Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
by Marjane Satrapi
Summary
Persepolis,
the graphic novel and true story of Marjane Satrapi's, Marji, childhood
in Iran. Marji lives with her mother and father in Tavinar, Iran. Margi
remembers a time when Iran was a peaceful place with no war and strict
rules on clothing. Born in 1969, she was only 10 years old when the
Islamic Revolution began.
In
the beginning, she gives us details of how the emperor was overtaken by
Reza who then became the king. She goes through a few of Iran's
misfortunes do you to civil unrest, the overall want for oil in the
area, and the ongoing war between Iran and Iraq. The majority of the
book is between 1979 and 1981, specifically revolving around the Islamic
revolution, the new obligatory rule to wear veils at school, the end of
bilingual schools due to cultural revolution, social class issues, and
the Black Friday massacre.
Marji
does not consider her father to be a hero because he has not been in
prison unlike many of her uncles, her grandfather, and her friends'
parents who have been. A few of her uncles come to visit and she becomes
very close with Anoosh, her father's brother. Anoosh tells Marji many
stories of his past life as secretary to his uncle. He later went to
Leningrad in Moscow to get a doctorate in Marxism-Leninism and married a
Russian woman who he had two kids with. The two divorced, and he was
later arrested and imprisoned for years.
While
her uncle is visiting, many of her father's other siblings were
brutally murdered or had to cross the borders without being seen. It was
said that Anoosh had returned to Moscow for his wife, but Marji knew
better because she knew he was divorced and did not like her. Marji
found out that he was arrested and imprisoned. Marji was the last family
member he saw before he was executed because he was considered a
Russian spy.
Marji
is faced with loss throughout the entire story, whether by friends
moving to the United States for safety, family members being murdered
and executed, or the continuous bombs that are going off in Tehran. The
family did not live far from Tehran and if a bomb of a certain size were
to go off, they would not survive despite being in a bomb shelter or
basement.
Schools
are closed for two years while veils are made mandatory for women to
wear. There were two kinds of women, the fundamentalist and the modern
woman, both with very different views. There were also two kinds of men,
the fundamentalist and the progressive, again with differing views. In
the beginning, most of the young girls despised the veils for many
different reasons. The older women wore them much easier than the
younger generation. The younger generation also had a problem with
authority and Marji was in constant trouble at school. She was stubborn
and spoke up for herself and created a unit with her classmates that
would not snitch on each other. After multiple incidents, Marji refuses
to give up a bracelet of hers to the principal. She ends up hitting her
and being expelled from school. Her parents support her for a majority
of the book, but her mother was truly upset when she realized what
happened at school. Her mother was a firm believer of education and in
the empowerment that it brought to a woman.
Marji's
family refused to leave Iran because they did not want to be subjected
to lower class jobs. While not wealthy, the family was well enough off
to have a maid and to allow Marji to go shopping when she wanted. As a
young girl, she didn't always understand why Iran wasn't fighting back
and that their dollar was not stretching as far as it used to. The
family constantly suffered from not being able to find food and the
proper supplies for their household.
One
day while shopping, a bomb goes off in her neighborhood and she takes
off running. Luckily, her house was not damaged, but the house right
next-door was and her friend was killed. She had the unfortunate
privilege of seeing her friend's bracelet attached to her lifeless arm.
After
realizing that the bombing was becoming way too close to home, her
parents decided to send her to Austria with her mother's good friend.
Her parents told her they would join her in six months time and to not
worry. The graphic novel ends with Marji at the airport trying not to
watch her parents walk away as they are separated by war.
Book Trailer
Since made into a movie, I found an official movie trailer published in 2007. I also found a great student made video with the same pictures as the book.
Themes
Education, Rights, Women's Rights, Men's Rights, Revolution, Belief, Religion, Freedom, and Family.
Similar Themed Books
Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned by Judd Winick and Maus by Art Spiegelman.
Other Books by Marjane Satrapi
Satrapi prefers to call them comic books instead of graphic novels, but her original Persepolis series consisted of four books written in French. Persepolis was adapted into an animated film. Other than the series, Satrapi has written fourteen other books in both English and French.
Teaching Ideas
Research the events that took place in Iran in the graphic novel:
- The Islamic Revolution in 1979
- Change of schooling: boys and girls are separated, veils are to be worn by girls, and no more bilingual schools exist in 1980
- The revolutions due to the social classes
- Black Friday massacre
Research the United States during the same time periods and compare what the two countries were like.
Pose questions such as:
- Was the U.S. doing anything to help or hinder Iran's way of life?
- Was the U.S. more similar to Britain or Iran? How?
- Why did Britain choose not to help during the revolutions?
- Did any countries try to help or hide the refugees escaping from Iran?
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