Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis: An Analysis

I liked this because I (and most other people) can relate to this. I often try to debate things then realize that I cannot change the person’s mind. For example, things like abortion, religious beliefs, and equality are not debatable because one cannot change another’s beliefs.

The book, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, was written by Marjane Satrapi; it is the story of her life in Iran from birth to fourteen years old. The perspective of Marjane, in her novel, affects the overall presentation of revolution, religion, and social classes. Consequently, with no background knowledge, we only have her perspective which affects our own opinion about the events of the book.

Throughout the Iranian Revolution, many events and changes took place that largely affected the views of Iranians by other nations. The graphic novel, The Complete Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi (Satrapi, 2003), conveys many of these events and changes through the eyes of a child growing up in the 1980s in Iran. Satrapi’s main purpose for this book is to describe how the Iranian government was corrupt, causing foreign nations to have a tainted view of all Iranian citizens. The Complete Persepolis does so by presenting major events and changes in a manner that is directed towards audiences that are willing to have an open mind about ethnicity and false stereotypes, and an audience that is young and can relate to the “coming of age” aspect of this novel. By exhibiting a credible first hand account of how Satrapi and many others were affected by the events that took place during the Iranian Revolution, The Complete Persepolis can effectively persuade a reader to eliminate the “Islamic extremist” stereotype that the corrupt Islamic Republic gave all Iranian citizens.

Directing the topic to our interlocutor’s center of interest will help finding common ground and build rapport with him/her. “The law is this: Always make the other person feel important...” (p.95). Carnegie offers “ways to win people to your way of thinking. ”(p.00). In a same vein, proving someone wrong is a waste of time and will still leave our pugilists feeling resentments.

Conflicting perspectives arise when two individuals experience the same situations, events or personalities, but take meaning from these experiences in opposing ways. Because of these contradictory views, we –as the audience – must challenge our assessment of the truth.

“People say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Truth is, you knew what you had, you just never thought you’d lose it – Anonymous” (Quotes). Marjane Satrapi was born to a wealthy family and had parents who adored her. She seemed to have everything, and even as the war raged on, her family still managed to have something more than the next family. In spite of their good fortune, the war was taking a toll on the family and it was decided that Marjane would be sent to Austria. Thus leaving everything Marjane loved behind, leaving her to fend in the darkness of the unknown. In Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, Marjane starts off as a rebel, though naïve at the same time, to an attentive but scared girl in order to show how the war has triggered Marjane's reality to crash down, clarifying the world around her.

Be sympathetic to the views of others. It may not be your viewpoint but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

The book, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi illustrates her childhood story while living in Iran. She witnessed a lot of struggles Iran had to face. The main struggle that stood out to me is people getting treated unfairly because of their social class. It should not matter what you wear or look like to be important to society, but in Iran social class is a form of identity. They are not able to be whom they wish to be; are forced to be in a certain social class for the rest of their lives.

Western culture has often misperceived the east and the way that their society functions. In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Satrapi uses graphic novels as a way to demonstrate to the western culture how the east has been misrepresented. The use of media helps to depict to the west how their views of the east may have been unfairly formed in the past. The media has only revealed limited knowledge that only shows partial perspectives because it is difficult to get perspectives of the minorities although they are the ones who hold the most truth. In other words the use of graphic novels and a child’s perspective give the west a new idea on how it is that society in the east functions. This style of writing brings the connection between the two

Think back to a time in class when there was an open-ended discussion. The teacher would start the discussion with a question or topic and the class would respond accordingly. Usually each question or topic had multiple points of view. The discussion would start when a peer would state their point of view and then another would either support that idea or contradict it with something else. There would be no right or wrong answer, but it would bring to light many suggestions most people in the class would not have thought of on their own. New ideas are born through discussions and opinions. Thinking about and accepting other’s opinions is how we grow and mature. That doesn’t mean we have to agree with them, it just means we have to give their opinions some thought and respect them. Maybe they

In order for society to accept people unlike ourselves, we must learn to have tolerance for their views. Emphasis on differing views and the importance of tolerating them is shown when Ronald J. Allen wrote “with controversy comes debate, enlightenment, and renewed commitment” (Allen 20). Tolerating contrasting ideas to our own brings new arguments and

The Satrapi family were really good people who always did what they supposed to do if they knew that it was the right thing to do. They believed that you should have the liberty to make your own decisions, which is why Marjane was so independent, brave, rebellious, generous, understanding. Marjane believed that you should always do what is right because every one is considered equal. Well even though Marji was taught that by her parents she soon learned that not everyone is considered equal according to what socio-economic class that they were a part of. When Marjane's family maid fell in love with the teenage boy next door, she did not see anything wrong with them both wanting to be together and get married. It's only when Marjane's parents found out about the maid's relationship that it was soon ended because her father told the young man that she was their

As she ages and matures, she tends to get offended when her family treats her like a child. Marjane views herself as an independent adult, and acts like one too, as displayed when she says, “I sealed my act of rebellion against my mother's dictatorship by smoking the cigarette that I’d stolen from my uncle” (Satrapi 117). Not only did Marjane smoke a cigarette, which is illegal, she also stole from her family members. Her motivation to be independent clashes with her mother’s rules, causing her to make poor decisions. Additionally, Marjane hides things from her parents. When she skips class and her mother confronts her, all she says is “I’m not lying” (113). Marjane made a bad choice and attempts to conceal it by lying, which only gets her in even more trouble. Though inconvenient for her parents, Marjane's rebellion against her family is unlikely to put anyone in

I often asked myself why it's so easy for me to talk about a large number of social issues with my close friends and family, yet when it comes to voicing my opinions to others, I am wary. It seems as though I'm only comfortable with voicing my opinions about controversial social issues to those who also share the same views as I do. Rather than stepping out of my comfort zone to talk about these issues directly to those who oppose my opinions, I retreat to instead reading about the opposing sides. In retrospect, I've noticed that discussing issues with those who agree with you is like “preaching to the choir.” I believe that being involved in an open dialogue with those who have different opinions from my own is a much more effective way to induce progressive thought. In attempting to discover a reason for why this may be the case, I cannot help but think that it is in part due to my upbringing. My mother has always been very reserved when it comes to discussing controversial issues with others. In addition, she would

One of the most frustrating situations is having a conversation with a person and getting angry when they aren’t understanding what you’re saying. Have you ever realized that you most likely do the same thing? A great suggestion to a less frustrating lifestyle is a simple fix of seeing a situation from someone else’s point of view. Various ways of fixing such a simple issue are to consider what the person is going through, their beliefs, and the details they might have seen that you missed.