Week 3 : The Theme in Persepolis

After reading Persepolis, the main theme of the book is concentrated about cultural revolution in Iran before the Monarchy stepped down and after the new Islamic Republic government took over.  During this time, the revolution has changed the point of view of the main character, Marjane, about Islamic religion.  From beginning of the book, she describes about her childhood with a strong belief in God, because she “was born with religion” (6), and she believes that one day she will become a prophet, “at the age of six I was already sure I was the last prophet” (6).  At age ten, she is forced to wear a veil her school, and her French non-religious school is closed by those that called for a cultural revolution. Even her mother, from a very modern family, joints demonstrations to protest against the changes, but she still hopes that she will be the symbol for “justice, love and the wrath of God all in one” (9).  However, when her parents find out she helps her maid, Mehri, writing the letters to their neighbor’s son, Marjane belief is turned over after her father explains that Mehri’s love is impossible “because in this country you must stay within your own social class” (37). Marjane feels angry with her father’s explanation, she thinks “when I finally understood the reasons for the revolution” (38), then she asks Mehri to go and march with the demonstrators the next day.  Her behavior is changed toward the traditional culture because social classes cannot mix and people are from lower class cannot be treated equally.  Especially after the King stepped down many demonstrators who opposed the Regime are killed and executed together, such as her uncle, Anoosh.  After her uncle’s death, Marjane refuses to talk to her God forever because it breaks her childhood image of God that represented love, justice, and holy wrath.  

One day, Marjane sneaks out with her friends to Kansas for burgers, and later all her mother finds out the she skips class. Her mother gives her a lecture about learning is the most importance when she is grown up. Marjane fells upset and goes down the basement and smokes a cigarette that she stole from her uncle. By smoking a cigarette, Marjane states that her rebellion against her mother. The cigarette is also symbolized of rebellion in the same way of opposite people against their regime leaders. The act of smoking a cigarette also is presented of freedom and mature inside Marjane, “with this first cigarette, I kissed my childhood goodbye. Now I was a grown-up” (117).  Two years later, when Marjane wears a bracelet that she get from Neda Baba-Levy who is killed in the bombing in her neighborhood. Marjane is not allowed to wear jewelry and jeans at school and she is kicked out of school after refusing to give up her jewelry to the principal. That is shown that Marjane’s rebellion against religion at school. When she is transferred to another school, she disagrees with her teacher about the Islamic republic, she says “my uncle was imprisoned by the Shah’s regime, but it was the Islamic regime that ordered his execution” (144), and all her friends clap hands to agree with her.  Finally Marjane’s mother is so scared that her rebelliousness could cost her life and Marjane is sent to Austria for continuing her education.  

In conclusion, throughout the book Marjane illustrates the cultural revolution spreading from her childhood through her youth. Marjane identifies all details of circumstance of her life, her reaction to society and rebellion against Islamic republic.

Character Description

Persepolis is a story about a Marjane Satrapi’s childhood in Iran. The book is concentrated on Marjane’s family during the demonstration against Shah, religious revolution and The Iran-Iraq War.  From the beginning of the book, Marjane is illustrated her identity by herself with other four friends in the same class wearing veil. However, there is the conflict between Marjane’s loyalty to Iran and its culture.  Marjane strongly identifies herself is one of the last prophet that heritage from her family and she says that “I was born with religion” (6) and she was obligated to God. She really wants to fight for the poor and working class people because she is not happy when her maid does not eat on the table with her family.  On another hand, her mother is one of the demonstration against the veil, and she is really proud of her mother. Her life is a study in contradictions and inconsistencies, that is confused her as she thinks “I really didn’t know what to think about the veil. Deep down I was very religious but as a family we were very modern and avant-garde.” (6)   Furthermore, Marjane learns that her grandparents have suffered through poverty and social disadvantage after her grandfather was overthrown. She is so excited and proud that she is inherited from royal family. However, she is disappointed that her maid, Mehri, is still mistreated and is not received the advantages of education even though Mehri was adopted.  Thus it is really confused her and she does not understand it fully about the social class conflict. She thinks “the reason for my shame and for the revolution is the same: the difference between social classes.” (33)  She does not feel right about her maid is not allowed to fall in love her neighbor who is the same social class with her.  She is upset with her father for  being so harsh with her maid by going to tell her neighbor that Mehri is his family maid but not his daughter.  She disagrees with her father’s saying “… because in this country you must stay within your own social class.” (37) Marjane is a little girl but she thinks about justice and everyone should be treated equally. Even she was born in religion but she was raised in modern.

My mother never ...

My mother never said NO to any my ideas and activities. I was from Saigon, Vietnam where most of parents were influenced by Asian culture. Normally parents were demanding and controlling their children. Excepting for my mother, she did not demand her children to follow her instructions or directions but rather than listen to us for reasons. In addition, she usually taught us “time is valuable and do not waste it.” When I was small, every summer I asked her that I wanted to enroll in embroidery class because I saw my friend going there. Even she knew that I just learnt for fun anyway she still agreed to give money to me to enroll in. I knew that it was hard for her to give money away because by that time my family was not very well in finance. For the most important of my life and also for her, when I was about twenty years old I decided to escape from Vietnam by boat. From beginning, it was hard for me to convince her that it would be alright and that I would arrive safely to the third country. I told her “just imagine that you and me travel from city to our home town.” My home town is way down of the south, it takes about twelve hours if I go by boat. I kept telling her everyday and finally she agreed to let me and my younger brother to leave. Luckily for us that we arrived to the Indonesia refugee camp safely after seven days throughout the storm and Thai pirate. After hearing our escaping journey, she felt so scared and relieved that we were survived. That is my mother, she never regretted to say no to us.     

I am ....

I am ambitious and determined person. I came to San Jose from Toronto, Canada seven years ago. I completed college and worked as accountant in Toronto for seven and a half years. After moving to San Jose, I tried to look for a job and I found out most of posted jobs were required bachelor degree. Anyway, I finally got a job as a bookkeeper for a small tax accounting office. The wages that I received was not what I expected to compare with my background experience and education. I realized that in order to get a better position with decent salary I must go back to school to obtain a bachelor degree. However, it was not easy for me, a working mother with two little children, to accomplish a bachelor degree in a short time. I had to confront many difficulties and obstacles to overcome. I needed to spend time with family at the same time working and studying. It was hard to prorate time proportionately for working, taking care of my children and studying. Some days, I felt so tired after a long day at work, when I came home my child was not feeling well and was being so irritable that he could not sleep straight during the night. The next morning, I was so exhausted and feeling drowsy either at work or at school. Sometimes I felt running out of energy and it made me thinking about of giving up school so I could use quality time for my family. However, with my strong ambition it was not allowed me to give up easily. I was determined that I would achieve a bachelor degree one day. So I must work harder and harder to find out some ways to overcome those obstacles. That was the reason why I was on the waiting list for this fall.