Persepolis

In the aftermath of Black Friday, there are an increasing number of massacres. The shah claims to understand the revolt and pledges to make moves toward democracy, but his moves only further fuel demonstrations. When the shah steps down and finally leaves, all of Iran celebrates.

Schools are closed before being reopened. Satrapi and her classmates are instructed to rip pictures of the shah from their textbooks. Satrapi organizes a movement to beat up a classmate, Ramin, whose father was in the savak (the shah’s secret police), but her mother catches her in the act. She reminds Satrapi that it is not their role to administer justice and that she should not hold Ramin responsible for his father’s actions.

Satrapi tells Ramin she forgives him for his father’s actions, but Ramin tells her that his father only killed communists. Satrapi goes home to her mother to tell her what Ramin told her, and her mother says he is merely repeating what he was told. Satrapi stares at herself in the mirror, repeating the affirmation that she must forgive.

A few days after the shah flees Iran, 3,000 political prisoners are freed, including two friends of the family—Siamak Jari (the husband of Satrapi’s mother’s best friend) and Mohsen Shakiba. Satrapi’s parents invite both men over to their house after they are released, and both men realize they knew each other in prison. They talk about the torture they endured, including having their fingernails pulled out and having lit cigarettes put out on their backs and thighs.

When they were younger, Satrapi told Laly, Siamak’s daughter, that her father was probably dead. When Laly comes over after her father is released, she tells Satrapi that her father is a hero. Laly is drawn as standing much taller than Satrapi, growing larger by her proximity to her father’s heroism.

Inspired by the stories the former prisoners told, Satrapi acts out “torture” as part of a game with her friends, but she feels overwhelmed and scared after playing. When she speaks to her mother about it, her mother tells her “there is justice on earth” for torturers (53). Confused about what constitutes “justice,” Satrapi once again imagines herself wrapped up in the arms of God.

Satrapi’s father is not a “hero” in the same way Laly’s father is. However, her uncle Anoosh, her father’s brother whom she has never met due to his imprisonment, is a hero. When Uncle Anoosh is released from prison and comes to visit, he tells her story of how he worked as a secretary for his uncle Fereydoon, who proclaimed an independent democracy in the Iranian province of Azerbaijan. However, the shah’s men arrested Fereydoon. Anoosh ran away to avoid arrest, trekking through the cold and snow to his parents’ house with no food. Fereydoon was imprisoned and executed.

Anoosh went to Moscow (then referred to as Leningrad) to earn his doctoral degree in Marxism-Leninism. There, he got married and had two daughters, but he and his wife later divorced. He became lonely and dreamed of returning to Iran. Anoosh used a disguise and fake passport to try to return to Iran, but he was caught and thrown in prison for nine years.

Satrapi asks Anoosh if he was subjected to torture, but he replies that what his ex-wife put him through was worse. He tells Satrapi he is telling her all these stories because “family memory must not be lost. Even if it’s not easy for [her], even if [she does] not understand it all” (60). The chapter ends with a large illustration of Satrapi walking with her friends, telling them about the many heroes in her family.

Satrapi listens in on political conversations between her father and Uncle Anoosh. Satrapi’s father expresses surprise that the leftist revolution has turned the country into an Islamic republic. Anoosh says that since half the country is illiterate, the population would not unite under Marxism, but religion can unite the proletariat. When Satrapi adds that on TV, they say that 99.9% of the population voted for an Islamic republic, her father says the elections were a fraud.

At school, some of Satrapi’s friends are leaving the country. Satrapi’s extended family members also begin to leave for the United States. Her parents consider leaving but also think their friends and family will one day return to Iran. One evening, the family receives a call that Mohsen has been found dead in his bathtub. Not long after, Siamak’s sister is murdered and the rest of Siamak’s family disappears across the border, hidden among a flock of sheep. After each new development, Uncle Anoosh says everything will be fine, but he is illustrated as being increasingly tired, scared, and deflated.

Revolutionaries begin to be targeted as enemies; thus, Uncle Anoosh returns to Moscow. Satrapi is concerned he did not say goodbye to her before leaving. Her father admits to her that Anoosh was arrested but that the only person he wants to visit him is Satrapi.

When Satrapi visits the prison, Uncle Anoosh tells her she is the daughter he always wanted. Not long after the visit, Uncle Anoosh is executed after being accused of being a Russian spy. God visits Satrapi in her pitch-black room and asks her what is wrong. She screams at him to leave and never come back. The final image is of Satrapi, small and stunned, floating through space, the illustration showing just how lost she feels after her uncle is killed. Satrapi’s mother interrupts the scene, yelling at her to run to the basement because the city is being bombed.