Publication "Persepolis", "A Coming-of-Age Story Set in Revolutionary Iran"

Words are not the only way an author can communicate to his or her reader. The incorporation of images into any novel conveys a way for the author to tell a story and have a conversation with the audience. One author, Marjane Satrapi, describes her memoir in an illustrative form. Marjane Satrapi was born in the year 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She is an Iranian novelist and artist, best known for her work in Persepolis, a “coming-of-age story set in revolutionary Iran” (Naghibi, O’Malley 1).

Persepolis is a graphic autobiography that is split into two books, each following the lives of the author and her family during and after the Islamic Revolution. The first section depicts Marjane spending most of her childhood growing up in the city of Tehran.

The second section follows her life as a young adult living in Austria, where she attends college, marries a painter, divorces after two years of marriage, and moves to Paris, France. The graphic novel, Persepolis, is analyzed based on how the author’s images and art choices reflect her depictions of imagery, symbolism, and plot.

Similar to an animation or a painting, each panel in Persepolis is composed with particular attention to the perspective, setting, and emotion of the characters. For example, the author illustrates Iranians suppressed by public figures expressing the rules of war and uniformity. Marjane often draws horrific pictures of murders and dead bodies to demonstrate the terrors and tragedies during the Islamic Revolution. Religious conflicts also play a role in the novel.

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Marjane sees herself as very a religious person, such as portraying herself as someone with high virtue and authority.

While Marjane rebels against the Islamic theocracy, she feels torn between her two sides of religion. In one image, one half of the picture shows a ruler, hammer, and a collection of gears. The other half of the image depicts her wearing a veil and the backgrounds patterned, which relates to her ancient traditions of Eastern or Islamic culture. The imagery described in the novel not only presents a visual picture of the author’s actions, it also demonstrates a deeper meaning in Persepolis. Marjane Satrapi creates her images and art style with a symbolic message. Her illustrations are depicted in black and white, which represents how the author sees the world, including the war struggles Marjane and her people encounter. In addition, the author has trouble knowing what is right or wrong, similar to what is white or black.

Marjane frequently mentions wearing a long veil in the first chapter of Persepolis. Every time she is wearing a veil, her facial expressions and gestures appear to match the other girls’ and women’s mannerisms. The uniformity of veiled women often represents despair and respecting some form of dictatorship. Later, Marjane and her schoolmates remove their veils as a rebellious opposition against the Islamist theocracy. When Marjane returns to her home country after years of living in Vienna, the women in Iran started wearing veils differently. In other words, the women would style their hair based on how they want their veil to appear. This development further shows the opposition against Islamic theocracy without directly breaking the laws. The symbolic pictures in the novel also demonstrates the author learning new things about herself, similar to a coming-of-age story.

Marjane Satrapi begins her narrative by providing a simple introduction that shows her historical context and background in terms of the storyline. In the novel, Marjane is a young girl who has encountered war and depression in her home town. The second section of the story starts to shifts to Marjane coming to Vienna, Austria. To the author, Austria seems like a strange environment for her to be in. It is also when Marjane begins to repress herself and forget about her identity. For example, she was abused for being Iranian, so she begins to accept her role as a European woman. Later on, the panels show her adolescent years. She is seen engaging in drugs and finding love. At one point, Marjane meets an artist named Reza. Because pre-marital affairs are illegal, Marjane and Reza marry to avoid getting in trouble.

However, Marjane seems to regret her marriage, as pictured being behind prison bars. As a result, Marjane decides to divorce Reza after being married for two years. As mentioned before, the use of showing her memoir in black and white emphasizes this distressing situation. Even though Marjane lived most of her adolescent and adult life out of her home country, she still encounters stressful and depressing circumstances in Austria. In conclusion, Marjane’s life “traces a crucial transition in the enactment of the autobiographical text” (Davis 1). The author successfully communicates to the audience by highlighting the important aspects of Eastern culture, particularly tracing its financial and political issues.

Every one of Marjane’s illustrated panels are composed with consideration to a specific setting, position, and emotions of the characters. Her autobiography shows that she and her entire country suffers from political events, with no chance of freedom. Even when she is away from her country that is currently at war, Marjane continues to encounter abuse as well as being considered as an outcast during her time in Austria. Eventually, the results of being persecuted lead her to finally accept her role as a European woman. Later, she marries to prevent further trouble only to feel like she is being held captive for her actions. These events mainly show the author’s decisions that are influenced by both internal and external forces such as repression. Consequently, Marjane Satrapi not only portray the horrors of the Islamic Revolution, but also illustrate her personal outcomes of trying to escape uniformity and tyranny. This proves that society has a huge impact on how people live.

Works Cited

1. Davis, Rocio G. “A Graphic Self.” Taylor and Francis Online, 20 Aug. 2006, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/014403500223834.
2. Naghibi, Nima, and Andrew O’Malley. “Estranging the Familiar: ‘East’ and ‘West’ in Satrapi’s Persepolis.” Oral History Review, Oxford University Press, 6 Aug. 2007, muse.jhu.edu/article/218786/summary.
3. Satrapi, Maarijane. The Complete Persepolis. Pantheon Books, 2007.