...Persepolis and the Iran-Iraq War Persepolis, is a graphic novel, by Marjane Satrapi, the story follows the life of a young girl growing up in Iran during the Iranian Revelation, and later during the Iran-Iraq war. Throughout the story Satrapi focuses on the major cultural difference between her and her family and the other people, and how it changes as the story progresses, with different forms of government controlling Iran. "Following the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Iraqi leadership sought to exploit Iran's military and political chaos in order to resolve border disputes, gain control of Iran's oil-rich western province, and achieve hegemony in the Persian Gulf" (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia) Since many of the Iranian air force pilots where in jail for being members of the revelation the Iraq air force was able to attack Iran with little resistance. This was mentioned in Persepolis when Marjane and her parents are talking and they hear the national anthem of Iran, and the news caster announces that the Iranian pilots have been released and have attacked Iraq. During the war Iran stores had a lack of quantity and people where fighting over the things that the stores had. Like in the scene in Persepolis when Marjane and her mother went shopping and they witnessed two woman fighting over something. Marjane's mother tried to separate them, but they turned on her, so Marjane suggested they leave. Iraq continued to bomb cities in Iran kill many Iranian civilians, and people...
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...Persepolis Essay Pesepolis is an autobiographical graphic novel depicting the life of Marjane Satrapi during the Iranian Revolution. In the early pages, Marjane illustrates that she saw herself as a prophet. She wanted to change the world, and with the help of God, she thought that she could. During Satrapi’s early childhood, the traditions and history of Iran had been going through drastic changes. The Iranian Revolution was when Iran’s monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown and replaced with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led the revolution. ii Persepolis is framed during 1979 and after the Iranian Revolution. The Shah of Persia was overthrown and eventually replaced by an Islamist government during this time. Satrapi narrates her experience of the Revolution, which includes bombings, violent deaths of family and friends, and inequality. Women of Iran had many restrictions, and the leaders of Iran had disrespected them in many ways and belittled them as citizens. I The Islam religion forces women to wear veils for many reasons. Satrapi shows us how men saw themselves superior to woman and how most women did not enjoy the attitudes of men and also following certain obligations like wearing the veil. Following the Revolution, intense social changes took place in what had previously been a liberal country, became a religious republic. Her family lived through many events. She discusses how her mother told her that the regime burned...
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...How Valid is the Assertion that literature is a voice for the oppressed? Marjane Satrapi proves the assertion that literature is a voice for the oppressed by raising the awareness of the oppression on different Iranian social groups in Persepolis. These Iranian groups such as; children, democratic liberals, Persian nationalists and the lower class, are marginalized and silenced by the oppressive regime. Through the form of memoir, the author who belonged to an oppressed group (youth, woman, Iranian), conveys her personal experiences through a subversive and transgressive manner. One of the themes in Persepolis is ‘childhood’ as Satrapi explores the misfortune of growing up under oppression. Since the first page and panel of the book the reader is introduced to the protagonist, Marjane, and to the Islamic revolution through the symbol of the veil; “this is me when I was 10 years old”. On the next panel there’s a class photo on which we can see the oppressed youth in Iran and their innocence, as they are all aligned in the same posture wearing a veil which only lets their sadly expressive faces uncovered. Their depressed faces manifests that they are victims to the Islamic revolution. Through sequential art Satrapi, by combining pictures and words, allows a greater identification with the characters and their experiences and readers to go deeper into the meaning of the story. Pictures allow images to be subtler so readers infer on the meaning, mood and tone of the panels...
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...women. It is an attempt by the government to strip the women of their individuality, retain their lower status in Iranian society, and bind them forcefully to the Islamic religion. As a result, many women become increasingly defiant to the new law. They display their resistance in small increments, at first, by gradually revealing small parts of their hair from under the veil. School-aged girls would complain and throw the veils off their heads on the playground. While this opposition provides some truth to the oppression of the veil, it is important to notice that Satrapi includes that the veil did not make the normal Iranian woman an absolute figure of frailty. Note that not all of the female population felt oppressed by the veil. In fact, some embraced it fully as a part of regular life. Marjane is occasionally stopped and reprimanded by some of these women when she walks out on the street, donning Western-style clothing dominantly over her veil. Stephanie Cawley also mentions that Satrapi does not present the veiled women with an identical template. As she talks about each character, Satrapi illustrates the unique characteristics in the girl, whether in hair texture or facial features. It is this detailed representation that exhibits a true feminist approach to the complicated meaning of the veil. The forceful circumstances around the veil were oppressive, but Iranian women were not submissive to its alleged tyrannical nature. The important thing is that they dealt with the clothing...
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...When comparing and contrasting these two stories you can see more differences then similarities,There aren't many similarities,these stories only have three,the author,the subject,starting with the subject,both have to do with Iran,Persepolis’ subject is life during the Iranian Revolution which was located in Iran and “I Must Go Home to Iran Again” talks about the little things that make Iran great.The author and speaker for both is Marjane Satrapi,she mixes up both first person and third person point-of-viewThe occasions for Persepolis is the Iranian Revolution and for “I Must Go Home to Iran Again” is in a cafe in paris.The audience for Persepolis is more in the teenager area,the reason for this is because its a graphic novel which attracts...
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...Liberal Views in the Ruins of War in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis To know one’s identity is to find the core aspects that make them who they are. This includes the positive and negative experiences that shapes one’s identity and strengthens those aspects. This idea leads to ponder, how one identifies themselves in such a structured society. In the novel Persepolis the author Marjane Satrapi express her life in an autobiographical graphic novel. She describes her experience of being brought up in war-torn Iran. Though it is her struggle to grow an identity as a liberal self during the revolution, will be concentrated. Living in the heat of a revolution Marji (name of main character) and her family were subjectively forced to liberate themselves from radical change. Their admiration was to find liberty. Writer Raymond Williams describes the word liberty as having this initial sense of freedom. Also considered as open-minded, which some political officials classify as unorthodox. This definition it practically true when referring to Persepolis. The start of the Islamic revolution brought about many restraint. Such as, the Islamic regime forcing female citizens to wear a veil (traditional head scarf). As a young girl Marji was did not understand the reason for wearing the veil. She goes on to illustrating the image of herself and other girls removing the veils and playing with them. However, her mother protested the veil believed to be a torment to their freedom. But, her mother...
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...In the reading Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi depicts the harsh laws and violence used through the fundamentals of terrorism during the Iranian Revolution. By Marji being very young at this time, she was unable to understand what was happening in society, but her parents soon helped her make sense of how corrupt their government was becoming. Violence was a daily occurrence as protests filled the streets. Living in world of violence influences different actions taken by characters in various literatures. Children of the Revolution, by David Patrikarakos, Veiled Threat, by Francesco Bongiorni, and, British-Iranian Woman Jailed For a Year For Trying To Watch Volleyball Game, are distinctive works that relate how the influence of background and society change the perception of people living in Iran. Before 1980, growing up, Marji lived a carefree life and could wear or express herself anyway she wanted. But, soon later, a changing revolution would take place that would affect everyone in Iran. Before the Islamic Revolution, she was able to attend a French Non-Religious school where girls and boys were allowed to study and play together. Unfortunately, her relaxed world soon ended once the Islamic government decided to change their ways and forced others to conform to their religious beliefs of what they thought was right. When the Islamic Revolution began, it targeted women specifically by forcing them to wear veils over their heads. Many young girls such as Marji and her classmates...
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...In the reading Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi depicts the harsh laws and violence used through the fundamentals of terrorism during the Iranian Revolution. By Marji being very young at this time, she was unable to understand what was happening in society, but her parents soon helped her make sense of how corrupt their government was becoming. Violence was a daily occurrence as protests filled the streets. Living in world of violence influences different actions taken by characters in various literatures. Children of the Revolution, by David Patrikarakos, Veiled Threat, by Francesco Bongiorni, and, British-Iranian Woman Jailed For a Year For Trying To Watch Volleyball Game, are distinctive works that relate how the influence of background and society change the perception of people living in Iran. Before 1980, growing up, Marji lived a carefree life and could wear or express herself anyway she wanted. But, soon later, a changing revolution would take place that would affect everyone in Iran. Before the Islamic Revolution, she was able to attend a French Non-Religious school where girls and boys were allowed to study and play together. Unfortunately, her relaxed world soon ended once the Islamic government decided to change their ways and forced others to conform to their religious beliefs of what they thought was right. When the Islamic Revolution began, it targeted women specifically by forcing them to wear veils over their heads. Many young girls such as Marji and her classmates...
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...Persepolis is a memoir written by Marjane Satrapi. Marjane writes a story that describes her life in Iran during the Islamic revolution. Persepolis represents a unique life of a child in Tehran, Iran and the actions she took in order to survive the political upheaval her country was facing. Iran having the Islamic Revolution in 1979 was the end of the old and start of the new. Many changes that took place in Iran during this time period such as mandatory laws stating that women wear veils and how all games, alcohol, and parties were banned. Life in Iran had dramatically changed in just a few years during this time period. The Islamic Revolution and the war that followed the revolution are important in history because they show the causes and effects of war and how it can destroy a country and provoke tyranny and injustice. During the time of revolution there is the loss of government, creating a hostile environment in a society. The events described in Persepolis also inform others of the chaos Iran has gone through to get to its current state. In January 1979, the Shah left Iran; he died abroad several years after. On February 1, 1979, exiled religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from France to lead a revolution resulting in a new, theocratic republic guided by Islamic principles. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini back in Iran after 15 years in exile in Turkey, Iraq, and France, became Iran's national religious leader. After Khomeini's death on June 3, 1989,...
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...Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s autobiography. It covers her childhood and teenage years in her hometown, Tehran; her experiences abroad while she studies at the French Lyceum in Austria; and her return to a country devastated by war and mistreated by the Regime. Therefore it is hardly surprising that the protagonist’s identity is formed at the crossroads of two cultures, the Western and the Eastern ones, without really belonging to either of them. Satrapi herself has stated that “[she is] a foreigner in Iran. . . Nowhere is [her] home any more” (Tully, 2004) and this feeling of alienation is materialised throughout the work. Thus, Persepolisrevels in the middle-grounds between opposite stances, with images which are able to show the complexity both of the situation in her country and of the author’s personal life. One of the richest and most representative images may be this one: Satrapi, Marjane (2006) Persepolis (London: Jonathan Cape, 283, 3) This image shows the picture that she had to draw to pass the exam for university, where she would study fine arts. She knew that, in the wake of Iran-Iraq war, when propaganda was overwhelming and 40 % of places were reserved for martyrs’and handicapped people’s children, one of the exam topics would be the martyrs’ representation. This image constitutes an interesting re-interpretation of both Christian and Muslim religious symbology. Thus, we can read, in the text box above, that: I practiced by copying a photo of Michelangelo’s...
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...during a time of war and chaos. In the autobiographies Persepolis and The Dairy of a Young Girl, the reader is shown that both main characters Marjane Satrapi and Anne Frank lived similar yet different lives. Their lives, as told in their autobiographies, consisted of adversity, cultural conflicts, and political issues, while after their novels were published both Anne and Marjane rose to fame. Anne, born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt Germany, shares her personal experiences and first-hand encounters during World War II in her novel. Anne along with her upper-middle-class family; which included her mother Edith, father Otto and sister Margot, fled Nazi persecution of Jews and went into hiding for two years. Her...
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...The book Persepolis describes the themes revolution, religion, nationalism, social classes, and Imperialism through different pictures that represent Iran in accurate and negative ways. Revolution is shown throughout the book and in many examples like in Tehran of people speaking out for what they think is right. Religion is also a big part of Persepolis and many people practice different religions everyday. Nationalism is expressed by people who are proud to be apart of their country which is shown through Marjane’s eyes in Persepolis and in many different instances of people in the world. Social classes show where people stand in their society which is a part in every countries society just like in the book Persepolis. Imperialism has changed...
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...everyone. However, this is not a solemn statement which has been violated in the past until now. As a contrast to the statement, there are many kinds of prejudice and discrimination ongoing around the world. One of the countries where this declaration is not considered as truth is Iran. Up until now, especially throughout the times of the Iranian Revolution, there were various intolerances in society based on gender, education, political opinion, and economical status and this has been practiced in several ways; however, there is Marjane Satrapi, a girl from a wealthy family who had become the living witness of these inequalities during the Iranian Revolution, who later wrote a book entitled Persepolis. In her book, she comments that these types of inequities should be improved. Marjane Satrapi let us know that In Iran, women and men were treated differently throughout the Iranian Revolution. During the times around the Iranian Revolution and after the revolution, women were treated unfairly compared to men. Marjane Satrapi states in her book about the dowry system in Iran as an example of the discrimination of women. “So a guardian of the revolution marries her and takes her virginity before executing her…Traditionally when a girl gets married the husband is supposed to pay her a dowry. If the girl dies, the...
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...Persepolis Essay There were many similarities and differences that are correlated with the movie Persepolis and the book Quicksand. There were many factors that the book made more clear and evident about the issues in Iran compared to the movie. The movie brought some topics to a more simpler and relatable view rather than just stating facts. Even with these many differences there were also many similarities like when it described the countries reactions to the situations, the book generally went along with the movie in that sense. With the issue of the modernization of Iran by the Shah, the movie gave a more clear understanding on how the people were during this time and how they acted. For example, when they showed Marji after learning about the Shah view on communism, go with her group of her friends and they tried to attack the young boy because his dad was with SAVAK and killed communists. Whereas in the book it gives you a more clear background and understanding of what exactly SAVAK and why the Shah supported it. In the book it really emphasized America’s involvement unlike the movie which didn’t really mention them. Another major difference that the movie portrayed in a better way than the book was the Islamic revolution. As I was reading the book I understood why the Islamic revolution was happening but I didn’t realize how strict and severe it was until in the movie I saw the many things that the Iranians were supposed to do like when Marji and her family were forced...
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...2nd Essay Persepolis Iaron Korn Marjane discussed with her teacher after she taught the class the fake ¨peace¨ and glory Iran had found after the Sha´s fall. The argument was based in the fact that after the revolution, instead of less having violence; prisoners and deaths there were more, like Marjane´s uncle, Anouche. She then arrives home and the principal called her parents to inform them. His father first congratulated her, telling Marjane that she was brave as her uncle. But then her mother interrupted him to explain Marjane the actual risks of being opposing the regime. They might rape and kill her if her ideology was against the new religious law. After watching carefully the movie, and with my small previous knowledge about the history of Iran, many things started to make sense. First of all, I had heard of the great trouble there is in Middle East regarding women rights, but as a western that lives in a world of flowers and skittles, I find very hard to actually feel empathy for those women and the great oppression they are going through. This movie helped very much to feel that comprehension and understanding of the other as we are used to feel with our near relatives. Also, the perspective the story exposes is much more different than the one CNN, history classes, media, Facebook, and other types of sources might expose. You can learn history from a teenager`s point of view, and this way, things might be remembered and understood better. Secondly, as a...
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