meet Bruce Lee, though Marjane knows Bruce Lee is dead. Soon, others in Marjane’s family leave for the United States. Marjane’s mother worries that they should leave, but her father refuses to leave their affluent station in life. In America, he declares, he would be a taxi driver and she would be a cleaning lady. Marjane’s father is sure that everyone will soon come back to Iran.

One evening, the family receives a phone call and learns that Mohsen has been killed. He had been drowned in his bathtub. The authorities call it an accident, but “when they found his body, only his head was underwater.” A group of men calling themselves the “deliverers of divine justice” soon comes for Siamak and, when they are unable to find him, murders his sister. Siamak and his family leave Iran, hiding amongst a flock of sheep to cross the border. Anoosh’s pronouncements that everything will be all right become harder to believe. This is how “all the former revolutionaries became the sworn enemies of the republic.”

One day, Marjane’s mother picks her up from school. Marjane asks why Anoosh has not picked her up and her mother tells her that Anoosh has gone back to Moscow to see his wife. Secretly, Marjane understands that he has been taken and imprisoned once again. Her parents avoid the topic at dinner before her father finally tells her the truth: Anoosh has been arrested but he has asked that his one visitor be Marjane. She goes to visit him and he tells her that she is “the little girl I always wanted to have.” He gives her a bread swan. It is the last time that Marjane sees her uncle. A few days later, a headline in the newspaper reads, “Russian Spy Executed.” Marjane attempts to repeat her uncle’s words that “Everything will be alright,” but when her friend God appears Marjane yells at him and tells him to get out of her life. Marjane imagines floating, alone, in empty space, “lost, without any bearings....” A shout interrupts her dream. Her parents yell for her to run to the basement because “we’re being bombed!”

The Trip

Marjane’s father reads the paper one morning and curses at the headlines -- the American Embassy has been occupied. The paper shows a picture of a fire and an American flag. Marjane’s mother is uninterested because “the Americans are dummies.” Her father tells them that this means there will be no more visas to the US, so Marjane is sad that “my great dream went up in smoke. I wouldn’t be able to go to the United States.” A few days later, the television news announces that all universities will close. A bearded man declares that it is “better to have no students at all than to educate future imperialists.” Marjane sees another of her dreams -- to be like Marie Curie -- disappear. She fears that “at the age that Marie Curie first went to France to study, I’ll probably have ten children....”

One night, the car of Marjane’s mother breaks down, and Marjane and her father drive to get her. Suddenly, they see her mother running down the street, crying and in terror. She tells them that a group of men surrounded her and insulted her. They told her that she should wear a veil or else she would “be pushed up against a wall and fucked. And then thrown in the garbage.” Her mother is sick for several days after the incident. A decree that all women must wear veils is instituted soon after the incident. Marjane explains that there are then two types of women: the fundamentalist woman who covers herself from head to toe, and the modern woman, who covers almost all of her body except for her face and hands and who shows opposition by “letting a few strands of hair show.” Men are similar, differing only in whether a man shaves his beard and tucks in his shirt. Their neighbors change as well and adopt the strict dress and customs. Marjane’s parents instruct her always to tell people that she prays everyday and soon it becomes a competition between her and her friends to see who prays more.

Despite these harsh rules, a spirit of revolution is still in the air and for the first time Marjane’s parents allow her to attend a rally. With her face shown as half-dark and half-light, Marjane goes out in the streets to pass out fliers. A crowd chants: “Guns may shoot and knives may carve, but we won’t wear your silly scarves!” Then things get “nasty,” and a group of fundamentalist men attacks the protestors with clubs. They beat and stab many of the protestors and Marjane and her family run. It is the last demonstration that they attend.

After the violence, she and her family go on vacation to Italy and Spain because they know it might be their last chance to leave the country. In the hotel room, one evening, Marjane’s father sees a Spanish language news broadcast in which a picture of Iran is slowly covered by a black cloud. Marjane’s father is worried because the report seems to be talking about the whole country and not just the capital city. When they arrive back home, Marjane’s grandmother tells them that the country has gone to war. The fundamentalists have attempted to “stir up their Iraqi Shiite allies against Saddam” and Iraq has declared war on Iran. It is the “second invasion in 1400 years!” Marjane is angry and ready to fight for her country.

The F-14’s

Marjane is with her father at work one day when a group of fighter jets flies over Tehran. Everyone in the office is terrified. Marjane thinks it is the Iranian air force but her father does not recognize the planes as Iranian F-14 jets. They turn on the radio to hear that Iraqi jets have bombed the city. They quickly return home. Marjane asks her father if he will fight against Iran and he answers, “Of course I’m not going to fight. Why should I?” She tells him that the Iraqi’s have always been Iran’s sworn enemies because, “The Arabs never liked the Persians...They attacked us 1400 years ago. They forced their religion on us.” Her father answers, “The real Islamic invasion has come from our own government.” When they reach home, they find Marjane’s mother in the shower, completely unaware that anything has happened.

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Later that evening, Marjane declares that, “We have to bomb Baghdad!” Her parents tell her that all the fighter jet pilots had been imprisoned during the coup d’état and that they would have to be released from prison first. Marjane remembers that one of her friend’s fathers is a pilot but her father tells her that he had been imprisoned. Marjane is angry with her father for being a defeatist. Suddenly, the family hears the Iranian national anthem playing on TV. The anthem had been banned and replaced by a new anthem of the Islamic regime. The family is overwhelmed as they hear the music. The news announces that Iranian fighter jets have bombed Iraq. They celebrate the news and learn that President Banisadr had ordered the release of the pilots after they had negotiated to have the national anthem broadcast. The rest of the news is not good: many planes and pilots had been lost in the attack.

The next day at school, Marjane runs to find her friend Pardisse whose father had been one of the released pilots. She knows right away that Pardisse’s father has been killed. In class, the teacher asks all the students to write a report on the war. Marjane writes a long essay on “the historical context” of the war. The teacher is not impressed, however, and instead calls on Pardisse to read her essay. In that essay, Pardisse writes of how she has promised to take care of her mother and little brother after her father’s death. After class, Marjane tells Pardisse that her father is a true hero. Pardisse tells her, “I wish he were alive and in jail rather than dead and a hero.”

Analysis

In “The Sheep,” Satrapi uses a conversation between her Uncle and her father to explain why Iran’s Revolution resulted in the rule of a fundamentalist Islamic regime. During the Revolution, leftist and religious factions joined together to protest the rule of the Shah and to bring about his demise. However, after the Revolution, the Islamic religious leaders stepped in to bring order to the country. Anoosh’s explanation for this is that the Iranian people, who are illiterate and uneducated, need a religious and moral basis for establishing a new state. Religion, not ideas, provides this basis. Religion, thus, is seen as a tool for the powerful to use in order to rule the ignorant.

The title of this chapter, “The Sheep,” works on a metaphorical level. In a literal sense, a sheep herd is the mode of transportation that Siamak and his family use to cross the Iranian border and escape persecution, but it is also representative of the general population of Iran, as well as Marjane’s family who leave for the United States. Like sheep that simply follow each other with no notion of direction or purpose, Satrapi is arguing here that the people of Iran have made an unconscious decision to follow the religious leaders for no other reason than that they cannot determine a purpose or direction for the country without them. Marjane’s family also imitates the sheep, blindly leaving for a life in the United States.

Anoosh’s arrest, imprisonment, and execution represent the novel’s turning point. Her hero, Anoosh, once again becomes a victim of political persecution. While Marjane’s relationship with her parents is certainly a loving one, the novel portrays her relationship with her uncle as the tenderest one. This means that his death is particularly difficult for her. Anoosh’s death represents Marjane’s break from a childish conception of a God that had represented love, justice, and holy wrath for evil. Marjane finds herself lost and without direction, much as the general Iranian population is lost and without direction. Marjane’s crisis is the inverse, however, in that she begins her rejection of religion while the people of Iran embrace what becomes a cruel religious fundamentalism.

The chapter “The Trip” uses important imagery to chart the progress of Marjane’s struggle with identity. The first imagine that the author uses is a picture her own face right before she goes to protest the regime. It is half covered in dark and half covered in light. The dark symbolizes the metaphysical void that has occurred. She has rejected God, and she is lost in a kind of inner darkness. The light is representative of the spirit of revolution that still permeates Tehran. She and her parents still see a hope in the rise of the leftist demonstrators, yet find that the religious fundamentalists go much further in their violence than had the Shah’s forces. This leads into the second image of darkness -- the dark cloud that Marjane’s father sees descending over the country on a television newscast. This cloud represents the same darkness and void that Marjane experiences in her own life.

In “The F-14’s,” Marjane begins a struggle with her feelings of nationalism. She is unable to find a cause to root for in the fundamentalist government and, instead, finds her national pride in the great Persian empires. She correlates the war with Iraq with the Arab invasion of Persia 1400 years before and claims that it is patriotic and just to fight the Arab forces. Her father understands the real war is not just with another country but is, instead, a war inside of the country between those that envision a modern Iran and those that adhere to extremism.

"The Jewels," "The Key," and "The Wine"

The Jewels

Marjane and her mother have a hard time finding food at the supermarket because of war rationing. Marjane’s mother breaks up a fight between two women tussling over a box of food. Marjane’s mother yells at the women, “If everyone took only what they needed there would be enough to go around!” She then tells Marjane that they should go to the convenience store to get as much rice as they can because “you never know!” At the convenience store, Marjane’s mother and father get into a fight over the rationing of gasoline. Her father comforts her and they attempt to find a restaurant, but the roads are so jammed that they cannot get home until 2 am. A gas station attendant tells the family that the oil refineries at Abadan had been bombed by the Iraqis. Abadan is an Iranian border city where Mali, a good friend of the family’s, lives with her husband and children. Marjane’s mother attempts to call Mali but they get no answer. Marjane notes that after Abadan, Iranian border towns had been targeted by bombers. Marjane imagines a glut of cars attempting to leave the border towns, all engulfed in flames.

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That night the family’s doorbell rings. They find Mali and her family at the door. Everything they own had been destroyed by the Iraqi bombers. Mali’s husband saves some expensive jewels but complains that his million-dollar home had been destroyed. Marjane says that her father does not like Mali’s husband very much because he thinks he is “too materialistic.” Marjane takes the two boys to her room to sleep and they are disappointed that Marjane does not have any toys. They tell her that they have all the Star Wars toys at home.

Mali and her family stay with Marjane for a week until they sell the jewelry. On a trip to the grocery store, Marjane complains that the boys are “brats” for complaining about wanting things. One of the women finds a can of kidney beans and says that they will make chili. Marjane comments, “We’ll just forget about the flatulence factor.” When one of the boys asks what flatulence is, the entire group of women and children laugh riotously. Their laughter draws the ridicule of two women standing nearby who whisper that all refugee women are whores. As the family drives home, Mali says that it is difficult to lose everything but “to be spat upon by your own kind, it is intolerable!” Marjane is ashamed and feels sorry for Mali.

The Key

Though the Iraqi army has modern arms and equipment, the Iranians have a much larger supply of soldiers. Each time an unmarried Iranian man dies in combat, a “nuptial chamber” is built for him in the streets. The nuptial chamber is an old Shiite tradition. It represents the ability of the dead man to “attain carnal knowledge.” Marjane holds a newspaper filled with pictures of “Today’s Martyrs.” She asks her mother if the dead mean anything to her and she tells Marjane that life must go on. She quotes a line of her father’s: “When a big wave comes, lower your head and let it pass!” Marjane thinks that this is a very Persian philosophy, “the philosophy of resignation.”

At school all of the girls line up twice a day and mourn the war dead. They stand in single file lines and beat their breasts. Marjane reflects that self-flagellation is a national ritual. Many of the men beat themselves, often violently with chains or knives, to prove their loyalty and machismo. Marjane, on the other hand, finds humor in all of the serious rituals. She leads her entire school in defiance of the school’s principal. They make funny masks for the soldiers and decorate a room with toilet paper for the anniversary of the revolution all of which gets Marjane and her friends into trouble.

The girl’s parents are brought in and the principal scolds them for not educating the girls at home. Marjane says that the reason they are so rebellious is that “our generation had known secular schools.” Marjane’s mother and father become defiant as well. The principal simply tells them that they must obey or they will be kicked out of school. When the principal tells the parents to make sure the girls wear their veils correctly, Marjane’s father angrily tells her, “If hair is so stimulating as you say, then you need to shave your mustache!”

One day, the Satrapi’s maid tells Marjane’s mother that her oldest son has been given a key at school. The school leaders tell him that if he goes to war and dies, the key will get him into heaven. In heaven, there will be women and mansions. Marjane’s mother tells her to bring her son over and she will talk to him. When Marjane returns from school, she finds her mother talking to the boy. She tells him that all the talk of women and paradise is nonsense and that one day he will go to college and marry. Marjane goes to her room and calls her cousin Peyman who is the same age. She asks him if he has been given a key to paradise, but he has not.

Marjane’s cousin Shahab comes for a visit. He had been drafted into the military when the war began and he is now home on leave. He tells them horrible stories of how the military drafts young children from the poor parts of the country. “First they convince them that the afterlife is even better than Disneyland, then they put them in a trance with all their songs...They hypnotize them and just toss them into battle. Absolute carnage.” Marjane learns that the keys are given to the poor children. In a violent panel of artwork, dozens of children with keys around their necks are blown up by mines.

Meanwhile, Marjane is allowed to go to her cousin Peyman’s party. Her mother makes her a sweater with holes in it and she wears a necklace with chains and nails because “punk rock was in.” She says, “I was looking sharp.”

The Wine

The Iraqis begin to bomb Tehran and so all of the tenants of Marjane’s building build a shelter in the basement. When the sirens go off, everyone runs down and turns off all lights. Marjane’s mother tells her father to put out his cigarette when they are there because “They say that the glow of a cigarette is the easiest thing to see from the sky.” When the bombings end, everyone returns to their apartments and begins to call their relatives and friends.

Marjane describes how the insides of her house change as well. Her mother puts up big black curtains over their windows. She tells Marjane that she does not want their strict fundamentalist neighbors to see the parties and card games that they hold every week. Tinoosh, one of their neighbors, had been reported and two Guardians of the Revolution had raided his home and found “records and video cassettes...a deck of cards, a chess set. In other words, everything that’s banned.” Tinoosh had been given seventy-five lashes and can no longer walk.

The Satrapis hold a party to celebrate Marjane’s aunt and the birth of her child. The parties are necessary because “without them it wouldn’t be psychologically bearable....” During the party, the power goes out and there is no light. The party continues, however. The guests even have wine because Marjane’s uncle is a self-taught vintner and has set up a secret wine making lab in his basement. The sirens begin to wail suddenly and Marjane’s aunt loses her composure. She hands her baby to Marjane and runs off. After that, Marjane says she has “doubts about the so-called ‘maternal instinct.’”

On the way home from the party, Mr. Satrapi is pulled over by a soldier who makes him get out of the car. The soldier verbally assaults him and accuses him of drinking alcohol. Marjane’s mother begs that the soldier have mercy on him. The soldier follows them home to search the house. Marjane’s father tells her that she and her grandmother must run upstairs and he will delay the soldier. They are to pour all of the alcohol in the house down the drain. When they reach home, Marjane’s grandmother gains the soldier’s sympathy by telling him she has diabetes. She runs upstairs and pours all the alcohol out. Marjane’s father comes upstairs, furious, and tells them that all the soldier wanted was a bribe. He is exasperated and wishes he could have a drink to calm down, but all the alcohol has been thrown away.

Analysis

“The Jewels” follows a narrative of tragedy interwoven with comic relief. Mali and her family represent the receding Western influence in Iran and the wealth and privilege that evaporate with along with it. Mali loses everything in the war. Her husband and her children seem chiefly concerned with the material things that are lost. Mali, however, is more concerned with the loss of dignity that comes with becoming a refugee. This relates to a running theme of the novel, namely, one of the greatest threats faced by the people of Iran is not an outside invading force but is, instead, the turning of the people against one another.

This chapter also illustrates the way in which women faced an increasing loss of identity and agency in the country. The political and religious leadership of the country set an intolerant tone for the rest of society, and women withstand the worst of this intolerance and violence. It is not only the men, however, who perpetrate this injustice, as Marjane finds out. Instead, the injustice is brought about by those who buy into the ideology of the regime. The jewels, thus, represent a feminine Iranian perspective that is lost by intolerance and injustice, just as Mali’s jewels are sold for the highest price so that the family can survive.

“The Key” moves from narrating the injustice towards women to narrating the injustice perpetrated against children. They keys are the regime’s manipulation of young boys; it is a sexual and materialistic manipulation, a promise of women and wealth if they give their lives in war. Satrapi interprets this as indoctrination. The key is more powerful than the promise of education and college that Marjane’s mother tells to one of the children. The indoctrination, as Marjane finds out, is also a form of class warfare. Only the poor children are given keys and Marjane’s cousin Shahab describes the incredible violence inflicted upon young children.

“The Key” is also a chapter that highlights certain criticisms of the novel. It can be interpreted that Satrapi does not take seriously the religious perspective of conservative Islam. Instead, she understands these teachings only in the view of her politically leftist perspective. Satrapi, critics claim, actually writes from a Western view. Thus, Persepolis has been criticized as a novel that takes only a thin view of religion and the motivations of the people that adhere to conservative Islam.

In “The Wine,” Satrapi explores themes of matriarchy. At a party to celebrate the birth of her cousin, Marjane is suddenly handed her baby cousin, as her aunt cannot handle the stress of caring for her child during a bombing. This incident represents Marjane’s maturation process -- she is handed the reins of matriarchal responsibility before she is ready. While all of the adults see Marjane’s aunt as having lost her mind, the incident carries more meaning for Marjane. It is her first realization of a looming adulthood and the fact that she will be asked to carry on the family’s history. She doubts the “maternal instinct” precisely because she feels as though she will not be able to become the family’s matriarch. This scene foreshadows the novels ending in which Marjane is sent away to Austria to continue her education. She is forced to grow up much sooner than she wants.

"The Cigarette," "The Passport," and "Kim Wilde"

Summary

The Cigarette

Two years pass and the war continues. Everyday there are reports on the national news that Iran is winning the war, but Marjane knows this is a lie. She tells her older friends that not even the Americans have an army as large as the Iraqi one that has supposedly already been destroyed by Iran. When the bell rings for class, Marjane’s friends tell her that they are going to get a burger at “Kansas.”

Kansas is a burger joint in one of the nice neighborhoods in North Tehran. The regime had not shut it down and Marjane thinks that this is probably due to their ignorance. In the burger joint, they flirt with two teenage boys with cool haircuts. Marjane says, “In spite of everything, kids were trying to look hip, even under risk of arrest.” Back on the street, a siren sounds and the boys dive into a gutter because that is what they have been taught to do. The girls laugh at the boys and call them “chicken.”

After Marjane returns home, her mother chastises her for skipping class. Her mother tells her that she must “know everything better than anyone else if you’re going to survive!!” Marjane calls her mother the “Dictator...the Guardian of the Revolution of this house!” At dinner, they hear the announcement that Iran has taken Khorramshahr, a strategic Iraqi city, but Mrs. Satrapi does not believe the news. Marjane asks her mother if she can go to the basement, her hideaway.

It turns out that the news is true. Iraq offers a peace settlement and Saudi Arabia offers to pay for reconstruction, but the Iranian government turns down the offer. They declare that they will conquer Karbala, an Iraqi holy city. The country plunges deeper into war. There are “belligerent slogans” painted on the walls of the city, one of which causes Marjane to think of a graphic image of a dead man: “To die a martyr is to inject blood into the veins of society.” Marjane reflects that the regime depends on the war to retain its political control of the country. A million people lose their lives in the war. The regime becomes more repressive and seeks to stop “the enemy within” by arresting and executing those that defy its rule.

In the basement, Marjane takes out a cigarette that she had stolen from her uncle. Just as the people of Iran participate in small acts of rebellion against their government, Marjane declares that smoking the cigarette is a rebellion against her mother. She lights it and coughs but decides not to give in and to continue smoking. In that moment, she says that she moves from childhood to adulthood.

The Passport

It is July of 1982. The family visits Marjane’s uncle. He smokes a cigarette, though his wife scolds him for it. He has had a heart attack and can no longer smoke, but he cries, “The stress I get from every gunshot I hear is much worse for me than the cigarettes.” He is stressed that his oldest son is in Holland but that he and his wife cannot join him. He recalls horror stories that he hears of young people being executed in the streets by the regime.

A few days later the family discusses her Uncle Taher’s situation. Marjane’s mother worries about his son, stuck in a foreign country where he does not even speak the language. Marjane interjects that once they grow up children do not need parents. Rather, parents need their children. Her mother and father think that she is quite a stubborn girl, but her father says that her stubbornness will help her later in life. Marjane’s mother and father share a tender moment, but the phone rings and interrupts them.

They learn that Uncle Taher has had a third heart attack and they rush to the hospital. At the hospital, the family encounters the war wounded. They walk past several men that have lost their legs and other men lying on stretchers in the hallways. When they reach Uncle Taher’s room, Marjane’s aunt tells them that he had the heart attack after a grenade went off in the neighborhood -- the regime had been trying to kill a group of communists. The doctors tell Marjane’s aunt that Uncle Taher needs open-heart surgery and that he must go to England for the surgery.

Marjane’s aunt goes to the director of the hospital to ask for a passport for her husband to go to England. She is surprised to learn that the director of the hospital is her former window washer. He has been made director of the hospital because of his extreme religious zealotry. The director tells her that “if God wills it,” Taher will receive the passport. She is furious that “the fate of my husband depends on a window washer!” She appeals to the chief physician but he tells her the hospital is overwhelmed with those wounded by chemical warfare. He tells them that the Germans sell Iraq and Iran chemical weapons and then the wounded are shipped to Germany to be experimented on by German doctors.

Marjane and her father leave the hospital and visit his friend Khosro. Khosro had been in prison with Anoosh and now makes fake passports. He is harboring a young eighteen-year-old girl who is accused of being a communist. Khosro agrees to make the fake passport but before he is able to, the young girl he harbors is arrested and executed by being blindfolded and shot while standing against a wall. Khosro flees over the mountains to Turkey where he is granted asylum to live in Sweden with his brother. At the hospital, Taher wakes up and tells the family that his final wish is to see his son once more. Three weeks later, he dies. On the same day, his real passport arrives. He is never able to see his son.

Kim Wilde

A year after her Uncle Taher dies, Iran reopens its borders. The entire family rushes to get passports. Marjane wants the family to take a vacation but her parents tell her that they want a vacation alone. They tell her that they are going to Turkey. They promise to bring her back Western things, such as posters of Kim Wilde and Iron Maiden. Marjane’s father declares that he really likes Iron Maiden and the women of the family cannot believe it.

In Turkey, the Satrapis go to a record store and buy the posters. They then must think of ways to get the posters back through customs. None of the ideas they think of seem feasible. Marjane’s mother then has the bright idea of sewing the posters into a big coat that Mr. Satrapi then wears. He feels ridiculous in the big coat, but when they get to customs, they assure the agent there that they have nothing illegal and the agent lets them pass.

When they get back to the house, Marjane’s mother begins passing out the presents they had brought her. They give her a denim jacket, a Michael Jackson button, and a pair of Nike sneakers. They then pull the posters out of the coat and Marjane is elated. She says, “I loved Turkey.”

She puts the posters in her room, wears the sneakers and the jacket, and plays air guitar just like Iron Maiden. She tells her mother that she is going out, just down the street, and thinks that her mother is more permissive than most other mothers who would not let their daughters go out alone at such a young age. Marjane goes to the corner and buys several tapes from men selling Western goods on the black market. She is being sneaky about it until a group of women stops her. They are members of the women’s branch of the Guardians of the Revolution. They interrogate her on her Western dress. They ask her why she is wearing punk sneakers, and Marji secretly thinks they know nothing of what punk really is. They chastise her for wearing a Michael Jackson button and she tries to tell them it is a Malcolm X button because “Back then, Michael Jackson was still black.” They pull her scarf over her head and threaten to drag her to the committee, the “HQ of the Guardians of the Revolution.” Marjane lies and tells them that her mother is dead and that her stepmother is very cruel and will burn her with an iron or send her to an orphanage if she does not go home. The women believe her, or pretend to, and let her go. Back at home, she does not tell her mother what has happened and goes to her room and plays her new tapes very loudly. She sings along with the lyrics: “We’re the kids of America....”

Analysis

“The Cigarette,” “The Passport,” and “Kim Wilde” are three chapters that explore issues of Western cultural influence in a country whose regime seeks to ban all such influence. Marjane, like any other teenager, begins to grow up and rebel against her parents and her culture. Her rebellion takes the form of an increased awareness of and engagement with Western culture -- its food, dress, music, and style. Her rebellion, however, carries the threat of severe consequences.

The burger joint that Marjane and her friends sneak off to is named “Kansas.” It is meant to symbolize a Western sense of normalcy - girls flirt with boys and teenagers can be teenagers without the threat of punishment or persecution. The Western reader might also be reminded of Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” who sought out her normal, real life in Kansas after being thrown into the fantasy world of Oz. The bombings that begin down the street and that cause the boys in the restaurant to throw themselves in the gutter remind the reader that, like Dorothy, Marjane is not in Kansas anymore. Satrapi means here to compare the war torn fundamentalist country to a kind of fantasy -- a land that is out of time and space when compared to Western reality. In Marjane’s mind, Kansas, the Western style burger joint, is reality; the war outside is a horrific, unreal fantasy world.

The end of “The Cigarette” can be seen as the novel’s climactic point. This chapter offers some of the novel’s most gripping visualizations. As Marjane walks down a dark staircase, her descent is juxtaposed against images of the Iran-Iraq War, the way in which the regime refused peace in order to keep control of the country through war, and the powerful ideal of martyrdom. Just as Marjane descends into the dark basement, so too does her country descend into its darkest time.

In the basement, Marjane makes her boldest statement of rebellion by smoking a cigarette that she had stolen from her uncle. She equates the smoking of the cigarette as a small act of rebellion against her mother. It is rebellion in the same way that the people of Iran are able to hold small acts of rebellion against their leaders, such as playing cards or not fully shaving their beards or showing their hair. These rebellious acts underlie a tacit understanding that neither Marjane nor the Iranian people are truly free, yet these acts are also an expression of agency. It is in the darkest hour that both Marjane and her country find means to declare a small bit of independence.

“The Passport,” however, is a rebuttal to Marjane’s act of independence. The reader is introduced to her Uncle Taher who is literally dying from both the cigarettes that he smokes and the stress of war going on all around him. Taher had sent his son away to Europe in order to escape the persecution of the Islamic regime. The strain of this situation, however, is slowly killing him. Taher’s own act of rebellion against the regime and against his country eventually costs him his life when he is unable to obtain a passport to leave Iran and seek medical care. Freedom as it is represented by the cigarette, Satrapi suggests, does not come without a price. A cigarette becomes the symbol of freedom but also a path of destruction.

"The Shabbat" and "The Dowry"

The Shabbat

The family and some of their neighbors sit in the Satrapi living room. One of the neighbors tells them that Iraq now has long-range missiles that can reach Tehran. Marjane tells them all that Iranians “are Olympic champions when it comes to gossip” and they agree that it is probable that Iraq does not have such sophisticated technology. Iraq does have long-range missiles however and soon new bombings begin. The missiles, called Scuds, are able to do so much damage that the family does not even go to the basement when the sirens sound because it would do no good if one hit their building. Many people leave Tehran at this point and the city becomes deserted. The Baba-Levy’s, a family that lives next to the Satrapis, decide to go and live at the Hilton where the concrete reinforced buildings are supposed to be stronger. The Baba-Levy’s are one of the few Jewish families left in Iran.

One afternoon, Marjane asks her mother for money to go buy jeans. There had been rampant inflation in Iran and her mother is shocked that jeans now cost so much. As Marjane is shopping, there is the sound of a loud explosion. The news comes quickly that a missile has hit in the Tavanir neighborhood, the neighborhood where Marjane lives. She rushes home as quickly as possible.

When she reaches her neighborhood, she learns that the missile has hit one of the two buildings at the end of her street. Her home is one of those buildings. As she approaches, she can barely look up. She hears her mother yelling and running towards her. Her mother tells her that the missile hit the Baba-Levy’s building next door and Marjane is glad because she thinks that the Baba-Levy’s are staying at the Hilton. Her mother is not so sure because it is Saturday, the Sabbath, when all Jews are supposed to return home. Her mother tries to change the subject.

As Marjane’s mother pulls her away from the wreckage of the house, Marjane happens to see her friend Neda Baba-Levy’s bracelet sticking out from a pile of rubble. “The bracelet was still attached to...I don’t know what...” Marjane covers her head and cries out, but “No scream in the world could have relieved my suffering and my anger.”

The Dowry

A few years pass and it is 1984. Marjane says that she has now become “a rebel.” When the principal of her school tries to take her jewelry, she yells back at them. One day, the principal attempts to take the jewelry and, in a fit of rage, Marjane hits the principal and knocks her down. She tries to apologize but the principal expels her. Because her grandmother knows several bureaucrats, she can be placed in a new school. Her defiance remains, however. One day, the teacher is lecturing the students on how the Islamic regime no longer has political prisoners. Marjane stands up and tells the teacher that her uncle had been executed by the regime and that the number of prisoners has increased from 3,000 to 300,000 under the regime. The students applaud her honesty, but the teacher is angry.

That evening, the teacher calls Marjane’s parents. Her father is proud of her for standing up to the lies but Marjane’s mother grabs her and shakes her. She tells her, “You know what they do to the young girls they arrest? ...You know that it’s against the law to kill a virgin...so a Guardian of the Revolution marries her... and takes her virginity before executing her.”

Her father tells her what happened to Niloufar, the girl that had been hiding in Khosro basement. The man that marries a girl is supposed to give the girl a dowry. If the girl dies, the family of the girl receives the dowry. This is how the family knew that Niloufar had been killed. The family received 500 Tumans, the equivalent of $5, for her life.

A week later, Marjane’s parents call her into the living room to talk. They tell her that they are sending her to Austria because it has become too dangerous for her in Iran. She is unsure of this at first, but her parents assure her that one of the best French schools in Europe is in Austria. Her mother tells her, “You’re fourteen and I know how I brought you up. Above all, I trust your education.” They remind her that, when she had been younger, they had sent her to summer camp in France. That had been “real independence,” Marji remembers. Her parents tell her that they feel it is “better for you to be far away and happy than close by and miserable.”

The next day, Marjane gathers some soil from the garden and puts it in a jar. She invites her friends over and gives away her posters. She says that she understands how important her friends are to her. That evening, her grandmother comes and Marjane sleeps in the bed with her. When her grandmother undresses, jasmine flowers fall from her breasts because she puts them in her bra every morning. Marjane asks her grandmother how she keeps such round breasts, and she tells her that she soaks them for ten minutes in a bowl of ice water every day. Her grandmother gives her some advice: she tells her that if anyone is a jerk to her, she must tell herself that the person is stupid so that she will not react to the person's cruelty. “Because there is nothing worse than bitterness and vengeance... Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself.” Marjane smells her grandmother’s bosom and thinks it smells good. She thinks, “I’ll never forget that smell.”

The next morning, her parents hurriedly wake her and tell her they must go. At the airport, there is a long line of people leaving the country. Many of them are young boys being sent away because after they turn thirteen they are no longer allowed to leave. They are considered future soldiers and are needed by the government. Marjane’s parents tell her that they will come see her in six months, but she knows that “they’d come to visit but we’d never live together again.” They hug, cry, and send Marjane through customs. She is cleared at customs but turns to see her parents once more. She looks back through the protective glass to see her mother has fainted and her father is carrying her out of the airport. She thinks, “It would have been better to just go.”

Analysis

The symbolism of jewelry continues in these chapters. Jewelry represents both an essence of feminism -- the woman as a rare jewel -- as well as an act of defiance since it is illegal for women to adorn themselves in any way. Neda Baba-Levy is wearing a bracelet that Marjane had given to her when she is killed in the bombing in Marjane’s neighborhood. In death, Neda is able to retain her feminine identity even though Marjane is filled with agony. Marjane is then kicked out of school after an incident involving jewelry. She refuses to give up her jewelry to the principal, symbolizing the way in which she has grown into a rebellious youth, now assured of her identity.

In “The Shabbat,” Satrapi uses sparse graphical and textual diction to express the loneliness and impact of the violence of war. Though her neighborhood is bombed, Satrapi uses only one image of a bombed building. Instead, the graphic frames of the last pages of this chapter depict only Marjane and her mother against a blank white background. This represents the idea that the violence of war is a force that disconnects people from their community and exposes the darkness of a person’s own self. War and death have an intense personal dimension, and they can cause more than physical violence to a person. The last frame of the chapter, which is nothing but a blacked out box, is the author’s lowest point and a place from which she cannot fully return.

By the end of the novel, Marjane has entered into adulthood. Her self-actualization journey also finds some resolution, as she is able to name herself definitively in the final chapter as “a rebel.” Her parents understand that their daughter has now come into her own in a fundamental way. Her father sees the potential in this rebellious self, but Marjane’s mother also understands that such rebelliousness could also cause her daughter to lose her life.

This danger is represented by the dowry. In ancient Middle Eastern culture, a dowry was a way for a man to show respect to his wife and to his wife’s family. In the current Islamic regime, however, this symbol of the dowry has lost its meaning. The dowry, now, is given in exchange for a young girl’s life after she is executed. The dowry has become blood money instead of a symbol of honor. This perversion of symbols, Satrapi suggests, is characteristic of the fundamentalist rule in Iran. It is another example of the way in which Satrapi sees a rich Persian history altered and defiled by an errant religiosity.

Because she is able to leave Iran when she does, Marjane is able to leave with a whole self. This is symbolized by her grandmother, whose bosom Marjane snuggles into on her last night in the country. Her grandmother’s bosom is, thus, both a symbol of matriarchal dignity and representative of her Persian homeland. The novel ends with Marjane growing from a childhood perspective into a grown feminist perspective. The essence of childhood remains -- Marjane seems to lose herself in the warmth and comfort of her grandmother -- but she has now become a mature adult and is able to carry her grandmother’s wisdom and abandon her anger and vengeance.

Her grandmother also represents the past that Marjane carries with her. In a literal sense, Marjane’s grandmother is a part of Persia’s past, since her husband was a part of Persian royalty. In a more figurative sense, however, her grandmother represents a Persian heritage that has sustained her through the novel. Her homeland is also her mother and grandmother, in this sense. As Marjane tearfully leaves her home country, she does not take the violent, fundamentalist reality of Iran with her. Instead, she takes the holy, maternal land of Persia from which she was born.

Repression and Expression in Iranian Art

One of the most important underlying themes of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis is the censorship of artistic expression in Iran under the fundamentalist Islamic regime that took over power of the country after the 1979 Revolution. Satrapi’s novel is itself a product of, and reaction to, this censorship. As a graphic novel, it purposefully rejects the Islamic tenet that there should be no iconic representations of the faith. It boldly denounces the brutality of the regime and calls into question the legitimacy of its rule. The book challenges the legitimacy of the regime’s war with Iran as a move to keep control of its people by sending hundreds of thousands to die. For these reasons and others, Persepolis has been denounced by Iran’s religious leaders and banned in the country that it depicts. It, however, is but one work of art that has come under intense scrutiny from the Iranian government.

In 1979, Iran underwent a large scale Revolution that fundamentally altered the culture of the country. Before 1979, Iran had been ruled by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The Shah had begun a process of Western reform in the country but had also inculcated a culture of brutality against his people, especially those that would politically dissent from his rule. This corruption caused unrest amongst the middle and lower classes which soon revolted and overthrew the Shah.

The Shah was replaced by a religious regime that sought to institute Sharia, or Islamic rule, as supreme law. This rule meant that all Western education, culture, and art was banned throughout the entire country. Early in the regime’s leadership, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed that expressions of Westernization “rape the youth of our country and stifle in them the spirit of virtue and bravery.” This meant that artistic expressions and endeavors were strictly regulated and, in many cases, banned from public consumption.

In order for a work of art to be displayed, an album to be released for public consumption, a film to be viewed, or a photograph to be used for journalistic or artistic purposes, permission must first be obtained from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Permission is difficult, if not impossible, to attain for most artistic expression, especially any that comes from a Westernized point of view. According to some critics, this has led the Iranian people to often self-censor themselves and their work for fear of imprisonment or even execution. Critics of the Iranian regime argue that the strictness and fundamentalism of the regime’s rule has suppressed a long history of Persian art and cultural influence.

Art, however, is not absent in Iran. Instead, as a contrarian theory states, art actually flourishes under censorship. Faced with threat of persecution artists actually become more bold in their expression and point of view, according to this theory. Though not published in Iran, Satrapi’s novel would seem to be a chief example of this. Other artistic expressions openly defy the regime within Iranian borders. The techno-rock band The Plastic Wave is one such recent example. The Plastic Wave not only play music with a hard edged, Westernized sound, but they also write songs in open defiance of the government and its policies of repression and violence. Iran also has a long history of filmmaking and, though the cinema is heavily censored and regulated, certain controversial films are able to find an audience despite government threat. Bahman Ghobadi’s “Marooned in Iraq,” is a recent example. This film critically examines the lives of the poor on the Iran-Iraq border. It’s director has come under intense scrutiny by the government for his support of women’s rights and criticism of strict Iranian rule.

Paradoxically, Iran’s policies on education and cultural knowledge have actually made it more difficult to maintain a control over artistic expression. Iran now boasts a literacy rate of over 90%, and its youth are some of the best educated in the world. This educated populace often finds itself wishing to gain freer expression in art, journalism, and politics. The government, on the other hand, must play a “cat and mouse game” of allowing certain forms of expression while repressing, often violently, others. What is often not recognized, however, is that Iranians often have as much access to banned materials as anyone in the Western world. A thriving black market for music, literature, and film exists in much of the country. Though a fatwa was issued in 1994 against satellite television, this has not stopped much of the Iranian population from obtaining and installing satellite TV in their homes, offering access to world news and Western programming. Despite the threats of repression and persecution, Iranians have remained amazingly resilient in their expression and consumption of culture and art.

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