Social Class Issues in Persepolis

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Overall I think that Persepolis was a good book. It was nice to read an adolescent book that wasn’t filled with just words but pictures as well. I feel as though this book brought about many racial and political situations. I’m not into having to look at a picture to understand a story, but this book had really good illustrations. If you read and did not look at the pictures then you would miss a lot of important information. I think that Satrapi wanted to write this book to relate to adolescent readers in several ways. I think for one, she wanted to show how strong minded women are. I also think that she wanted to provide a different image to adolescents who view people of Iran based off stereotypes. In my opinion this book breaks a lot of those stereotypes. When it comes to the political issues that are talked about in the story, one of the most interesting parts to me was when Marjane’s father found out that the maid was in love with the neighbor.

Mehri was a maid that stayed with Marjane’s uncle and was like a sister to her. Mehri fell in love with a gentleman who lived next door and began to call him her fiancée (36). Mehri told her sister about this man, and out of jealousy, she went and told several of the family members who kept telling more and more people, and before they knew it, Mehri’s love for the neighbor had reached Marjane’s father. I found it very sad that because the maid was of a lower social class than the man she loved, he pondered whether or not he still wanted to see her after finding out who she really was. When Marjane’s father approached the gentleman, he had no clue that Mehri was a maid. When the neighbor showed the father all the letters that had been written between him and the maid, Marjane’s father immediately recognized that it was Marjane’s writing. I feel as though Satrapi wanted to show the powerfulness of women and how they stick together. Though the maid could not write, Marjane knew how much she loved the man and wrote the letters for her.

Comments

  1. Lucy McElroyNovember 18, 2016 at 9:08 AM

    I agree with you that Satrapi wanted to reach adolescent readers with Persepolis. Learning about historical events can be really boring sometimes, and I think the fact that this novel has pictures can motivate young adults to learn more about what happened. Like you said, she weaves themes into the paper, most prominently feminism, so it's definitely good for educating young adults.

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  2. UnknownNovember 21, 2016 at 10:15 AM

    I agree with you, I think when her father discovers Mehri and their neighbors romance, is interesting and equally sad. It made me question that if he actually loved her why was social class important; did he not want to dissapoint his family for loving a maid or lower his own status by being with her?

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