Persepolis ~ Fabiana Lopez

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I enjoyed reading Persepolis. It was funny at times while still providing a really poignant, intense portrayal of an adolescence under totalitarian rule.

I was a little confused with the way the story seemed to jump around in time. At first it's in 1980 and then she backtracks to a few years prior, so I was confused at one point until I realized she'd gone back in time. I think it was during the story with her maid falling in love with the boy neighbor, she mentioned she was six years old and I said 'Oh I thought she was ten.' So that was a little confusing.

Personally, I can connect to the feeling of wanting to go out and being annoyed that my parents are afraid for me, but it seems like in Marjane's situation her parents really DID have a reason to be afraid for her. Especially considering those women could have just taken her to the Committee for hours and not informed her parents and she could have been interrogated or whipped. (Satrapi, 133).
I also understand wanting to be a punk kid. I had a phase in high school and earlier in college where I wanted to be punk haha. Alas, I will never be hardcore. I'm too dorky.
I can also relate to wanting to have faith in God and wanting to believe but struggling with all the terrible things that happen in everyday life and all the things that are just so difficult to explain or reconcile with God. 

I like Satrapi's portrayal of her adolescence. It feels very candid and honest. She shows personal things that happened to her, like her struggle with believing in God, her early years as a precocious child reading about different philosophers, the death of her uncle by execution and another uncle by heart attack before he got to see his son again. She shows her own personal trauma – witnessing the arm of her neighbor, Neda Baba-Levy crushed under her house (Satrapi, 142) and seeing the bracelet. She tells us about how Neda's death made her feel that she had nothing more to be afraid of and she became even more rebellious/ didn't feel like she had to hold back. 
I really liked the scene toward the beginning with the cinema and the people dying in the fire because it was so haunting. I like how bold she is about portraying violence. I also liked all the scenes with God and how she portrays God wrapping his arms around her, comforting her. 

I think this story is similar to Fallen Angels and Prisoner because it portrays adolescence during war. Even if Marjane is not a soldier, she does stick up for herself and fight for her own rights as a woman. Her desire to protest and speak up directly puts her in danger. She reveals herself to be brave and like Richie and Yanek struggles to keep a part of herself in the midst of political upheaval, oppression, and chaos.

I think the main issues related to adolescence in this book are national identity and how it affects your personal identity, gender and suppression of women's rights, violence, growing up in a totalitarian society and trying to figure out who you are while having to live with fear, teenage rebellion, political activeness as a youth, faith, and the importance of music and pop culture to teens.


I could definitely see having this as a book in my class. I don't know if I could teach it but I would enjoy trying to. I think it would be good as a supplement to a reading of Kite Runner. It would present a good adolescent story in a similar vein as Kite Runner, a female perspective to balance the primarily male perspective of Kite Runner. I think this is an important book because it can help American teens understand what life is like for people in the middle east.  

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 18, 2016 at 12:40 PM

    Satrapi's portrayal of violence was engrossing. The simplicity, yet boldness, of her drawings really do draw in the readers attention. I was surprised with just how much violence she was subjected to, as well as the discrimination and heartbreak. She lost family, friends, and her own identity in the outbreak of these political, religious, and societal arguments. It is truly was amazing to read this novel.

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