Get hundreds more free LitCharts at LitCharts.com. Persepolismariellagatter.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/0/2/16028226/persepolis... · Persepolis AUTHOR BIO Full Name: Marjane Satrapi Date

Persepolis

AUTHOR BIO

Full Name: Marjane Satrapi

Date of Birth: 22 November 1969

Place of Birth: Rasht, Iran

Brief Life Story: Born in Rasht, Iran, Marjane grew up going toFrench language schools in Tehran. Her family was highlyeducated and modern in its outlook, which put it in a difficultposition when the Revolution that overthrew the American-backed Shah of Iran ultimately resulted in the establishment ofa repressively conservative Islamic Republic. As a teenager,Marjane was sent by her family to a French school Vienna in1984. Returning to Iran after the end of the Iran-Iraq War,Marjane attended a masters program in the School of Fine Artsin Tehran Islamic Azad University until 1994. During this timeshe got married but the marriage was short-lived and thecouple divorced within three years; after graduating, Marjaneworked for a short time as an illustrator for an economicsmagazine. Marjane then returned to Europe and attendedschool in Strasbourg to study Decorative Arts. In 2000 shepublished the four volumes of Persepolis in French, which wasthen published in English in two volumes in 2003 and 2004.

KEY FACTS

Full Title: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Genre: Graphic Novel; Memoir

Setting: Mostly Tehran

Climax: The bombing of the Baba-Levy home

Antagonist: The regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Point of View: First person (Marjane)

HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CONTEXT

When Written: 1999

Where Written: France

When Published: 2003 (in English)

Related Literary Works: Persepolis is part of a burgeoning fieldof new serious comic books, often called graphic novels. Whilecomic books were in the past not taken seriously, or seen aspossessing much literary merit, this changed most prominentlywith the publication and following acclaim of Art Spiegleman’sMaus, which was serialized in magazines for eleven years until afinal and complete edition came out in 1991 and won a SpecialPulitzer Prize in 1992. Maus, which deals as its subject with theHolocaust, was a harbinger for a critical reconsideration of themerits and possibilities of comic books.

Related Historical Events: The many events that Marjaneillustrates in Persepolis follow a linear path from the 1979Iranian Revolution, to the political and social upheavalimmediately following it with the rise of the Islamic Republicafter a nationwide referendum, to the subsequent Iraq-IranWar, which still rages at the end of the graphic novel. The 1979Revolution, which was marked by mass protests and politicaldisobedience, led to the fleeing and overthrowing of theautocratic the American-backed Shah, who had been the king ofIran after inheriting the title from his father. The Shah wasparticularly known for his attempts at modernizing the country,for his land reform policies, and his reliance on a brutal secretpolice to realize his aims. In 1980, Iraq attacked Iran, which ledto the eight-year long Iran-Iraq war, which left hundreds ofthousands of civilians and soldiers dead.

EXTRA CREDIT

Polyglot. Marjane speaks six languages: Farsi, French, German,English, Swedish, and Italian

The Big Screen. Persepolis was turned into an animated film andreleased in 2007. It won the Jury Prize at the Cannes FilmFestival.

Persepolis opens right after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, whichresults in the downfall of the American-backed dictator knownas the Shah of Iran and leads to the rise of the religioushardliners who establish the oppressive Islamic Republic.Marjane Satrapi describes how she used to attend a French co-educational and non-religious school, but how this is outlawedbecause the Islamic Republic distrusts and rallies against allWestern influences. Further, the regime forces all women andgirls to wear veils. Marjane’s parents, however, are modern andsecular in outlook; though they supported the Revolution againthe Shah, who was a despotic ruler, they are alarmed anddismayed at the fundamentalist turn of the new IslamicRepublic. Forced to grow up quickly, Marjane begins to learnabout the history of Iran and the many invaders and rulers ithas had over its centuries’ long history. Her own grandfatherwas a Persian Prince who was often imprisoned and torturedunder the rules of the Shah. She also begins to understand thatdifferent social classes exist, and that this is one root of muchtension and suffering in the country.

After the Revolution comes to an end and the Shah is ousted,many political prisoners find themselves released from prison,including Siamak and Mohsen, both Revolutionaries who havebeen in prison for years. They speak of the tortures theyexperienced and the deaths they witnessed. Thinking of thesetwo men as heroes, Marjane remains disappointed that her

BABACKCKGRGROUND INFOOUND INFO

PLPLOOT OT OVERVIEWVERVIEW

Get hundreds more free LitCharts at LitCharts.com.

©2015 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | Get our Free iPhone App Page 1

http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis

http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/background-info

http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/plot-overview

http://www.litcharts.com/

own father is not a hero, and that no one in her family is one,either. However, she is enthralled when she meets her uncleAnoosh, who fled Iran to the USSR so that he would not bearrested for his activities against the Shah. However, when hecame back to Iran, his disguise was not good enough to keephim out of jail, and there he experienced much degradation.Marjane considers her a hero, and he hands her a bread swanhe made while in prison. Unfortunately, soon afterwards, withthe new radicalization of the country under the hardlinegovernment, the former political prisoners that were releasedbecome targets again, and Mohsen gets assassinated, thoughSiamak manages to sneak out of the country. Anoosh, though,gets arrested, and Marjane is allowed to see him just oncebefore his execution. This is the point at which Marjane rejectsGod.

Many of Marjane’s family and friends leave the country but theSatrapi’s decide to stay in Iran for economic reasons. Soonafter, Marjane’s mother gets harassed by men for not wearingher veil, and Marjane and her family go out on their lastdemonstration against the veil, which turns extremely violent.Soon after that, the Iraq-Iran War breaks out. This is a momentof great nationalism for Marjane, as she desperately wants Iranto defeat its enemy, but as the war goes on she begins to realizethe cost of war, heroism, and of so-called martyrdom –something the government regime valorizes – when her friendParadisse’s father, a fighter pilot, dies while bombing Baghdad.The new war brings many refugees from southern Iran upnorth to Tehran and many young boys are enlisted into thearmy. They are given plastic keys painted gold as a symbol ofthe easy entry one enjoys into paradise after dying for thenation. Marjane and her family see this as a despicable lie,particularly because it is only told to poor people.

During the War, the country’s policing of its people becomesmore stringent, and the Satrapi’s forbidden winesupply—people still hold parties as an attempt atnormalcy—nearly gets found out. When Marjane’s parentssneak in Western items for Marjane—like posters andsneakers—after their trip to Turkey, two members of thewomen’s branch of the Guardians of the Revolution nearlyarrest Marjane. The Iraqis now use ballistic missiles againstTehran, which are very destructive, and one day the Satrapi’sJewish neighbors’ home gets destroyed, though at firstMarjane thought that her own house was hit. Nevertheless,Marjane is traumatized when she sees the severed arm of herdead friend Neda beneath the rubble of her house. Marjane,always rebellious, becomes even more so. She becomes bold,bold enough to slap her principal at school, and she is promptlyexpelled. Even in her new school she speaks her opinions, andMarjane’s family thinks it best (and safest) that Marjanecontinue her education in a country that will afford her morefreedom. Tearfully, Marjane leaves her family and makes herway to a new life in Vienna, Austria.

Marjane SatrMarjane Satrapiapi – Marjane is a strong-willed, sometimesconfused protagonist who we follow from childhood toburgeoning adulthood over the course of Persepolis. Theconfusion stems from her valiant attempts at trying tounderstand the embattled and restrictive world that she livesin—post-Revolution Iran—as well as her attempts at trying tomaintain her dignity, independence, and individuality amongoften senseless torture, suffering, and death. The main threatsto her sense of self and growth are the new regime’s restrictivemeasures, most notably the imposition that all women mustwear the veil, which disallows in public the kind of modernoutlook and expression that Marjane would prefer. As a child,she must contend with being thrust into the consequences ofthe adult world without being fully able or allowed—even byher mother and father, who try to protect her—to understandthe shadowy mechanisms that dictate the oftentimes sorrowfulfates of her friends and members of her family. She reacts tothe forces around her by variously denying, lashing out against,emulating, supporting, or resigning herself to them.

MarjaneMarjane’s P’s Parents (Mother and Father)arents (Mother and Father) – Though manycharacters in Persepolis appear and then disappear, Marjane’sparents are constants in the graphic novel, the two people whomost affect Marjane, and whose cues and beliefs Marjanefollows or alternately disregards over the course of hergrowing up. Educated, politically active, and modern, andaccepting of Western culture, Marjane’s parents represent forher an ideal mode of living. During the Revolution her parentsdemonstrate against the Shah and take other risks to achievethe kind of government they think is best for the people. Theyare dismayed, however, when the regime that takes the Shah’splace is even more repressive, and though at first theydemonstrate against the Islamic Republic, too, and even letMarjane come along—though they always worry about whatinformation to share with her and from what she should remainprotected—they realize the danger is too great. They continueliving secular, modern lives—but only while indoors. Still, theywish to give Marjane the kind of education and life that willmost benefit her, and by the end of the graphic novel theydecide that what is best for Marjane is if she leaves them forthe foreseeable future and completes her education in Vienna,Austria, away from the repressive Iranian regime.

GodGod – As a child, Marjane finds much comfort in God, whobecomes a friend as well as a source of support. However, asthe world around Marjane becomes uglier and uglier, and asshe comes to understand that much of this ugliness is a resultof the hardline religious leaders who now run the IslamicRepublic, she begins to move herself away emotionally fromGod, and she finally banishes him from her life after she seesAnoosh in jail and knows he will soon be executed.

AnooshAnoosh – Marjane’s Uncle who fled to the USSR afterFereydoon is caught and executed for opposing the Shah. Hereturns to Iran to see his family but, though disguised, gets

CHARACHARACTERSCTERS



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/characters


imprisoned. He becomes a role model for Marjane, whoconsiders him a hero. However, after the revolutionaries takefull power they again arrest Anoosh (just because he was anti-Shah does not mean his views accord with the new regime’s).He gets sent to prison again and executed, but not beforeMarjane gets to speak to him one more time in jail and he givesher a second bread swan.

MarjaneMarjane’s Gr’s Grandmotherandmother –An early confidant of Marjane’s. Atthe end of the novel she gives Marjane important advice abouthow to live and survive in a world with people who wish tocause other people suffering.

MarjaneMarjane’s Great-gr’s Great-grandfatherandfather – Was emperor of Persia beforethe Father of the Shah overthrew him.

MarjaneMarjane’s Gr’s Grandfatherandfather – He was a Persian Prince, and thoughat first Marjane gets excited by this fact, the truth of the matteris that he was often imprisoned and tortured for his communistbeliefs.

RaminRamin’s Father’s Father – Ramin’s father is a member of the secretpolice under the Shah. Marjane and her friends at first blameRamin for his crimes.

RaminRamin – Ramin’s father is part of the secret police and Marjaneand her friends decide to punish him for his father’s crimes,though later Marjane tells him that she forgives him.

Siamak JariSiamak Jari – For a long time he is a political prisoner of theShah’s regime. He is released but later targeted forassassination. His assassins do not find him and kill his sisterinstead. He flees across the border hidden among a flock ofsheep with his family.

Mohsen ShakibaMohsen Shakiba – He is for a long time a political prisoner ofthe Shah’s before being released after the ousting of the Shah.He is then murdered in his bathtub by the Revolutionaries.

LalyLaly – The daughter of Siamak.

AhmadiAhmadi – Friend of Marjane’s Father, Siamak, and Mohsen,who is tortured and executed.

FFereereyydoondoon – Cousin of Anoosh and the man who declaredAzerbaijan as independent from Iran. He gets executed by theShah’s regime.

PPararadisseadisse – Marjane’s friend whose father dies while a fighterpilot bombing Baghdad. Paradisse writes to Marjane, “I wish hewere alive and in jail rather than dead and a hero.”

MaliMali – Marjane’s Mother’s childhood friend who stays withSatrapi family after their house in destroyed in southern Iranduring the start of the Iraq-Iran War.

Mali’s HusbandMali’s Husband – Mali’s husband, who also lives with theSatrapi’s for a while after his own house gets destroyed.Marjane’s Father considers him very materialistic.

Mali’s TMali’s Two Bowo Boysys – Mali’s children. These young boys arematerialistic and not very aware of their family’s losses anddeprivations incurred during the Iraq-Iran War.

Mrs. NasrineMrs. Nasrine – The Satrapi’s family maid, whose son receives aplastic key painted gold in school, which is a tactic used by the

regime to tempt boys to become martyr’s during the Iran-Iraqwar. She loses her faith due to the way the regime uses religionto manipulate its people.

Mrs. NasrineMrs. Nasrine’s’s Son – A schoolboy who receives a plastic keypainted gold and is very unaware of how the government andthe school are manipulating him into wanting to become amartyr during the Iran-Iraq war.

ShahabShahab – Marjane’s cousin who, while on leave from the army,describes the way young men turned into soldiers areconvinced by the army that martyrdom will bring glory in theafterlife.

KhosroKhosro – A man who spent time with Anoosh in prison andagrees to make a fake passport for Marjane’s uncle Taher butmust flee the country before he can do so.

TTaheraher – Marjane’s Uncle, he dies from his fourth heart attackafter being frightened by an exploded grenade. Before he dies,knowing of his ill-health, Marjane’s family tries to get him a fakepassport through Khosro, but Khosro flees from the regimeand a real, government-issued passport arrives only on thesame day as Taher’s burial

NiloufarNiloufar – A young communist, Khosro hides this woman untilshe is caught and executed. Marjane’s parents use her as anexample to explain to Marjane of the dangers that youngwomen face when arrested. Niloufar was forcibly married off toa prison guard and raped before execution because it is illegalto kill a virgin woman by the strict religious guidelines of Iranianlaw. To add brutal insult to terrible injury, Niloufar’s family wasthen sent a dowry for the wedding after the execution.

NedaNeda – Marjane’s friend and the daughter in the Baba-Levyhousehold. After the Baba-Levy home is destroyed in fighting,Marjane discovers Neda’s bracelet—and the arm attached toit—in the rubble.

Baba-LBaba-Leevy Familyvy Family – The Jewish family next door to theSatrapi’s who gets killed by ballistic missiles. They refuse toleave Tehran because their family has lived in the city for 3000years.

MarjaneMarjane’s Bab’s Baby Cousiny Cousin – Marjane and her family take the timeto celebrate his birth with the rest of her family even thoughsirens ring throughout the city day and night.

MarjaneMarjane’s Bab’s Baby Cousiny Cousin’s Mother’s Mother – She hands her baby toMarjane and flees without him as a siren interrupts the partycommemorating his birth.

MehriMehri – Marjane’s childhood maid and friend.

HosseinHossein – A neighbor who sends Mehri letters.

TTwo women in the supermarkwo women in the supermarketet – Marjane and Mali’s familyoverhear these two women denigrating refugees fromsouthern Iran.

Hospital DirectorHospital Director – The hospital director once was Taher’sfamily’s window washer. He has, since the Revolution, becomevery devout and reached a high position in society.




TTwo Memberswo Members – These are two members of the women’sbranch of the Guardians of the Revolution who accost Marjaneabout the western clothes she is wearing and her improperlyveiled hair.

YYoung policemanoung policeman – He accosts the Satrapi family one day ontheir way home and threatens to search their house for illegalgoods, but he quickly vanishes after Marjane’s Father offershim a bribe.

PPeeymanyman – Marjane’s friend who holds a party in his house.

TinooshTinoosh – A neighbor who is arrested after someone informedthe police about his holdings of forbidden Western partyobjects.

KaKavveheh – Marjane’s friend who left to live in America.

GolnazGolnaz – Marjane’s childhood friend.

MashidMashid – Marjane’s childhood friend.

NarinNarin – Marjane’s childhood friend.

MinnaMinna – Marjane’s childhood friend.

In LitCharts each theme gets its own color. Our color-codedtheme boxes make it easy to track where the themes occurthroughout the work.

RELIGION, REPRESSION, AND MODERNITYRELIGION, REPRESSION, AND MODERNITY

Persepolis explores the intersection of religion and modernity,as well as the impact of religious repression on the religiousfeeling and practices of those who must endure it. At thebeginning of the story, when Iran is ruled by the Westernized,American-backed dictator Shah, Marjane defines herself as“deeply religious” even as she and her family think ofthemselves as also being “very modern and avant-garde.” Infact, her religion at the start seems like a type of freedom.Religion, Islam and Zoroastrianism, and its many stories andtraditions allow Marjane an escape not only into fancy andimagined glory—she sees herself as the last prophet—but alsointo ideas of social equality, aid for the weak, and the end ofsuffering. In pre-1979 Iran, Marjane does not see religion andmodernity as incompatible: in her self-written holy book sheadds a commandment that “everybody should have a car.”Indeed, God, who comes into the book as his own character,provides Marjane with much comfort, companionship, andmeaning.

But the Revolution, which many Iranians supported becausethey wanted freedom from the decadent, violently oppressive,and foreign-backed Shah, ended up bringing to power a regimeof conservative religious hard-liners who saw modernWestern-style culture as incompatible with Islam. This newgovernment—the Islamic Republic of Iran—soon passed lawsthat rigorously regulated all behavior on strict religiousgrounds and outlawed consumption of or interaction withessentially anything seen as Western, such as American music

or clothing. Much of the graphic novel depicts how the Satrapifamily, devoted as it is to Western ideas and practices, musthide these affinities behind closed doors (smuggling in, making,or buying Western luxuries like wine and posters of rockbands), while outwardly professing their devotion to thereligious values defined by the rulers of the nation so as not tosuffer terrible consequences that could range from beatings totorture to execution.

Further, Persepolis shows how, while Iran ostensibly becamemore religious under the Islamic Republic, the government’sattempts to force their religious practices onto the populaceactually causes Marjane and others to lose their personalreligious. After the execution of Anoosh at the hands of theRevolutionaries, she yells at God to leave her, and hedisappears as a character from the graphic novel. Under thenew regime, she can no longer explore and think about religionon her own terms, and instead religion gets co-opted fornationalistic and political reasons. For instance, Mrs. Nasrine,the family maid, shows Marjane and Marjane’s Mother theplastic key painted gold given to her son by his teachers. Thekey, given to the poorer boys of Iran, represents theirguaranteed entry to heaven if they are to die as soldiers in theIraq-Iran War. Religion, here, becomes a tool used by thegovernment to not only justify but make schoolboys want to goto a war that is almost certain death for them. Seeing such ausurpation of religion, Mrs. Nasrine expresses that though shehas been “faithful to the religion” all her life, she’s not sure shecan “believe in anything anymore.” Further, Persepolis depictsthe hypocrisy of many of the representatives of the IslamicRepublic, who declare their religious allegiance to the laws butalso take bribes or overstate their devotion for the chance atextra money or promotion. The state-sanctioned religion makesshows of religion valuable as a means of career advancement,but does not inspire true religious values in many of even itsmost powerful adherents. Ultimately, the graphic novelportrays the repressive religion imposed by the IslamicRepublic as actually standing at odds with the heartfeltreligious feeling and belief experienced by an individual.

NANATIONALISM, HERTIONALISM, HEROISM, AND MAROISM, AND MARTYRDOMTYRDOM

When the Revolution comes, Marjane, like her family, rejoices.After decades under the despotic American-backed Shah, sheand her family believe that this moment will ensure that theIranian people will finally be free to decide for themselves whowill lead their country and how. Put another way, Marjane is anIranian patriot, a nationalist, in the sense that she believesprofoundly in the value and need for an independent Iran ruledby Iranians. Marjane’s love for her country, and belief that itshould be free is so great, that she feels the urge to fight for it,and glorifies those who do fight for it—particularly those peoplewho die in the name of the cause: martyrs. Marjane, just a childat this time, thinks of heroism in romantic terms, and seesmartyrdom especially as extremely positive and desirable. Infact, Marjane hopes her own family members will be heroesand she is disappointed her father is not a hero. She is ecstatic

THEMESTHEMES



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/themes


when it turns out that Anoosh, her uncle, has had to flee to theUSSR to protect himself from the Shah’s government againstwhich he was fighting.

Yet as Marjane starts to have to come to grips with the actualconsequences of martyrdom and heroism—Anoosh, forexample, gets executed by the new regime because of hisformer political activities—her positive feelings about heroismand martyrdom begin to fade. Even more importantly, as theRevolution results in a new regime even more oppressive thanthe Shah’s, as an Iran ruled by Iranians turns out to be no betterand in many ways worse than an Iran ruled by foreign powers,Marjane is forced to grapple with the very notion ofnationalism. What country or which people should be theobject of her nationalism? Though before and just after theRevolution she complains that her father is “no patriot”because of his pessimism, as she grows up and sees the actionsand impact of the Islamic Republic she begins to recognize herown country’s stubborn foreign policy and ideologically-drivenwar mongering for what they are, to realize that the boys sentoff to war as martyrs are being brainwashed and used, theirlives wasted, in service to nationalism. She sees that just asnationalism can overthrow a dictator, it can also be used toprop up a dictator. And yet, at the same time, when she hearsthe Iranian National Anthem, Marjane is “overwhelmed” withemotion. Facing this conundrum in her feelings about hercountry, Marjane begins to understand that she can both loveher country and hate it at the same time. She begins tounderstand that a country is not one monolithic culture, onemonolithic religion (her neighbors are Jewish, for example), norone monolithic people: she sees how the people in Tehran makefun of southern Iranians, how the country is very much divided,and how there are many competing narratives about Iran’spast, present, and especially future. Much of the book’s aim, asMarjane explains in her preface, is to give readers at least onenarrative about Iran: her own.

VIOLENCE, FORVIOLENCE, FORGIVENESS, AND JUSTICEGIVENESS, AND JUSTICE

The historical body count by the end of Persepolis is enormous:from the start of the Revolution to the end of the Iraq-Iran Warover a million people die—on the battlefield, in the streets, andin prison cells—by the Shah and by the Islamic Republic thatreplaces the Shah. By the end of the book, Marjane expressesher sorrow that “we could have avoided it all”, indicating a beliefthat much of the damage done to the Iranian people was aresult of the Iranian regime’s own actions: its warmongeringwith Iran, its radicalization of young soldiers, its religiousfanaticism, its valorization of martyrdom. Official, legallysanctioned punishment for infractions as small as animproperly worn veil or the possession of forbidden party farecould be shockingly severe, including torture and death, andthe people who carry out these punishments are usually agentsof the regime. As such, Marjane claims, “it was really our ownwho attacked us.”

Marjane must therefore contend with the reality of thecomplicity of the people around her. In the early days after the

end of the Revolution, Marjane and her friends find out thatRamin’s father was part of the secret police under the Shahthat killed many people. They decide to get revenge by holdingnails between their fingers and attacking Ramin. However,Marjane’s mother teaches her that one cannot blame andpunish the child of the perpetrator, who has nothing to do withthe crimes committed. She claims that one must forgive, andMarjane takes this to heart. Later, however, after seeing thedeaths perpetrated by the new Islamic Republic, shecontradicts herself somewhat, saying that “bad people aredangerous, but forgiving them is, too.” This comment suggeststhe realization of an impossible situation, the realization thatdespite what the storybooks might say forgiveness is not acure-all, that forgiving bad people won’t magically turn themgood. At one point, Marjane’s mother claims, “Don’t worry,there is justice on earth.” But the book seems to constantlyquestion the veracity of this claim. In Persepolis little justice is tobe found.

CHILDREN, WCHILDREN, WAR, AND GRAR, AND GROWING UPOWING UP

The memoir follows its protagonist, Marjane, from childhood toyoung adulthood and as such traces the effects of war andpolitics on her psyche and development. By her own admission,Marjane thinks that the moment she comes of age occurs whenshe smokes a cigarette she stole from her uncle. However, bythis point Marjane has encountered so much sorrow, death,and disaster, with enough grace, dignity, and sympathy, that hertiny act of rebellion against her mother’s prohibition ofcigarettes comes across as hopelessly childish—as more of adefense mechanism against the repression enacted by the statethan an act of maturity. What might have, during peacefultimes, been seen as a rite of passage into adulthood becomesmuddied by the heightened stakes of the war, and Marjanemust grapple with growing up quickly even as she still retainsmany of her immature instincts. War both stunts and quickensher growth, and brings out both the weepy and sensitive childand the strong and willful adult in her.

Persepolis shows children to be extremely malleableideologically and behaviorally during war precisely becausechildren do not yet have the capacity to understand thecomplexity of the situation around them; for example, we seehow many boys easily become radicalized and come to believein the heavenly benefits of martyrdom because they arenaturally trusting of authority. In fact, the graphic novel openswith Marjane professing the fact that she and her friends didnot understand the meaning of the veil newly imposed by theIslamic Republic; they only knew it as a change from the timebefore, when they did not need to cover their hair. This alertsus to the fact that for a child born into this new rule, the rulewill seem perfectly normal, just as not wearing a veil felt normalfor Marjane before the Revolution. Children, thus, take theircues about what is normal in the world from the adults aroundthem, and Marjane and her friends throughout Persepolisemulate in reality or imagination the roles of soldiers, torturers,demonstrators, prophets, heroes, and political leaders. Rather




than thinking rationally or sophisticatedly about all thedifferent players in this societal moment of crisis, Marjane atfirst follows or reveres anyone with power and popular appeal.

However, the graphic novel literally illustrates her growth intoyoung adulthood as she becomes continually confronted withthe contradictions and confusions of life. Marjane’s growing upis complicated by the fact that the Iranian governmentunderstands that the children of today are the adults oftomorrow, and so wants to influence children to become adultswho will support the Islamic Republic. Marjane’s school thusbecomes a microcosm of the wider world in which thegovernment’s ideology gets thrust onto the populace. Not onlymust the girls wear veils whereas once they did not, after theRevolution they must also tear out the photo of the Shah—aman who they were once told to adore. This confusion leadsMarjane to understand that she cannot simply follow theopinions of others—she must make up her own mind about thepolitical realities and questions surrounding her. She must growup.

THE PERSONAL VS. THE POLITICALTHE PERSONAL VS. THE POLITICAL

Persepolis is a story about Marjane Satrapi, her family, herfriends, and the people she knows—and also about the nationof Iran. These two stories cannot be unspooled from eachother—one cannot be told without the other; no individual inthe story can exist or be understood outside of the context ofthe historical change happening in Iran around him or her, nomatter how much he or she might try. From the start, Marjane’sstory is about how the individual engages with thepolitical—her parents demonstrate against the Shah during theRevolution—and how the political encroaches on thepersonal—after the Revolution Marjane must suddenly wearthe veil at school. Indeed, what Marjane at one point pinpointsas the source of the Revolution—class differences—sherecognizes in her own family home: the family maid, Mehri,does not eat dinner at the table with them.

The question, then, becomes one of degrees: if one cannotescape the political in one’s life, how much should oneparticipate in the political sphere, and does one actually have achoice in the matter? For the Satrapi’s, the question manifestsitself in questions over how much risk they want to take toprotect their rights—do they want to demonstrate and possiblybe beaten, for example? The Satrapi’s solution is to try torecede as much as they can, to appear like good citizens of theIslamic Republic even as they privately hold parties, make wine,and buy imported goods. Yet even these choices are politicalacts, as they are forbidden and might lead to arrest.

Though Marjane cannot outwardly rebel much beyondimproperly covering her veil, she finds little ways to resist theoppressive rules imposed on her by the Islamic Republic. Thepersonal and the political, then, in Iran become inexorablyintertwined. To assert one’s individuality in clothing or spokenopinion becomes a political act. Furthermore, Marjaneexpresses that government policies really affect people’s

behaviors: “It wasn’t only the government that changed.Ordinary people changed too.” Under such a repressive regime,what once felt like an enormous separation between the publicsphere and the private one considerably narrows. By the end ofthe graphic novel, Marjane’s mother is both covering thewindows to protect against flying glass—a consequence of theongoing warfare, indiscriminate in its destructiveness—andfrom the eyes of prying neighbors’ who might inform theauthorities about the family’s western ways, which would be anindividually targeted and motivated act.

GENDERGENDER

Persepolis opens at the moment in Iranian history when itbecomes obligatory for women to wear the veil and schoolsbecome segregated by gender. The Revolution brings manychanges to Tehran, but the changes imposed on women andmen in how they dress and look—women must cover theirheads, men must cover their arms and not wear anecktie—might be the most immediately relevant andpersonally frustrating. Over the course of the graphic novel,Marjane begins to understand that to be a woman in her newsociety is to be subjugated to a lesser role than the one sheexpected to have in her younger years. As a child, she imaginesherself a to be the last prophet, explicitly despite the fact thatall the other prophets were men. However, as the graphic novelprogresses, she realizes that though she “wanted to be aneducated, liberate woman” this “dream went up in smoke” withthe Revolution. Though she had once wanted to be like thecelebrated scientist Marie Curie, she thinks that “at the agethat Marie Curie first went to France to study [chemistry], I’llprobably have ten children.”

Marjane comes to understand that her destiny as a woman isdependent on the state’s allowance or disallowance of women’sfreedom. Early in the days after the imposition of the veil,Marjane’s mother gets assaulted for not wearing a veil, and at ademonstration against the veil Marjane sees women gettingbeaten up and even a woman getting stabbed. Though hermother thinks earlier that she “should start learning to defendher rights as a woman right now,” Marjane understands this tobe impractical and dangerous, so she resigns herself instead tocommitting small acts of disobedience, like improperly wearingher veil. However, she continues to speak out against thecontradictions and unfairness she notices around her, whichgets her expelled from school. Soon after her parents reveal toher the extent to which the state believes it has a right tocontrol women’s bodies—it is against the law to kill a virginwoman, so before executions of virgin women a prison guardwill rape the condemned prisoner. The situation appears bothcompletely hopeless and dangerous to an outspoken girl likeMarjane, and so her parents decide to send her out of thecountry, to Vienna, where she will have the freedom to be andgrow as pleases and befits her as an independent woman, anindependent person.




Symbols appear in red text throughout the Summary & Analysissections of this LitChart.

VEIL

The veil is an extremely vital piece of clothing to Marjane’sidentity, not because she feels pious and wants to wear it andthus asserts it as part of herself, but instead because she doesn’twant to wear it and must anyway. Persepolis opens withMarjane describing how she first has to start wearing the veil atschool. This moment for her most markedly divides her pre-Revolutionary life and her post-revolutionary life, when the riseof the Islamic Republic creates an enormous schism in societybetween those who are traditionally religious and those whoare not and prefer to dress with Western influences. Marjane,though she still considers herself Muslim, belongs to the lattercategory. But the Islamic Regime dictates the moral code ofsociety, and Marjane must contend with a world that disallowsher regular mode of expression. The veil for Marjane and formany women in Iran becomes the key symbol of repression,particularly against women.

BREAD SWAN

Marjane receives her two bread swans from Anoosh, her unclewho spends much of his life hiding in Moscow from the regimeof the Shah or imprisoned by it, and who, shortly after hisrelease from prison after the success of the Revolution, getsarrested and executed. Anoosh is a man who spent so much ofhis life hiding or imprisoned, and yet the bread swan representshis ability to maintain his humanity in dreadful situations.Having few materials to work with, he creates a sculpture of aswan from the bread he receives in jail. Despite its modesty, itssplendor comes from the fact that Anoosh has been able to findwhatever good remains in his situation and create a work of art.He has not become embittered or angry, but instead focusedhis energies on his sculpture. The bread swan indicates theredeeming quality of art, and suggests that Marjane’s bookfunctions in a similar sense of redemption after all the traumaand suffering she experiences.

PLASTIC KEY PAINTED GOLD

The plastic key painted gold is a beautiful object from theoutside. Mrs. Nasrine’s son is given the key by his teachers atschool, to represent the “beautiful” idea that if he were to diefor Iran in the war against Iraq he would be a martyr andimmediately enter heaven. Mrs. Nasrine, however, sees the key,which being plastic is actually nothing more than a trinket, aspropaganda and brainwashing—she believes that the regimewishes to sacrifice her son for the cause of a political war ratherthan putting any real value on his life. The key, then, is a way forthe regime to further the war and people’s enthusiasm for it,but it also comes to represent in the book how the regime’spromises emphasize beauty and reward but are often self-serving and hollow. It turns out, also, that only the lower class

boys, who are shipped off to the front, get these keys from theirschools. The rich boys do not get fed such stories of paradise.Thus, the key also demonstrates the great class divideentrenched in Tehran’s society.

CIGARETTE

When Marjane reaches her teenage years, she smokes acigarette in order to rebel against her mother’s strict rule.Marjane skips school in order to buy an illegal hamburger, andwhen she returns her mother yells at her and indicates that toskip school is to throw away her future. Later that day, Marjanesmokes a cigarette as a symbolic gesture against her mother’s“dictatorship” and feels that she has reached adulthood. Thisinsubordinate gesture, which is actually quite childish, becomesa way to deal with the heavy stresses of the war. On the onehand, Marjane wants to be a normal teenager; on the otherhand, every move she makes might have enormousconsequences for her future—taking the wrong step mightensure that, in fact, she has no future. Consequently, thegesture is broader even than Marjane intends, and is directedagainst all the repressions in her life: from her parents, whorightly pressure her to behave responsibly, but also from theregime, which makes life difficult and restrictive enough thatshe has to sneak around in order to lead what she considers anormal life. That Marjane uses the language of theregime—“dictatorship”—to describe her relationship with hermother indicates just how intertwined her personal life hasbecome with the larger political issues of her day.

The color-coded boxes under each quote below make it easy totrack the themes related to each quote. Each color correspondsto one of the themes explained in the Themes section of thisLitChart.

THE VEIL

We found ourselves veiled and separated from our friends.—Marjane

I really didn’t know what to think about the veil. Deep down Iwas very religious but as a family we were very modern andavant-garde.—Marjane

I wanted to be justice, love, and the wrath of God all in one.—Marjane

THE BICYCLE

“The Revolution is like a bicycle. When the wheels don’t turn, itfalls.”

SYMBOLSSYMBOLS

QUOQUOTESTES



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/symbols

http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/quotes


—Marjane

THE WATER CELL

As for me, I love the King, he was chosen by God.—Marjane

PERSEPOLIS

“You know, my child, since the dawn of time, dynasties havesucceeded each other but the kings always kept their promises.The Shah kept none.”—Grandma

“All the country’s money went into ridiculous celebrations ofthe 2500 years of dynasty and other frivolities…all of this toimpress heads of state; the population couldn’t have cared less.”—Grandma

THE LETTER

The reason for my shame and for the revolution is the same:the difference between social classes—Marjane

“You must understand that their love was impossible…becausein this country you must stay within your own social class.”—Father

THE PARTY

“As long as there is oil in the middle east we will never havepeace.”—Father

THE HEROES

My father was not a hero, my mother wanted to kill people…so Iwent out to play in the street.—Marjane

MOSCOW

“Our family memory must not be lost. Even if it’s not easy foryou, even if you don’t understand it all.”

—Anoosh

THE TRIP

I wanted to be an educated, liberated woman…and so anotherdream went up in smoke.—Marjane

It wasn’t only the government that changed. Ordinary peoplechanged too.—Marjane

THE F-14S

“The real Islamic invasion has come from our own government.”—Marjane’s Father

War always takes you by surprise.—Marjane

“I wish he were alive and in jail rather than dead and a hero.”—Paradisse

THE JEWELS

“To have the Iraqis attack, and to lose in an instant everythingyou had built over a lifetime, that’s one thing…but to be spatupon by your own kind, it is intolerable!”—Mali

THE KEY

“Our country has always known war and martyrs, so, like myfather said: ‘When a big wave comes, lower your head and let itpass!’”—Marjane’s Mother

THE CIGARETTE

“Now is the time for learning. You have your whole life to havefun!...In this country you have to know everything better thananyone else if you’re going to survive!!”—Marjane’s Mother




“To die a martyr is to inject blood into the veins of society.”

THE DOWRY

“If [people] hurt you, tell yourself that it’s because they’restupid. That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty.Because there is nothing worse than bitterness andvengeance…Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself.”—Marjane’s Grandmother

The color-coded boxes under "Analysis & Themes" below makeit easy to track the themes throughout the work. Each colorcorresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themessection of this LitChart.

THE VEIL

The opening chapter ofPersepolis describes theimplementation of the veilpolicy in Iran. After thepopulist 1979 IslamicRevolution, during which thewesternized monarch, calledthe Shah, is overthrown infavor of an Islamic Republic,the new government becomesincreasingly religious andoppressive and makes itobligatory for women and girlsto wear a veil that covers mostof their faces. The girls atMarjane’s school, including herfriends, Golnaz, Mahshid,Narine, Minna, do not like theveil, particularly because theydo not understand why theymust wear it. At the same timeat school they play games as ifthey are revolutionaries:“Execution in the name offreedom!” In the first drawingthat opens the book, a group ofgirls sit in a row with their veilsand look unhappy; Marjane sitswith them, but she is partiallycut by the frame.

Persepolis opens with theimplementation of a governmentpolicy, that of the wearing of theveil, which on the political levelcaptures the repressiveness ofthe Islamic Republic and forMarjane in particularencapsulates throughout herchildhood a symbolic shroudingof her desires for freedom andself-expression. Only a child, sheis thrust into a whirlwind ofchange that she cannot possibleunderstand, and yet her and herschoolmates attempt to makesense of it: though they reactnegatively against the veil, theysupport a grim revolutionaryslogan that they must haveheard first from adults. Marjane’spositioning half in and half out ofin the frame foreshadows howshe will, at the end of the book,leave Iran, but also never“escape” the pull of Iran as herhomeland.

Before 1979, these girls are allpart of a French co-educationand non-religious school,which is shut down followingthe Revolution particularlybecause bilingual schools areseen as markers of capitalismand decadence. Afterwards,“we found ourselves veiled andseparated from our friends,”Marjane describes. On thestreets there aredemonstrations for andagainst the veil, of whichMarjane’s mother is a part. AGerman journalistphotographs her mother andthe photo is placed in manyEuropean magazines. ThoughMarjane is proud of hermother for demonstrating forher beliefs, her mother fearsfor her life, as she might berecognized on the street asbeing the woman in thephotograph and be in danger;she dyes her hair and wearsglasses for a long time in orderto protect herself.

Marjane slowly begins to explainthe differences in both Iran atlarge and her personal world pre-and post-1979 Revolution. Co-education and foreign influencebecomes disallowed by 1980 asthe new regime begins to crackdown against what they considerto be non-Islamic elements ofsociety. From the start of thememoir, Marjane expresses howher family contends with thedifficulty of having to navigate afraught landscape where onewants to fight for one’s rights, butone also has to be careful if onealso wants to live with whateverfreedoms the government doesallow. Execution orimprisonment are very realthreats, though as a childMarjane sees them as glamorousbadges of courage rather thanawful.

SUMMARY & ANALSUMMARY & ANALYSISYSIS



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-veil


Marjane speaks to herconflicting feelings about theveil. Though her family ismodern, she “was born withreligion” and feels deeplyreligious herself. From a youngage she imaginativelyperceives herself as “the lastprophet”; even though all theother prophets in history aremen, she does not let thatdissuade her from herconviction of greatness. Shewrites her own “holy book”with rules that derive fromreligious sources like the firstprophet of Iran, Zarathustra,and also her own experiences;for example, one rule shedevises has it that everyoneshould have a car. Every nightshe speaks with God, whoappears as a character in thebook, and confides with hergrandmother about herfeelings, though hergrandmother is the onlyperson she opens up to.Marjane codifies it that no oldperson will suffer, and whenher grandmother asks her howthis will be done, she replies: “itwill simply be forbidden.”

Marjane’s ambivalences arereflections of the kind of soul-searching that many in Iran mustbe also experiencing: how tounderstand one’s own beliefs andbehaviors when the governmentimposes on one so-called correctbehavior. Though her family seesbeing religious while not wearinga veil as being compatible, thegovernment believes theopposite. Marjane’s idea ofherself as a prophet suggests theways in which she is, at such ayoung age, already steeped in thehistory of her ancientcountry—as well as its new,developing history. By mixing uphistory, religion, and modernity,and reinventing all three towardsher aims, she mirrors the regimein a way. Even the language of “itwill simply be forbidden” directlymirrors the mentality andlanguage of the regime. And yether rules involve femaleempowerment and theelimination of suffering, which ofcourse are the opposite of whatthe new government will impose.

When Marjane eventuallydoes confide to people inschool about her fantasies ofprophet-hood, they make funof her. The teacher gets windof all this and calls her parentsin to the classroom to talk tothem about her fantasies. Athome her parents questionher, though they defended herbefore her teacher, and shelies to them and says that shewishes to be a doctor.Regardless, she keeps herhopes alive in secret, tellingGod that she will continuebeing a prophet but that noone will know: “I wanted to bejustice, love and the wrath ofGod all in one.”

Marjane’s private thoughts enterthe public sphere, and quicklyshe gets into trouble, as willconstantly be the case in thebook. The regime purports todecree the laws of Islam, but thetalk of executions, thedemonstrations, and the possiblethreat to Marjane’s mother’s life,show how religion becomes aforce for oppression and danger.However, Marjane illustrates andwishes to implement a differentversion of religiosity, one thattreats people with fairness andlove, and which accepts womenas equal to men.

THE BICYCLE

This chapter opens withMarjane confessing that herfaith “was not unshakable.” Shemomentarily puts aside herbelief that she is a prophet andbegins to engage closely withthe question of revolution, atopic that is on everyone’sminds now that the ruling Shahhas been overthrown. Marjanemock-demonstrates in thefamily garden with her friends,mimicking the many adultsaround her who do the same inthe street. Waxingphilosophical, Marjanedescribes to her friends that“the revolution is like a bicycle,when the wheels don’t turn, itfalls.” She suggests that oftenin the history of Iran thewheels haven’t been turning.

At this moment in Iran’s history,the despotic Shah has beenoverthrown but what the newgovernment of Iran will be like isnot yet clear. It is therefore a timeof excitement, and the childrenpick up on this excitement,turning the demonstrations intoa game. The way that childrenwill pick up on and follow whatadults are doing is regularlyportrayed in the novel. Marjane’sinterest in Iranian history isevident here.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-bicycle


Marjane turns to the history ofIran as explained to her by herfather. Her father describesthe history of Iran as “2500years of tyranny andsubmission.” The abuse ofpower, he explains, has oftenbeen both from inside andoutside. The outside invasionsinclude the “Arab invasion fromthe West, the Mongolianinvasion from the East, andfinally modern imperialism,”when European powerssought to control Iran.However, he notes that thetyranny and submission hasoften been inflicted also by“our own emperors.” As part ofher education, Marjane’sparents buy her books to“enlighten” her. She readsabout Palestine, Fidel Castro,Vietnam, Karl Marx,Descartes, and the manyrevolutionaries of Iran whodied young deaths. She latergives the cold shoulder to Godbecause she no longer wantsto discuss her prophet-hoodanymore. Instead, awkwardly,they talk about the weather.

Marjane’s parents do not allowher education to be one-sided orsimply Iran-centric; rather thanconcentrating merely on theinvasions and abuses that Iransuffered over the centuries,Marjane learns about other landswho have undergone dramatictimes of change, and theindividuals who influenced thesehistories. The particular peopleshe learns about suggests thather parents have “leftist,” perhapssocialist, political leanings. Thefact that Iran still exists despiteits many iterations and periods isa source of pride for Marjane andher family; they love Iran, despiteits many problems. As therevolution against the Shah issuccessful and Marjane learnsabout history, she becomes lessinterested in religion, as herchanging conversation with Godindicates.

One night Marjane overhearsher parents speaking aboutthe burning of the Rex Cinema,a famous and popular movietheater in Teheran, during therevolution against the Shah.The doors had been lockedfrom the outside before it wasput on fire; four hundredpeople died as the police stoodguard and beat away peopletrying to save the victims. Thisconstitutes a terrible andpurposeful massacre. The Shahclaimed a group of religiousfanatics had committed thecrime, but, Marjane claims,“the people knew that it wasthe Shah’s fault!” Marjaneimagines all the ghosts of thedead people fleeing the RexCinema.

There still exists a separationbetween children and adults:Marjane is not automaticallyinvited to difficult and seriousdiscussions. Still, as usual, herparents cannot hide the truthfrom Marjane, and politics onceagain enters her private livingroom and also her imagination.This is a direct example of theinternal abuses of power that herfather previously spoke about.This history establishes theShah’s awfulness and in doing sothe justness of the revolutionagainst him.

Standing before a mirror in herroom, Marjane puts on a CheGuevara costume and then aFidel Castro costume, butGod, who she has ignoredmomentarily to listen furtherto her parents, has left theroom by the time she turnsaround to ask his opinion ofher costume. Afterwards, shetells her parents she wants tocome with them todemonstrate in the streetsagainst the killing of 400people at the Rex Cinema, buther parents tell her it is toodangerous. That night Goddoes not come back when shecalls for him and Marjaneweeps bitterly.

By trying to literally wear thecostumes of importantrevolutionary figures, Marjanedemonstrates her attempt attrying to understand and mimicthe confusing principles of arevolution that she is too youngto really grasp the meanings of.She follows both the examples ofthe historical figures she has readabout, as well as the example ofher parents. She wants to playadult, but her weeping andcostume-wearing suggest she isnot one. The disappearance ofGod, however, indicates hercontinuing evolution away fromreligious feeling and perhaps herslow process of maturation, onewhich is full of pain anduncertainty.

THE WATER CELL

Before the overthrow of theShah, Marjane’s parentsdemonstrate in the streetsevery day and are exhausted,too exhausted to playMonopoly with Marjane. Theycome back home aching anddemoralized. Because she isupset with her parents, shetries to defy them byexpressing, “As for me, I lovethe King [the Shah], he waschosen by God.” However,Marjane’s father explains that“God did not choose the King,”though her textbooks tell herthe opposite. He then beginsto tell the young girl about thehistory of Iran and how theKing became the King in thefirst place.

Marjane’s childishness continuesto be emphasized in contrast toher desire to have a viewpoint onpolitical events. Still, her parentsretain their role as guides to therevolution, and Marjane has tolearn that not everything thatshe learns in school, the placewhere one might think one mightlearn the truth, is correct.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-water-cell


Her father explains toMarjane that fifty years earlierthe Father of the Shah, RezaShah, organized a coup toestablish a Republic. Thoughthe idea of a Republicangovernment was popularamong these earlierrevolutionaries, there weremany different interpretationsamong them. Moreover, therewere many proponents of andexamples of Republicanism,from Gandhi in India—whohoped to overthrow Westerninfluence—to Ataturk inTurkey—who emphasized thesecular, Western aspect ofTurkish society. Reza Shah wasnot educated or a naturalleader, but “an illiterate low-ranking officer” who was takenadvantage of by the British,who wanted to stave off theRussian Bolsheviks and to tapinto Iran’s vast oil fields. TheBritish promised Reza Shahthe role of emperor, convincinghim that “a vast country like[Iran] needs a holysymbol”—and he agreed,despite his original Republicanideals, which would havemeant a less autocraticgovernment. Reza Shahbecame king, and his son, thecurrent Shah, inherited therole from him. Marjane’sfather, having explained therise of the Shah on politicalgrounds, concludes by sayingthat “God has nothingwhatsoever to do with thisstory,” despite Marjane’s initialthoughts to the contrary.

Marjane so far has been veryinterested in religion, myth, andhistory, but as her idea of herperfect religion earlier shows, shemixed all the different elementsup into one, in which some kindof ideal religion motivateshistorical events. However, thiscontinuation of Marjane’sintroduction to the history of Irandemonstrates how over timereligion, myth, and historybecome separate entities forMarjane. She begins tounderstand cause and effect, andhow both influences inside andoutside the country createdmodern Iran. Marjane’s fathershows the Shah and his father tobe on a human, historical scale,disproving the claims of hertextbooks. It also shows just howmessy history can be, and howthose in power use propagandato try to justify their own power.

At this point Marjane’s fatherreveals that the emperor thatthe Father of the Shahoverthrew was in factMarjane’s maternal great-grandfather. Marjane rejoicesat this new information,including the realization thather grandfather was, as theson of the Emperor, a prince.She immediately romanticizesher connection to royalty, buther father explains that in factthe Father of the Shah tookeverything her grandfatherowned. However, because hewas educated, the Father ofthe Shah named him PrimeMinister. After hisappointment, because heinteracted with otherintellectuals, he became acommunist and also a critic ofthe regime. For this reason hewas later often sent to prisonand tortured; he was oftenplaced for hours in a cell filledwith water. Marjane’s mother,the daughter of thisgrandfather, sadly describeshow, as a girl, she alwaysdreaded the knock on the doorthat often meant her fatheronce again would be arrested.She visited him in prison, buthis health deteriorateddramatically because of theterrible conditions. She criesto Marjane and her father: “Allhis life he was in pain.”

In this scene, the politics thatinitially seemed purely historicaland “bigger” then Marjanesuddenly becomes extremelypersonal. Marjane at firstwelcomes the news—as she hadonce thought of herself as aprophet, she thinks happilyabout the great individuals thatare connected to her.Nevertheless, Marjane’s mother’sinterruption of her husband’shistory lesson demonstrates theactual costs that politics anddissent had on Marjane’sgrandfather’s life. Whilepreviously the political arenaremained rather abstract toMarjane despite her parent’sdemonstrations and her wearingof the veil, now Marjane mustdeal with the fact that her familymembers have been directly, andnegatively, affected by theturmoil that Iran has experiencedover the last few decades. Andshe must also start to confronther romantic view of history withthe actual human cost ofparticipating in that history.




Very affected emotionally,Marjane no longer wants toplay Monopoly; instead shewants to take a bath. “Thatnight I stayed a very long timein the bath. I wanted to knowwhat it felt like to be in a cellfilled with water.” God asks herwhat she is doing, as if hedoesn’t understand. When shecomes out, her hands arewrinkled, “like grandpa’s.”

Marjane, confronted withdifficult truths, edges slightlycloser to adulthood, as sherefuses to play a childish gamewhich itself symbolizes a casualreenactment of adult capitalisticbusiness deals. Though Marjanehas previously mimicked adults,she has always mimicked theirdemonstrations of bravado andstrength. Here Marjane’s mimicryin the bathtub becomes one ofsympathy, an attempt to try tounderstand what it feels like tobe someone physically harmedbecause of his or her politicalbeliefs.

PERSEPOLIS

Marjane’s grandmothercomes over to the house, andMarjane asks her about thetimes Marjane’s grandfatherwas in jail. Her grandmotherspeaks of how poor she wasback then. At times shepretended to cook food shedid not have just to keep upappearances for the neighborswho could see her through thewindow. She then says that theShah was even “ten timesworse” than the Father of theShah. He was extremelywasteful and bombastic andkept none of his promises,unlike the other historicalkings of Iran. At his coronationthe Shah visited the grave ofCyrus the Great, who once“ruled over the ancient world.”Then Marjane’s grandmotherdescribes how, during his rule,“all the country’s money wentinto ridiculous celebrations ofthe 2500 years of dynasty andother frivolities” but none ofthis benefited the people, whocouldn’t care less. She claimsthat the Shah did this only “toimpress heads of state.”Marjane’s grandmother thenexpresses her happiness “thatthere is finally a revolution.”She does not directly speak ofMarjane’s grandfatherthroughout the conversation,even though Marjane hadoriginally asked about hergrandfather at the start.

Marjane looks towards all of herfamily members to describe andexplain the confusing facets ofthe rise of the Shah and thesubsequent revolution – bothhow it happened, and also howher family is connected to it.Instead of answering Marjane’squestion about her grandfather,Marjane’s grandmother avoidstalking about his torture bytalking about other difficult butless traumatizing subjects. Shedescribes the way the Shahwasted enormous amounts ofmoney on propaganda when thepeople of Iran were sufferingfrom poverty and hunger. Shehighlights the great distancebetween the Shah and thecommon people, though this alsomore generally indicates theways that rulers often try tocontrol rather than serve thosewhom they rule.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/persepolis


Each day, Marjane’s fathergoes to take photographs ofthe continuing demonstrationsduring the revolution, despitethis activity being strictlyprohibited. The family waitsanxiously for his return, as hisactivities can get him into a lotof trouble. When, one day, he islate getting home – much toeveryone’s terror – he finallyreturns and then describeshow he had gone to thehospital where a group ofpeople were “carrying thebody of a young man killed bythe army.” Marjane’s fatherdescribes how the people“honored [the young man] likea martyr.” When another deadbody, this time of an old man,was carried out of the hospital,the people crowded aroundand also called the old man a“hero,” just as they had calledthe first man. Yet, whenMarjane’s father questionsthe old man’s widow about hisdeath, it turns out he died ofcancer—he was not a martyr atall. Still, at the crowd’sinsistence, the old widowactually joins in theirdemonstration honoring thedead old man and defiling theShah. Together they shout:“the king is a killer!” The wholefamily laughs, except forMarjane, who does notunderstand how this story of“cadaver, cancer, death, [and]murderer” can lead to laughter.Finally she laughs, though stillnot understanding, and shedecides to read as much as shecan so that she willunderstand.

Marjane’s father, an aviddetractor of the current regime,here tells an ironic story aboutthe way that fact and fiction getconfused in the turmoil andpassion of the revolution. Thoughthe old man, unlike the youngman, did not lose his life in thefight against the regime, he stillgets celebrated as an equalmartyr. People are so wound upin their ideals and their strugglesthat they project these ideas andstruggles onto any situation theysee. In this sense they are a bitblinded by their own fervor, andthis is the reason that Marjane’sfamily laughs: everything,including natural deaths, getstied up with the revolution, evenif during regular times peoplewould consider it a part ofnormal life. Marjane cannotunderstand the irony becauseshe cannot see the nuances, thegrey areas, or even the funnyabsurd parts about what is goingon around her. She is still tooyoung and still sees everything asright or wrong, good or bad. In away, Marjane is similar to therevolutionaries – both have arather simple, childish view of theworld.

THE LETTER

Marjane likes to read books bythe Kurdish writer Ali AshrafDarvishian, “a kind of localCharles Dickens,” and with hermother attends his clandestinebook signings, which are secretbecause his books are notsupported by the Shah’sregime. In his stories, shereads of impoverishedchildren, and “finallyunderstood why I felt ashamedto sit in my father’s Cadillac.”She expresses that “the reasonfor my shame and for therevolution is the same: thedifference between socialclasses.”

Darvishian’s books are frownedup by the Shah because he doesnot want people thinking aboutany issues within the country.The more Marjane reads, themore she begins to understandabout parts of the world that shehas no direct access to,particularly the plights of otherpeople. The stories of poorchildren help Marjane to see howshe is different from other peopleeconomically, something she hasfelt before but never quiterealized. By feeling sympatheticto other people andunderstanding their problems,she begins to realize whyindividual people mightparticipate in revolution. At thesame time, Marjane’s thoughtshere will come to have an ironicsense to them as the bookcontinues: poor people willcontinue to get the short end ofthe stick even after thesuccessful revolution against theShah.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-letter


Pondering further her place inIranian society, Marjaneremembers her maid Mehri.Mehri became the Satrapi’smaid after Mehri’s parentsgave Mehri to the Satrapifamily, understanding thattheir daughter would be betterfed in the Satrapi householdthan in their own, crowded andpoor as it was with fifteenchildren. Mehri and Marjaneare very close, and when aneighbor boy named Hosseinsends Mehri a love letter, theilliterate Mehri asks Marjaneto read her the letter and writea response based on Mehri’sdictation. Eventually the wholefamily finds out about thebudding epistolary love affair,and Marjane’s father speaksto Hossein, revealing to himthat Mehri is not his daughterbut in fact his maid, arevelation which abruptly endsthe relationship. Marjane’sfather explains to Marjane thatshe “must understand thattheir love wasimpossible…because in thiscountry you must stay withinyour own social class.” Marjanebemoans that one’s birthdetermines one’s social class,though she is happy at leastthat she and Mehri can stillshare the same bed.

Mehri comes to Marjane’s mindbecause she is the closest personMarjane knows who resemblesthe people in the books shereads. Understanding the causefor Mehri’s presence in her home,and feeling sympathetic, allowsMarjane to connect with theilliterate Mehri and aid her in herromantic pursuits. However, thisepisode becomes for Marjane alesson in the gap between thesocial classes, and how this gap ishard or even impossible to close.In Iranian society, everyoneremains firmly footed in the classone is born into. Though Marjanecan sympathize with Mehri, andthough she can even spend a lotof time with her, she cannotchange the way that societyfunctions or what is expected.Marjane’s family both want tooverthrow the Shah andcontinue to have a kind ofcomplacency about classstructure, and Marjane herselfshows a selfish complacency infocusing on what she gets fromMehri as opposed to the waysthat Mehri is oppressed byIranian society because of herclass.

Understanding the differencesin social classes as the sourceof the revolution, Marjanedecides the next day to go outwith Mehri and demonstratein the streets—without herparents’ knowledge. Whenthey come home late at night,Marjane’s mother slaps bothof them, angry particularlybecause they had gone out onone of the most notoriouslydreadful days up to then, called“Black Friday,” when manypeople died. There are manyrumors about who ordered ordevised the killings, includingrumors that Israel initiated themassacre, but Marjane knowsthat, as in other instances ofdeath and massacre, “It wasreally our own who hadattacked us.”

Despite social divides, Marjaneattempts to be in solidarity withMehri by demonstrating withher—this act also indicates onestep further towards adulthood,as she tries to mimic her parentsbut without their even beinginvolved. Marjane demonstratesfurther maturity in her being ableto spot misinformation and cometo more likely conclusions aboutthe source of the violence. At thesame time, Marjane’s decision togo protest without telling herparents is incredibly immatureand reckless, and againdemonstrates just how little sheunderstands of the actualdangers. She wants to be like herparents, but she is still a child,and her judgment about safety isnot as refined as her parents’.

THE PARTY

More and more massacresoccur in Iran, though it alsobecomes clear that the Shah’sreign will soon end. He’sfighting as hard as he can tokeep his power. Despite hisefforts to find a PrimeMinister, a nod towardsdemocracy, the peoplecontinue to demonstrate,burning him in effigy andtearing down statues of him.Finally, he leaves the country,to the joyous celebration ofthe nation. The revolution hassucceeded.

The revolution is a wheel thatturns and turns, and though theShah attempts to backtrack andmake reforms, the people’s angeris so great as to make his nods atdemocracy moot: the wheel,already at a high velocity, justkeep turning. This is a moment ofjoy and excitement, as thosefighting the Shah now see thechance for true freedom.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-party


Though the AmericanPresident Jimmy Carter willnot give asylum to the Shah,Anwar Al-Sadat, the Presidentof Egypt, allows him to residethere. Marjane’s father claimsthat “as long as there is oil inthe middle east we will neverhave peace.” Though Marjanewonders whether Sadatdecides to help the Shahbecause the Shah’s first wifewas Egyptian, her fatherretorts, “Surely not! Politicsand sentiment don’t mix.”

As the Shah leaves the country,his fate becomes decided bywhatever government will allowhim entrance: the once mightyand powerful has now fallen.Marjane still does not quite getthe picture: she has yet to learnthat politics defy emotions.Though the revolution was verymuch propelled by emotion,governments, according toMarjane’s father, act purelythrough strategy: a harsh worldindeed. And yet this, too, is ironic,as Marjane’s father doesn’tunderstand the politics that willsoon make the government thatarises from the revolution runcounter to his goals for therevolution.

After the schools close forsome time, they reopen, butwith one major difference:now the schoolteachers, whoonce praised Shah, ask thestudents to tear out his photosfrom the textbooks, and denythe idea that his rule wasbased on divine right.

In the way that textbooks andteaching are suddenly revised,Marjane sees front and centerexamples of hypocrisy andcontradiction. She also sees hownormal citizens will model theirbehavior on the desires ofwhoever is in power as a way toprotect themselves and rise insociety.

Though “the battle,” or therevolution, appears over in theeyes of many adults, thechildren still talk about itincessantly. A friend ofMarjane’s explains thatRamin’s father – the father ofa boy named Ramin whomthey knew – was part of theShah’s secret police that killeda million people. Two morefriends decide to put nailsbetween their fingers andattack Ramin in retaliation.However, when they are aboutto find Ramin, Marjane’smother comes by and stopsthem. She asks Marjane, “Whatwould you say if I nailed yourears to the wall?” She explainsthat though Ramin’s fathermight have committed a crime,that was not Ramin’s fault.

Here Marjane and her friendsattempt again to emulate theadults by applying the physicalviolence they have seen usedagainst the Shah. The childrenare, of course, terribly wrong totry to commit this violenceagainst someone onlyperipherally related to the crime.Marjane’s mother, ever the moralcompass for her daughter, triesto make her daughter put herselfin others’ shoes rather thanreacting so excessively andimpulsively. At the same time, themoral wrong the children wereabout to commit is an implicitcriticism of many others whoalmost certainly did, inrevolutionary passion, kill orharm those only peripherallyconnected to the Shah.

Marjane tells Ramin that sheforgives him, though Raminclaims that his father “is not amurderer” because “he killedcommunists and communistsare evil.” Continuing to followMarjane’s mother’s example,Marjane stands before themirror and repeatedly saysthat she must forgive: “I hadthe feeling of being someonereally, really good.”

Though Marjane tries to take onher mother’s mantra oftemperance and forgiveness,Ramin surprises her by defendinghis father, who Marjaneconsiders indefensible.Forgiveness, it turns out, cannotin itself reform someone, thoughit does allow Marjane to feelmorally righteous.




THE HEROES

A few days after the revolutionsucceeds, 3000 politicalprisoners of the revolution areliberated, among them SiamakJari, the husband of Marjane’sbest friend, and a long timepolitical prisoner and friend ofthe family named MohsenShakiba. Marjane recalls how,before the release of thepolitical prisoners, Laly,Siamak’s daughter, had visitedMarjane’s family home.Marjane had told her thatthough her family was tellingher that her father is on a longtrip, really this means he isdead. Laly had run homecrying, and Marjane was sentto her room. “Nobody willaccept the truth,” she thinks.

The end of the revolution bringsa semblance of normalcy: thosewho were arrested have nowbeen returned. However,Marjane remembers how shewas sure that Siamak Jari wasdead, and how she had tried totell the truth to his daughter, whobelieved he was simply on a trip.Though Marjane demonstratesher alertness in not believingwhat is obviously false (thoughshe was also wrong herself), sheis not able to muster thematurity to allow another girl tobelieve a white lie.

When Laly’s father, Siamak,and Mohsen return fromprison, Marjane concedes,“after the revolution I realizedthat you could be mistaken.” Atearful and happy reunioncommences after whichSiamak and Mohsenoffhandedly describe thevarious tortures theyexperienced, including howtheir fingernails had beenpulled out. So engrossed andhorrified are Marjane’sparents that they “forget tospare me this experience.”When Marjane’s father asksfor news of another friend,named Ahmadi, Siamakexplains that he wasassassinated, adding that hewas burned with an iron astorture. Marjane is horrifiedthat an ordinary householdappliance could be used fortorture. Afterwards, Lalyproclaims her father a hero,and Marjane’s motherexpounds that “all torturersshould be massacred.” Deeplyaffected by the day’s events,Marjane thinks about the factthat her father “was not ahero” and that her mother“wanted to kill people...so Iwent out to play in the street.”

Further initiated into themacabre horrors of therevolution, Marjane is bothfascinated and terrified by whatshe hears. This time, she wishesthat her parents would protecther. Looking at the iron, she isstruck by the ordinariness of theobjects of torture; what she sawas an innocent object has nowbeen turned into an object ofinhumanity, something that waspreviously beyond herimagination or comprehension.Confusingly, Marjane’s motherseems to take back her mantra offorgiveness when she wishes forthe killing of torturers. Moreover,Marjane feels jealousy towardsLaly and her father, indicatinghow she still, childishly,romanticizes the war. Unable tocompute the seemingcontradictions within her family,she flees into the activity ofchildhood.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-heroes


Marjane starts playing a gamewith her friends where theymake up various forms oftorturer. “Back at home thatevening, I had the diabolicalfeeling of power…But it didn’tlast. I was overwhelmed.” Backhome, Marjane runs and crieson Marjane’s mother’s lap, andher mother reassures herdaughter by promising that thetorturers “will pay for whatthey have done.” WhenMarjane brings up that she hadthought her mother told herthat one should forgive others,her mother explains: “Badpeople are dangerous, butforgiving them is, too. Don’tworry, there is justice onearth.” At night, Marjane lies inher bed and feels safe in thearms God.

Playing games becomes adefense mechanism for dealingwith difficult information; bytaking on adult torture in herchildish games, Marjanediminishes the reality of thehorror while allowing herself asense of power. Still, playing isnot enough to allay her trauma,and she runs to her mother andconfronts her about thecontradiction betweenforgiveness and punishing badpeople. Marjane’s faith in Godallows her to believe that therewill be justice sometime.

MOSCOW

Marjane remains upset thather father “was not a hero,”and she makes up stories of hisheroism though none of themare true. She feels lucky whenshe hears about her uncleAnoosh, who returns to Iranafter thirty years of exile. AtMarjane’s house, he tells her astory about his background.When he was just eighteen, hisuncle Fereydoon, along withhis friends, proclaimed theindependence of the Iranianprovince of Azerbaijan andappointed himself Minister ofJustice; Anoosh became hissecretary. Fereydoon was laterarrested and executed by theShah. In order to avoid thesame fate, Anoosh walked interrible winter conditions allthe way to his parents’ house.Nevertheless, in order toprotect himself, he soonafterwards decided to flee tothe USSR. Marjane thinks thatnot even Laly’s dad, Siamak,has been to the USSR. Marjaneis immediately drawn in byAnoosh, thinking that now shehas “a hero in my family.”

Marjane remains upset that shedoes not, like Laly, have a hero inher family. She continues tochildishly glamorize heroism andmartyrdom, and her wishes cometrue when she meets Anoosh,who has a story that Marjanethinks that not even Laly’s fathercan beat. All of Marjane’sromanticism suggests how shedoes not truly understand thehuman costs that the stories shehears entails, despite alreadyseeing how her family hassuffered for political reasons overdifferent periods of their lives.She thinks of heroism aswonderful, but she does not yetrealize the losses Anoosh andLaly’s father have had to endure.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/moscow


While hiding in Moscow,Anoosh received a doctoratein Marxism-Leninism. He gotmarried and had two children,but the marriage was rockyand he got divorced soon after:“What my wife made me sufferwas much worse than” thetorture he experienced underthe Iranian regime. After hisdivorce he felt extremelynostalgic towards Iran. Dearlymissing “my country, myparents, my brothers,” anddreaming about them often,Anoosh returned to Iran undera false passport and a disguise.Nevertheless, Anoosh was stillrecognized at the border andsent to jail for nine yearsbecause of his previous illegalactivities. Anoosh takes amoment to warn Marjane:“Our family memory must notbe lost. Even if it’s not easy foryou, even if you don’tunderstand it all.” Before bed,Anoosh gives Marjane a breadswan—a small figurine hemade out of bread while inprison. Later, Marjane tells herfriends, “There are lots ofheroes in my family. Mygrandpa was in prison, myuncle Anoosh too…my great-uncle Fereydoon…”

Anoosh represents for Marjane aglamorized vision of heroism, buthis story is more complicatedthan she at first realizes. Marjanelearns that the emotional torturehe experienced under his wife heconsiders worse than thephysical torture he experiencedunder the regime. In fact,Marjane learns how Anoosh stillloves his country even after hiscountry won’t accept him.Anoosh is also one of the firstpeople to treat Marjane as if sheis an adult: he purposefully tellshis story to her; she does notmerely overhear it. He alsomakes it okay that she cannotunderstand everything, andgrants her a deal ofresponsibility: she, as one of theyoung members of the family, isin charge of continuing thefamily’s legacy. The bread swanrepresents the way that Anooshwas able to keep sane and keephis humanity while in prison.When Marjane announces thatthere are many heroes in herfamily, it comes across as slightlymore nuanced than her previousideas of heroism: she begins tograsp the personal and familialsacrifices heroism entails.

THE SHEEP

During Anoosh’s stay withMarjane’s family, politicaldiscussions occur frequently.Anoosh and Marjane’s fatherwonder about thecontradiction of the revolution.They are amazed that whilethe “the revolution is a leftistrevolution…the new republicwants to be called Islamic.” Thisis in direct opposition to theexpectations of Marjane’sfamily, who supported theleftist revolution withoutexpectations of it being Islamicas well. Indeed, they Believethat a free and republicangovernment is incompatiblewith theocracy—that churchand state in a republic must beseparate, yet therevolutionaries buck thisunderstanding and seem towant to combine both. In orderto explain the strangeness ofthis phenomenon, Anooshclarifies that “in a countrywhere half the population isilliterate you cannot unite thepeople around Marx. The onlything that can really unit themis nationalism or a religiousethic.” Marjane is heavilyaffected by the discussion,though she does not quiteunderstand it, and cries whenshe realizes the changes in thecountry remain beyond thereach of her comprehension.

Just as there are manycontradictions in Marjane’s dailylife and the history of hercountry, so, too, are there manycontradictions in the way thatthe revolution plays out. Therevolution is shifting from theperceived original ideals offreedom and republicanism toinclude Islamic fundamentalism.Whereas the family once thoughtthese as opposites, Anooshpoints out that most people inthe country are not like Marjane’sfamily: they are illiterate anduneducated and therefore do notknow or cannot grasp politicaltheory. Instead, they respondemotionally to nationalist orreligion. Once again Marjanebemoans that as a child she can’tentirely understand thisdiscussion. Note, though, thatAnoosh is saying that mostIranians wouldn’t understandthis discussion! The bookcontinually draws parallelsbetween Marjane’s childishromanticization of the revolutionand the nationalisticromanticization of the revolutionby the all the Iranians, whichultimately allowed the Islamicfundamentalist regime to takepower.i



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-sheep


Later, one of Marjane’s friendstells her that his family willsoon move to the UnitedStates because his parentsbelieve it is “better to leave”than to “live under an Islamicregime.” Much of Marjane’sfamily also leaves the country,and though Marjane’s mothersuggests perhaps her familyshould leave, too, Marjane’sfather points out the family’slimited economicopportunities in the US, whereMarjane’s parents would berelegated to menial jobs. He isconfident everyone who leftwill soon return.

The revolution has not ended upthe way that Marjane’s familyhoped or believed it would, withnew leaders perhaps even moreproblematic for them than theShah was. But there is a sensehere that they can’t bringthemselves to leave because theylove Iran, both because it is theircountry and because this iswhere they have built a life. YetMarjane’s father’s optimismseems perhaps as romantic asMarjane’s own childish notions.

Marjane’s father receives aphone call, after which he sobsin front of his family. It turnsout that his friend Mohsen,who was just released fromprison after a long time as apolitical prisoner, has beenmurdered: an assassindrowned Mohsen in his ownbathtub. Later, Assassinstarget Siamak, too, though theassassins end up executing hissister in his stead when sheopens the door for them,because Siamak wasn’t athome at the time. Marjanefinds out some time after themurders that Siamak, Laly, andher mother have escaped overthe border by hidingthemselves among a flock ofgrazing sheep. Those who oncesupported the revolution arenow being targeted as enemiesof the new Islamic Republicbecause their opinions abouthow the new governmentshould function differ from thepolicies of the new ruling class.

The previous joy that Marjane’sfamily experienced when thepolitical prisoners were releasedafter the abdication of the Shahhas now been overturned bytheir murders. Though theprisoners had also beenrevolutionaries, many of themoppose the Islamic component ofthe new government and arethus re-targeted for theirdiffering opinions. This mirrorsthe way, in the revolutionprevious to this one, those whowere once favored, such asMarjane’s grandfather, foundthemselves targeted by the newstate. The leaders of the countryhave changed profoundly fromthe western-supported Shah tothe western-hating Islamicregime, and yet their tactics areexactly the same.

Soon after, though Marjane’sparents try to protect Marjanefrom the fact that Anoosh hasbeen arrested. Nevertheless,Marjane sees through theirattempts at giving her a whitelie about hiswhereabouts—they say he hasgone to visit his wife inMoscow—and she guesses thetruth about his arrest. Laterher father tearfully admits thetruth to her and tells her thatAnoosh, stuck in jail, asked hisjailor to see Marjane, since heis allowed one visitor. Marjanevisits him in his cell.Emotionally, Anoosh tellsMarjane, “you are the little girlI always wanted to have” andgives her another bread swan,which he calls “the uncle of thefirst one.” The next day, thenewspapers announce theexecution of Anoosh as a“Russian Spy.” When God visitsMarjane at night, she yells athim to “Shut up!” and to “getout of my life!” God disappearsas a character from the book.Marjane feels disorientatedand helpless, but at the sametime her parents scream forher to run to the basementbecause they are beingbombed. “It was the beginningof the war” between the newIslamic Republic and thosewho oppose it.

Older than Laly, Marjane doesnot fall for the white lie that heruncle is on a trip, but ratherrealizes that her uncle’s life mustbe in danger. Though Marjane’sparents attempt to protect her,the situation hits the family toodirectly to keep up the charadeas Anoosh is clearly someoneslated for execution. Yet theAnoosh Marjane finds in jail is aman who does not appear afraid;instead, the bread swanrepresents his continuedhumanity and hope in the face ofadversity. For Anoosh, Marjanerepresents the kind of girl that healways wanted: someoneinnocent, brave, and loving. It isnotable that after Anoosh’sexecution, she does not proclaimhim as a hero or martyr, insteadher faith in God is broken just asthe revolution that was supposedto liberate the people nowplunges them into another longwar.




THE TRIP

Marjane’s father is veryalarmed by what he reads inthe morning newspaper.Fundamentalist students haveoccupied the U.S. Embassy andtaken the Americans workingthere as hostages. Theimplication for Marjane’sfamily is that no one from Iranwill be able to flee to Americaanymore as so many havebefore. The members ofMarjane’s family are notspared from this prohibition,though Marjane had oncedreamed of going to the U.S.and seeing her friend Kaveh,who left Iran the year before.Now she realizes that herdream is dead.

With the war’s onset more andmore repressions pop up,including the prohibition ofIranian citizens from visiting theUS. Those who didn’t leavepreviously to America can nolonger do so. Marjane mustconfront the fact that thedecisions that her family madepreviously now haveconsequences on what libertiesshe can and cannot take in herlife. The new regime literallymeans that her life goals mightno longer be possible.

Not long after, the governmentannounces it will shut down alluniversities because of the“decadent” learning theyenable that, according to thefundamentalists, leadsstudents “astray from the truepath of Islam.” Marjanerealizes that she will not beable to study chemistry or belike her hero Madame Curie,an early pioneer of chemistryand one of the most celebratedwomen in the sciences. Shestates: “I wanted to be aneducated, liberatedwoman…and so another dreamwent up in smoke.” She cries,“at the age that Marie Curiefirst went to France to study,I’ll probably have ten children.”

That the Islamic regime wouldwant to stop someone likeMarjane from becoming ascientist for the simple fact thatshe is a woman starkly outlinesboth the destructiveness of itsfundamentalist ideals and, at thesame time, their ridiculousness.This is the logic that forceswomen to wear the “veil,” a logicthat reduces women to simplybeing wives who bear childrenand represses any other dreamsor abilities they might have.

One night, after Marjane’smother’s car breaks down inthe street, she gets assaultedby two beardedfundamentalist men. Theyscream: “Women like[Marjane’s mother] should bepushed up against a wall andfucked and then thrown in thegarbage.” Marjane’s motherexplains that by “women likeme,” the men meant womenwho do not wear a veil.Marjane’s mother comes homemarkedly shaken. The familywatches TV, where afundamentalist representativeexplains on the news thatwomen now must wear veils sothat men are not distracted orexcited by women in the street.He claims that the rationale forthis new law is that it is morecivilized to wear a veil than tolet a woman’s hair show.

This episode marks the beginningof the veil policy that Marjanedescribes at the start of the book.It also marks one of the firstinstances in which the public andthe private begin to merge, sincerandom people on the streetattempt to police people’sotherwise private clothingchoices. The logic behind the newlaw exposes the fundamentalistsview of women: that they have tobe aware of the way men mightreact to them in public andtherefore have to wear the veil sothat they do not pose a threat tomen. In other words: that theegregiously terrible behavior ofmen toward women is seen asthe women’s fault.

Marjane explains how, quickly,one’s clothing becomes an“ideological sign.” Whereasfundamentalist women wearfull covering from head to toe,with just the face showingbehind the veil, the “modernwoman” shows her “oppositionto the regime by letting a fewstrands of hair show.” Marjanedoes allow that men also facerestrictions: the necktie, asymbol of the West, isforbidden, as are uncoveredarms. Men also silently protestby shaving their bears or bynot tucking in their shirts.Marjane expresses thatgovernment policies reallyaffect people’s behaviors: “Itwasn’t only the governmentthat changed. Ordinary peoplechanged too.” Marjane’smother makes sure thatMarjane, while in public, claimsto be devout and pray duringher spare time, even if this isnot actually true at home. Atschool the children compete asto who prays the most.

Clothing, particularly the veil,becomes a way ordinary peoplecan express their displeasure ordevotion to the ruling regime.Though certain lines cannot becrossed, women and men areable to subtly show theirliberalism. However, everyonedoes follow the most basic rules,and for many people the changesare not merely cosmetic; manypeople do in fact change theirbeliefs and ideologies to matchthe Islamic Republic because thisis the only way for them toprotect themselves or even rise insociety. Though Marjane’s familydoes not change their beliefs,they do have to, for their safety,pretend to be devout while inpublic, especially considering theassault that Marjane’s motheralready experienced.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-trip


Marjane’s mother allows herdaughter to attend ademonstration againstfundamentalism, reversing herprevious stance because shethinks Marjane “should startlearning to defend her rightsas a woman right now!”However, the demonstratorsget attacked and Marjane seesviolence for the first time “withmy own eyes.” She witnesses awoman getting stabbed andmany others getting beat up.Running away, Marjane’sfather shouts, “every man forhimself!” The family goes onvacation in Italy and Spain forthree weeks, fearing this willbe their last chance to do so.On TV in Spain they see anillustration of Iran beingcovered in black; they fear theworst.

Impassioned by the newrestrictions, and feeling the timedire, Marjane’s mother allowsMarjane to join her in ademonstration, and even alludesto Marjane being a woman—andnot just a girl—for the first time.What ends up happening,however, is that Marjane getsinitiated in the difficulties andtraumas of demonstratingagainst an unflinching regime.Marjane’s parents haveunderestimated the might andviciousness of the regime. Whatthey see while in Spain showsthem how the rest of the worldsees Iran, their beloved country,transforming into somethingnefarious.

On their return, Marjane’sgrandmother explains to themthat Iraq and Iran are now atwar because Iranianfundamentalists tried to swayIraqi Shiites against Iraq’sleader, Saddam, a minoritySunni leader. (The Sunni andShia branches of Islam formthe largest two branches ofIslam. Iran is a majority Shiacountry; though Iraq has alarger Sunni population thandoes Iran, the Sunni populationstill forms a minority—thoughunder Saddam the minoritySunni population had morepower in government, leadingto resentment.) Marjaneunderstands the war as the“second [Arab] invasion in1400 years” and desires tofight the enemy.

The family’s return from vacationhas them understanding the newthreat against their nation, onewhich has its source both inpolitical strategy and religiousresentment and difference.Marjane, versed in the history ofher country, understands thatthis sort of war has been foughtbefore, and she feels a flourish ofnationalistic pride.

THE F-14S

Iraqi fighter jets, called migsand supplied by the USSR,bomb the Iranian capital ofTehran. Upon hearing thenews on the radio while at hisoffice, Marjane’s father yells,“No! The bastards!” Followingher father’s lead, Marjanescreams even louder, “Thoseassholes!” On the drive home,Marjane asks her father if hewill fight in the war. “We haveto teach those Iraqis a lesson,”she says. Marjane’s father onlyresponds with confusion andwonders why he should fight.Marjane explains, “the Iraqishave always been our enemies”but her father only brushesthis off, joking, “and worse,they drive like maniacs.” Heplaces the blame not on theIraqis but on their owngovernment. When they comehome, Marjane’s mother hasbeen in the shower, obliviousto the bombing. “War alwaystakes you by surprise,” Marjaneexplicates.

Marjane becomes increasinglynationalistic. Still young anddriven by love of her country(despite who leads it), she seesthe enemy as pure evil, thoughher father sees them as people,too, making fun of their driving.Her father employs the samekind of ironic laughter, a defensemechanism in the face of muchstress, that he did when he sawthe two corpses being led out ofthe hospital, but once againMarjane cannot fullycomprehend this reaction.Marjane’s father also pins theblame for the war on what heperceives is the source, theIslamic Republic. He recognizesthat the nationalistic pride thatMarjane (and even he himself)feels in the war against Iraq isexactly what the regime wantsthem to feel, because by unitingall of Iran against Iraq the regimeprotects itself from the Iranian’swho disagree with it. Still, normallife must continue somehow, asexemplified by the fact thatMarjane’s mother did not evenknow the bombings hadhappened.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-f-14s


Marjane proclaims that Iranmust bomb the Iraqi capital ofBaghdad, though her fatherremarks that without thegenerals and fighter pilots,who were jailed after an earlierfailed coup d’état, the countrycannot do anything. Marjanecomplains that her father is a“defeatist” and “no patriot.”Still, when the family hears theIranian National Anthem,which has been outlawed for ayear, they are “overwhelmed”with emotion. When they hearon the radio that 140 Iranianbombers, F-14s, bombedBaghdad today, Marjane andher father celebrate, and sheconcludes, “he loved hiscountry as much as I did.”

In line with his opinion that it isreally Iran itself that caused thewar with Iraq, he also blames thecountry’s inability to fight backon the new government. It turnsout, however, that just as thepolitical prisoners were releasedwhen it was convenient, so, too,were the generals and fighterpilots. Just as Marjane was upsether father was no hero, she isalso upset about his supposedlack of nationalistic fervor. Still, itturns out that he can be bothsupportive and critical of hiscountry. That Marjane canunderstand this seemingcontradiction is a mark of hercontinued growing up.

Still, the news is bad at the endof the military mission, as halfof the pilots did not returnalive to Iran. Marjane worriesthe father of her friend,Paradisse, died, since he wasone of the pilots freed from jailin order to attack Baghdad. Atschool Marjane intuits byParadisse’s face that her fatherdied. When the teacher asksthe students to write a reportabout the war, Paradissewrites about how she willprotect her mother and herlittle brother after her father’sdeath. Marjane tries to consoleher during recess, telling herthat her father is a hero, butParadisse dismisses Marjaneoutright, saying, “I wish hewere alive and in jail ratherthan dead and a hero.”

As has been her tendencythroughout the book so far,Marjane romanticizes most ofher strong feelings, and so shesees the death of her friendsfather in combat in romantic,heroic terms rather than inhuman terms. She doesn’t getthat, to his daughter, the man’sdeath is still death, no matterhow he died. With the death ofher friends father, Marjane muststart to confront these humancosts.

THE JEWELS

Not much food is left in thesupermarkets, and whenMarjane and her mother lookfor food there they see womenfighting with each other overboxes of food. Even Marjane’smother and father fight. Athome, when Marjane’s motherdoes not answer quicklyenough about whether thejerry cans she has are forstorage or gasoline, her fatherstarts screaming and yellingabout the sacrifices he mustmake to keep the family safeand peaceful. Marjane, in themiddle of the two, at firsttrying to defend her mother,then begins to cry.

Everyone’s fuses have beenshortened by the stresses of thewar. Normal life has beendisrupted, and so people cannotbehave as they normally would.A child still, Marjane cannoteasily handle the familial riftsthat the stresses of the warcreate, and when she feels thatshe has to choose a side, just asshe feels she must in the largerwar around her, she weepsinstead.

When the family goes to thegas station to fill a jerry can,the gas attendant tells them hewill not fill the cans for them,as everyone needs to rationthe gas. The press says nothingabout what has happened, butthe gas attendant tells themthat Iraq bombed a refinery inAbadan, leading to theshortage. Marjane’s motherthinks of Mali, her childhoodfriend, who lives in Abadan.Back at home the family triesto call Mali, but they get noresponse. Some days later,Mali and her family, herhusband and two boys, ringthe doorbell at Marjan’s house.They, like many other peoplefrom border towns likeAbadan, had to flee northward.Marjane takes it upon herselfto care for the two boys whohave come to stay in theirhouse, offering them hotchocolate. When they ask fortoys, she tells them she doesn’thave any because “I’m allgrown up.”

The bombings in the south ofIran lead many people to fleenorth, and it is now up to thepeople in the north to help outthe refugees. It remains amoment of national crisis, andthus people expect everyone tochip in, from rationing gas tohousing refugees. Marjane usesthe opportunity to assert herself.She wants to help out, but morethan that, she wants to provethat she is in fact grown up,responsible, caring, and capable.Of course, anyone who has tosay that they are all grown up isrevealing, in fact, that they arestill a kid.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-jewels


That night, Mali’s husbandmoans over the loss of hishouse, which cost a lot ofmoney to build. Marjane’sfather does not like Mali’shusband because he ismaterialistic. In the morning,one week after they’ve cometo live with the Satrapi’s, thetwo families go to thesupermarket. The two boyspoint at objects they want, asthey are still used to theirprevious lifestyle. The familyoverhears two womenspeaking about the southernrefugees and how it is so hardto find food now that they havecome. Prejudicially, they claimthat “southern women are allwhores.” Embarrassed andashamed, the family leaves thesupermarket. In the car on theway home, Mali says soberly,“To have the Iraqis attack, andto lose in an instant everythingyou had built over a lifetime,that’s one thing…but to be spatupon by your own kind, it isintolerable!”

Marjane’s father’s negativefeelings about Mali’s husbandshows how different people canhave very different values, eventhough they are all Iranian. YetMarjane’s family continues tooffer support and comfort toMali and her family – the warcan bring people together. Yet atthe supermarket the prejudicedremarks of the two womenindicate how the war is alsoripping the Iranian’s apart.People’s own suffering can makethem blind and uncaring to thesuffering of others.

THE KEY

In the morning newspapers,Marjane sees the pictures andnames of “today’s martyrs.”Marjane is a bit surprised ather mother’s seemingindifference at the pictures;when Marjane mentions thephotos, her mother changesthe subject by asks Marjane tohelp her style her hair.Marjane’s mother explains thatthough affected by the wardead, “our country has alwaysknown war and martyrs, so,like my father said: ‘When a bigwave comes, lower your headand let it pass!’” Marjane, too,tries to “think only of life,”however, at school twice a dayMarjane and her classmatesmust line up to mourn thedead and beat their breasts, aritual with religious rootsusually performed by men,who sometimes would hitthemselves vigorously, evensometimes with chains. Shedescribes the beatings as a“macho thing.”

Wartime has completelyinundated every aspect ofsociety, from the newspapers toMarjane’s school-timeexperiences. Marjane’s mother’sresponse, that she would ratherlower her head and just survive,suggests her sense ofhelplessness—both in the sensethat all of this has happenedbefore, and in the sense thatafter having demonstrated tooverthrow the Shah she sees thatthe results of action were notwhat she wanted. So shedisengages. However, Marjaneherself does not have this luxurybecause at school she is forced tomourn the martyrs physically.The description of the grieving as“macho” connects both the warand the nationalist and religiousfervor it inspires to men (andnote also that these men areforcing the girls in the school tomourn in this way).



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-key


Marjane and her classmatesbegin making fun of thebeating ritual, exaggeratingtheir suffering and pain duringthese sessions, or poking funat the winter fleece hoods theyhave to knit for the soldiers.The teacher zealouslychastises the girls for theirimpudence. She also punishesthem with a week’ssuspension, since not one ofthem would tattle on a girl whoshouted “poopoo” at theteacher’s objections to theirdisobedience. As Marjanedescribes herself and theother girls, “we werecompletely united.” Marjanepoints at the fact that the girlshad once attended secularschools, where such religiousrituals were nonexistent, asthe reason for theirrebelliousness.

There is one definite advantageof being a child: theconsequences for disobedience inthe public sphere, the school, arenot as serious as arrest orexecution. That the girls of theschool make fun of the ritualsand tasks they are made toperform highlights howridiculous this religiouszealousness is, how it is anexaggeration of what anyoneactually feels. And yet what thesegirls see as ridiculous, the adultsof their school are actuallymaking them do! Again, thereligious and nationalist devotionon display in the novel is paintedas childish; more childish thanthe children forced to do them.

Back at home, Mrs. Nasrine,the family’s maid, tearfullyexplains that at school (adifferent school from the oneMarjane attends) the teachersgave Mrs. Nasrine’s son a“plastic key painted gold.” Thekey is supposed to representthe idea “that if they went towar and were lucky enough todie, this key would get theminto heaven.” Essentially, thismeans that the teachers areteaching the boys that dyingfor the state, or martyrdom,would give them entrance toheaven. Mrs. Nasrine has fivekids and tearfully expressesher devastation that thegovernment “want[s] to tradethis key for my oldest son.”Moreover, she feels terrible,for though she has been“faithful to the religion” all herlife, she’s not sure she can“believe in anything anymore.”The teachers also tell the boysthat in heaven there will be“plenty of food, women andhouses made of gold anddiamonds,” which excites theboys. After all, the boys areonly fourteen.

The experiences that Marjanehas in her all-girls school and theexperience that Mrs. Nasrine’sson has in his all-boys school aremarkedly different. WhileMarjane and the rest of the girlsare supposed to support the warthrough prayer and practical butfaraway support, the teachersattempt to persuade Mrs.Nasrine’s son about thegreatness of martyrdom andtherefore to join the war effortand willingly die for his country.(In fact, the Iran-Iraq war wascharacterized in part by Iran’stactic of just throwing theiryoung soldiers into the front lineswhere they would die by thehundreds of thousands). Mrs.Nasrine sees how the regime isusing religious promises tomanipulate the boys toward theirown deaths, and so the Islamicfundamentalists drive Mrs.Nasrine away from her long heldreligious beliefs.

When Mrs. Nasrine’s soncomes over after school,Marjane’s mother tries toconvince him that the storiesabout paradise that theteachers tell him are justmade-up. She also tries to tellhim about the bright future hecould have if he goes to collegeand gets married. Nonetheless,he does not really listen. Hedoes not take these warningsseriously and playfully saysthat he will marry Marjane oneday.

As Mrs. Nasrine described, herson is not mature enough tounderstand the realconsequences of the war—just asMarjane herself was once tooyoung. As a child who has knowntimes of strife for most of hisadult life, he cannot reallyimagine the type of life trajectorythat Marjane’s mother tries toexplain to him.




Marjane’s cousin Shahabshows up in the house—he ison leave from the army—andhe tells how in the army hesees groups of young boysfrom the poorer regions whohave been convinced “that theafterlife is even better thanDisneyland.” He expresses howthe army leaders “hypnotizethem and just toss them intobattle.” It also turns out thatthe keys that Mrs. Nasrinedescribed are only given topoorer boys. Marjane’s malefriend, Peyman, for exampledoes not receive one at school.Marjane turns to the future inher narration for a moment,and reveals that though Mrs.Nasrine’s son does not die atthe front, “thousands of youngkids, promised a better life,exploded on the minefieldswith their keys around theirnecks.” Meanwhile, Marjanehas her first party ever atPeyman’s house; she says,“punk rock was in…I waslooking sharp.”

The type of teachings that theupper class people and the lowerclasses go through in school arenot commensurate to each other.The poor get exploited and aregiven the keys that persuadethem that dying for Iran willbring them everlasting afterlifeglory, whereas the older boys arenot given such lessons. Earlier inthe novel, Marjane recognizedthat the revolution against theShah was based on classdifference. But now thatrealization has become ironic: anew regime is in place, and thepoor are being even moreruthlessly exploited. At the sametime, Marjane continues tocomplacently enjoy her ownclass privileges as she breaks therules of the anti-Westgovernment withoutconsequences.

THE WINE

Tehran now becomes thedirect target of Iraqi bombings.Everyone turns theirbasements into shelters. Whilethe sirens ring in the city,Marjane’s family hides in theshelter built in the basementof their building. After thebombings end, they call theirfriends and relatives to makesure everyone is safe. Thecontinuation of the war alsomeans the tightening of theregime’s rule. Someoneanonymous informs the policeabout Tinoosh’s family’sinfractions—Tinoosh is one ofMarjane’s neighbors—andTinoosh is arrested and lashedafter the cops find forbiddenparty items such as cards andcassettes in his house.Marjane’s mothersubsequently tapes up thewindows of their home, bothto protect against flying glassfrom the windows shouldexplosions go off nearby, andalso to protect the family fromneighbors’ prying eyes.Marjane’s family does not wantto undergo the samepunishment that befellTinoosh’s family.

As the war comes closer toMarjane’s friends and family,everyone draws closer together,checking on each other’s safety.And yet at the same time theregime uses the war to furtherput in place their own rules, andin so doing set the populationagainst each other. Informing onsomeone becomes a way to“move up” in society, and sopeople do it and justify it asserving their country. No longercan Marjane and her family trusttheir neighbors as they mighthave during peaceful times. Thetape over the windows of theirhouse indicates their everincreasing isolation within Iran.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-wine


The riotous parties that peoplein society held before the warcontinue with the same fervor,or even more fervor. Peoplejustify these parties by sayingthat they remain the only wayto psychologically bear thetraumas and stresses of thewar. At one party that Marjaneattends, thrown to celebratethe birth of Marjane’s babycousin, the lights go out just amoment the siren goes off andannounces the dropping of abomb over the city. The babycousin’s mother wails andhands Marjane the babybefore running to protectherself. Marjane is shocked atthis selfish and spontaneousbehavior.

People attempt to preserve asemblance of the same life thatthey led before the start of thewar. The parties, thoughdangerous politically, continue asa way to allay stress and also as away to feel normal. And yet thatnormality is tenuous, at best. Theway that the terror of the warfrays and damages relationshipsis here symbolized by the motherwho abandons her baby in orderto saver herself.

On the way back home fromthe party, a young policeman,a boy who looks about sixteenyears old, stops Marjane’sfather as the family driveshome. Because Marjane’sfather wears a tie, thepoliceman assumes he iswesternized and therefore hasbeen out drinking. Thepoliceman follows the familyback to their house so that hecan inspect the house for theforbidden alcohol. Marjane’sfamily does have a secretalcohol-making operation intheir house, but Marjane’sfather manages to stall thepoliceman as Marjane and hergrandma get rid of all theevidence. Marjane’s fathersoon comes inside irate butwithout the policeman, whohas been successfully bribed,after which he disappearedwithout a trace. “Their faithhas nothing to do withideology!” Marjane’s fathercomplains, disgusted with thepeople who police thepopulace into complying withthe rules of the regime. “A fewbills were all he needed toforget the whole thing.” Still,everyone is relieved.

The incident with the police manis an interesting one. First, itdemonstrates the way that thegovernment is increasinglycracking down on personalexpression, and using whatevertools it can (howevercircumstantial) to try to root outanyone who is at odds with itsfundamentalist Islamic ideology.Yet what infuriates Marjane’sfather in the end is not theintrusion on his private freedom(though that upsets him too), butrather the sheer hypocrisy of thepoliceman who gives up hisinvestigation for a bribe. Thepoint here is that despite itssupposedly pure ideology, theregime and its followers arecorrupt hypocrites. That many ofthose who carry out the regime’sends do so not out of piety, butbecause it is a way to makemoney.




THE CIGARETTE

One day, two years after thewar began, Marjane followssome of her older friends to astore called Kansas, where theshopkeepers sell burgers.Though expressly forbidden,money can still buy Westerntrappings for those who haveit. When Marjane comes home,Marjane’s mother yells at herbecause she skipped herschool lessons in order to buyhamburgers. She lectures her:“Now is the time for learning.You have your whole life tohave fun...In this country youhave to know everythingbetter than anyone else ifyou’re going to survive!!”Marjane’s mother continuesher lecture and promises topunish Marjane. In return,Marjane compares hermother’s nagging to a kind ofdictatorship, and her promiseof punishment akin togovernment torture ofdissidents.

Marjane is becoming a typicalrebellious teenager. Even withinrepressed Tehran avenues existfor the well-off to enjoy some ofthe delicacies that would haveonce been far more commonbefore the rise of the IslamicRepublic. Marjane’s mother triesto make her daughterunderstand how important it isfor her to make the rightdecisions now in order forMarjane to have a decent future.However, Marjane dismisses thewarnings, just as Mrs. Nasrine’sson had done. By showingMarjane using the language ofdissent against the IslamicRepublic to describe her mother’sattempt to control her (or protecther, as her mother would put it),the book again builds acomparison betweenrevolutionaries and children.

The Iranian people constantlyhear differing accounts aboutthe progress of the war. Fortthis reason, no one believesmuch of the reporting. Despitethis skepticism, however, thereport that Iraq offers Iran apeace settlement is true.Additionally, Saudi Arabiaoffers a sum of money to aidreconstruction, but Iranrefuses the deal because itrefuses to compromise itsideological ideals even forpeace. Public warmongeringincreases. People writeslogans that support the waron the streets. Marjanenotices one slogan thatparticularly intrigues her: “Todie a martyr is to inject bloodinto the veins of society.”

The government usespropaganda to try to control themessage of the war, and therebycontinue to control its ownpopulation. That the regimerejects peace suggests that theregime needs the war to continueas a way to maintain power. Andthis tactic works, as the majorityof Iranians continue to supportIran and the ideology that drivesit to war. The slogan is a goodexample of the way that theregime uses the war to control itspeople, to make them seethemselves as both connected toIranian society (and thus theregime that governs it) and towillingly throw themselves intothe war effort.

Marjane explains that iteventually became clear to thepeople “that the survival of theregime depended on thewar”—if the war did notcontinue, the Islamic Republicwould fall apart, so the regimemust continue it at all costs.She tells the reader sadly:“When I think we could haveavoided it all…it just makes mesick. A million people wouldstill be alive.” She explainsfurther how the regimearrested and executed “theenemy within”—anyone whoposed a threat to or rebelledagainst the regime in any way.At around the same time asshe had this realization,Marjane smokes her firstcigarette as “my act ofrebellion against my mother’sdictatorship.” Though she doesnot like the taste, she feels thatshe has reached adulthood:“Now I was a grown-up.”

Marjane has matured to thepoint where she can see past hernationalism and understand thatIran’s war with Iraq helps peoplefeel like their lives have a purposeand it also distracts them fromrebelling much against theregime that represses them. Still,Iran gets rid of anyone who doesdare rebel against it’s rule, andMarjane mourns the death of somany people who died for thesake of a government that put itsown survival before the survivalof its people. The cigaretterepresents a small way thatMarjane finds to rebel againstwhat she feels like is a war athome against her mother’s rules,though of course this is also asmall rebellion against the stateof her life in general. Though,again, she mistakes theromanticism of rebelling forbeing an actual grown up.

THE PASSPORT

Marjane’s Uncle Taher visitsMarjane’s family and tell themof his son, who he has sent toHolland for safety. However,the borders of Iran have nowbeen closed to Taher, so hecan’t leave the country, and hewonders whether he will everbe able to see his son again. Hehas already had two heartattacks because of the stressof the war. He also denounceswhat he sees as the regime’sgratuitous slaughtering ofyoung men in the streets—menlike his son. One day shortlyafter his visit to Marjane’shome, he has a fourth heartattack after hearing a grenadeexplosion near his home.

This section further explores thehuman cost of the war—familieshave been separated, andbecause the war threatens todrag on for a long time, manywonder, legitimately, whetherthey will ever be reunited withtheir loved ones. Taher’s situationalso raises the prospect that inorder to protect one’s childrenmight also mean a parent havingto sacrifice their own happinessand wellbeing.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-cigarette

http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-passport


Taher needs open heartsurgery in England, but theonly way for him to receive apermit to leave the country is ifthe hospital director agrees.However, the hospital director,who is actually Taher’s formerwindow washer, refuses tohelp him. He says it is up to thewill of God. The formerwindow washer has becomevery religious ever since theRevolution, which hasundoubtedly helped him getappointed to his current job.Instead of helping Taher, adoctor shows Taher’s wife andMarjane’s family the swampedhospital premises, in order toexplain why supplies are soshort. In the hospital there aremany men with chemicalweapon wounds who awaittransport to Germany fortreatment—though the doctorclaims that it is also Germanythat sells the chemicalweapons in the first place. Hesays the wounded men arereally Germany’s guinea pigs.

The episode in the hospitaldemonstrates how the newregime has allowed thoseopportunists who once were in alower class to rise up to thehigher class if they also abide bythe religious rules of the regime.Most likely the hospital directorinvokes the will of God to showTaher how the tables have beenturned—a power play rather thantrue religious devotion.Additionally, the idea that manymen with chemical weaponsawait transport for medical aid inthe country which supplies thoseweapons in the first place,demonstrates how allgovernments can acthypocritically and immorally.

Marjane and her father go tomeet a man named Khosro,who spent time in prison withAnoosh. Khosro manufacturesfake passports for peopleseeking to leave the country.He also hides in his basement ayoung lady named Niloufar, acommunist who the policehave been trying to find.Khosro agrees to make Taher apassport, but says it will take aweek. Before he manages tomake it, though, Niloufar isspotted through the window ofKhosro’s home, arrested, andexecuted. Khosro flees acrossthe Turkish border by night inorder to seek asylum inSweden with his brother.Because he is unable toreceive a fake passport in timeto make it to London, Taherdies less than three weeksafter the start of hishospitalization. His burialoccurs the same day as thearrival of his government-issued passport.

Chance has a huge role in thefates of people during wartime.Though Taher would have beenable to fly out to London with afake passport and thus his lifewould have been saved, Khosrohas to flee the country andcannot help him. The irony isthat at the end Taher doesreceive a real government-issuedpassport, but only on the sameday as his death.




KIM WILDE

The government finallyreopens the country’s borders,and Marjane’s parents quicklyreceive their passports. Theytake a vacation, just the two ofthem, to Turkey. Marjane’sparents ask Marjane if shewants them to bring her backany gifts, and Marjane asksthem to smuggle back for her afew forbidden Western items.In Istanbul, they buy her adenim jacket, Nike shoes, andtwo posters, one of Kim Wilde,and one of Iron Maiden. Inorder not to get caught atcustoms, Marjane’s parentshide the posters in the insidelining of Marjane’s father’scoat. They pass throughcustoms without much of ahitch, and back at homeMarjane excitedly puts up theposters in her room as well aswears her new clothes—alongwith her headscarf, of course.

Marjane is old enough that herparents can now go on vacationwithout her, and they use theopportunity to give Marjane thechance to own a few items thatother teenagers in the rest of theworld might have. They are evenwilling to risk getting caughtsmuggling, though they are nowingenious smugglers after facingsuch a long period of repressionand difficulty. Marjane happilywears her new clothes and putsup her new posters, which makeher feel more normal.

Though Marjane is onlythirteen, Marjane’s parents lether go out alone, unlike mostIranian parents. One day shegoes to buy illegal cassettes ofWestern Music, but on theway home afterwards she getsstopped by two members ofthe women’s branch of theGuardians of the Revolution,which was founded in 1982 toarrest women who do notconform to the veil wearinglaw. Marjane wears her veilimproperly. The two membersquestion her about herclothes, her pin of MichaelJackson, and her veil. ThoughMarjane lies and tries to feignignorance, the women want totake her to “the committee,”where she might be detainedfor hours or days, or evenwhipped, without her parentsfinding out.

That her parents allow her to goout speaks, perhaps, to theirsense of her maturity or theirmore liberal views. That otherparents don’t let their childrenout may suggest just howdangerous it is to even go out inIran at this time. And Marjane’sinteraction with the twoGuardians shows that it isdangerous: failure to conform tothe social expectations of dressand behavior can lead to thegovernment physically harmingyou. The stakes for Marjane, anatural rebel, in Iran are veryhigh.

Though the two membersinsist on taking Marjane intotheir car, she comes up with afake sob story about herdifficult family situation andweeps about it in front of thetwo women. The two womenlet her go. Marjane decides notto tell her parents about theepisode because she knowsthat if she does they will neverallow her out on her own again.She listens to American musicto calm herself down.

Marjane shows quite a bit ofingenuity in working her way outof the situation. Her thoughtprocess about not telling herparents shows how she is stillnegotiating the normal process ofgrowing up as a teenager.However, this wasn’t a simpleteenage hijinx—Marjane was inreal danger, and so the typicalevents and mistakes of growingup are fraught with direconsequences. Faced with thedanger posed to her by the anti-Western government drives herto Western music for comfort.This illustrates how repressiveregimes can drive at least someof their people away from theideology that the regime is tryingto promote.

THE SHABBAT

Iraq gains new ballistic missilescalled “Scuds”—very powerfuland expensive missiles that canreach from Iraqi land all theway to Tehran. When thesirens go on, it takes just threeminutes before the missilesmake landing, which does notgive people much time to hide.Marjane’s father says it isuseless to try to hide in theshelter in the basement. Thedamage done by the missiles isso great that the basementwouldn’t actually offer anyprotection to the family. Theywould just be crushed. “For thefirst time, I realized just howmuch danger we were in,”Marjane narrates.

The danger to Marjane’s familyonly increases as the war getsmore and more heated and Iraqgets more powerful weapons.Marjane’s father’s admission thatthere remains little one can do toprotect oneself from the newmissiles deals a blow toMarjane’s confidence and feelingof safety: she is not protected byher family’s wealth or hereducation. She is at the totalmercy of the war.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/kim-wilde

http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-shabbat


Many people leave the citybecause of the ballisticmissiles, but Marjane’s familystays, because her parentsbelieve that her education ather school remains her onlylink to a good future. Withoutit, even after the war with Iraqends, they think that Marjane’soptions might be very limited.One day, as Marjane goesshopping with a friend and isabout to pay for new jeans andearrings, they hear a bombexplode. It turns out to haveexploded in the neighborhoodof Tavanir, the neighborhood inwhich Marjane’s home stands.

Marjane’s family continues to tryto preserve the prospects of herdaughter’s life, even if in theshort term it endangers her life.They want Marjane to continueas close to a Western educationas possible, preparing her tothrive for a time when the war isover and perhaps a differentgovernment runs Iran. However,as the missile in herneighborhood shows, there is noescaping the war, and noguarantee that they will live tosee the future they hope for.

Marjane runs home as quicklyas she can, but when she getsto her street it seems as if thebomb has hit her home andhome, she can barely walk. Shehopes desperately that herparents are still alive.However, it turns out thatMarjane’s home remainsunharmed; instead, the homeof their Jewish neighbors, theBaba-Levys, lies destroyed.When they are reunited,Marjane’s mother tries todistract her daughter from therubble of their neighbor’shome, but Marjane witnesses abracelet lying in the ruins—abracelet she knows is attachedto the arm of her friend Neda.Marjane screams, angry andmournful about the loss of herfriend, who was only in thehouse because it was theSabbath, the holy day for theJews and a day of rest. Shesays, despite her screaming:“No scream in the world couldhave relieved my suffering andmy anger.”

This represents one of the fewmoments when it seems thatMarjane might lose members ofher nuclear family to the conflictthat has ravaged Iran for the pastfew years. Chance, however, hasleft Marjane’s family alive andtaken the life of a different family.That Marjane’s friend died duringa religious war because she waspiously observing her religiousfaith is a fundamental irony. ForMarjane, the death of her friendmakes the war somethingpersonal and inescapable – heroverwhelming grief and angerscours away any last remainingvestiges of her romanticismabout the war.

THE DOWRY

It is now 1984 and Marjane isfourteen. She remains asrebellious as ever. She talksback to her teachers at schoolwhen they chastise her aboutwhat she wears or says: “I hadlearned that you should alwaysshout louder than youraggressor,” she explains. Oneday, after the principalcriticizes Marjane for wearingjewelry and tries to take itaway from her, Marjane hitsthe principal and is summarilyexpelled, though she does tryto apologize. At the new schoolto which she is sent, Marjanespeaks out against the regime’spractice of keeping politicalprisoners, despite the teachertelling the class that theIslamic Republic does not keeppolitical prisoners. The teachercalls her parents, and whilethey are both proud of herpersonal strength, they arealso angry and fearful abouther incautious behavior.

A proper teenager, Marjane has alot of trouble conforming to theexpectations of her, particularlybecause she has gone through somuch and suffered so muchduring the Islamic Republic’s rise.Her anger at the principal isreally anger at the regime, for theprincipal is a representative of itsideology. Marjane’s parents arestill as liberal as ever, but theyalso understand the manydangers involved in standing upfor oneself nowadays, despite thefact that they, too, oncedemonstrated in the streets.



http://www.litcharts.com/lit/persepolis/the-dowry


Marjane’s parents explain theregime’s horrible treatment ofarrested women. They explainthat when a girl who is a virginand also unmarried getsarrested, a Guardian of theRevolution forcibly marriesand rapes her before theexecution. The rationale is thatit is against the law to kill avirgin, so they solve the issueby making sure the girl is nolonger a virgin. This horrifyingsituation is exactly whatNiloufar underwent beforeher execution. After she wasexecuted, her family received ameasly dowry from thegovernment in the mail. Thedowry, which is a sum ofmoney given to a bride’s familyby the groom’s family after awedding, proved to the familythat Niloufar had been marriedoff before her execution. Intotal, the family received theequivalent of $5 for theirdaughter’s life. Marjane isshocked and alarmed.

In order for Marjane to fullyunderstand the danger she putsherself in by behaving against therules in school, her parents verydirectly tell her the ugly truthabout the way the regime treatswomen. Marjane’s parents havemoved far away from theirearlier attempts at protectingMarjane from the truth; as theyexpress to her horrifying aspectsof the regime, they treat heralmost like an equal adult, onewho has the mental capacities tounderstand the enormity ofwhich they speak. The regime’stactic of raping women so as tosatisfy the tenets of Islam beforeexecuting them also reveals thehorrible emptiness of theregime’s ideology. Early in thenovel Marjane had wanted to bea prophet and to forbid suffering.While naïve, such a desirerepresented an understanding ofreligion that put people first. TheIslamic regime’s understanding ofreligion is one that imposessuffering as a matter of course.

Luckily, the principal choosesnot to write up a report aboutMarjane’s bed behavior inschool. However, despite thisreprieve, Marjane’s parentstell her that they think it best ifMarjane leaves Iran for a time.They decide that they will sendher to a French school inVienna, Austria. Marjane’sparents assure her that theywill join her in a few monthstime, and though at firstMarjane is happy she will havefull independence, shesuspects her parents are lyingto her about following her toVienna. “Don’t ever forget whoyou are,” Marjane’s father says,as Marjane thinks about theindependence she willexperience in Austria.

The decision to send Marjane toAustria is not an easy one, but itdemonstrates a trust Marjane’sparents have for their daughter.They think she is old enough tohandle herself far away fromthem. It also demonstrates thedesperation of their situation. Forall they know they, like Taher,might never see their daughteragain. When Marjane’s fathertells Marjane not to forget herorigins while in Austria, heharkens back to the idea that youcan love your country andcriticize it deeply at the sametime, a hard lesson. He is sayingthat she may not agree with theIslamic regime, but that she willalways be Iranian.

The next day, Marjane beginsher preparations to go toAustria. She fills a jar withIranian dirt, gives away herfavorite objects to her friendsfor safekeeping, and embracesher family, realizing “how muchthey loved me” and “howimportant they were to me.” Atnight, her grandmother comesto spend the night with her.She gives her some advice: “If[people] hurt you, tell yourselfthat it’s because they’re stupid.That will help keep you fromreacting to their cruelty.Because there is nothingworse than bitterness andvengeance…Always keep yourdignity and be true to yourself.”

Marjane must prepare for thecomplete unknown; thoughdangerous, Tehran has also beena place of love, happiness, family,and friends. By taking the dirtwith her and giving away herobjects to friends she ensures aphysical connection both to herland and to the people who areclose to her but will be very farphysically from her. Hergrandmother’s advice seems tounderscore the reason why muchof the violence has continued sounabated—people want tocommit revenge against oneanother—and it also suggests away to survive in a cruel world.Though Marjane has learned thisto a great degree already, thereminder is important for her,especially as she must embarkinto a more substantial—andlonely—adulthood.

The next day, at the airport,Marjane’s parents reiterate toMarjane that she should notforget who she is or where shecomes from, and Marjane vowsthat she will not. She remainsworried that her parents willnot manage to visit her inVienna—that her family willnever be together again.Tearfully, Marjane enters theairport. She turns around onelast time and sees her fathercarrying her mother, who lookslike she fainted, back to the car.“It would have been better tojust go,” Marjane says, “ratherthan take one last look.”

Marjane is not at all unrealisticabout her future: sheunderstands that she mightnever be able to be with herparents in the same way again.Her last look back towards herfamily represents the difficulty oftrying to keep a grasp on the pastand one’s home while beingforced to leave both. Marjaneunderstands that theconsequences of her leaving willnot only reverberate in her ownlife, but also in the lives of thepeople she loves. She must leaveIran and her family to have afuture, but she can never – nordoes she want to – escape herconnection to Iran or her family,even if her separation from herfamily and homeland fills herwith grief.




Documents

Get hundreds more free LitCharts at LitCharts.com. Persepolismariellagatter.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/0/2/16028226/persepolis... · Persepolis AUTHOR BIO Full Name: Marjane Satrapi Date