69 pages • 2 hours read
Marjane SatrapiPersepolis
Nonfiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Coming of Age During Revolution, Civil Unrest, and War
Satrapi draws a definitive parallel between the trajectory of her childhood and the trajectory of the Islamic Revolution, as well as the Iran-Iraq war. Her life—and her family’s history—is entwined with Iranian politics and culture. This is not solely a memoir of Satrapi’s childhood; to understand how she grew up, the reader must understand how the revolution, civil unrest, and war changed the world around her and affected her family.
For this reason, the book’s plot is not entirely linear: Satrapi’s experience of the revolution was not perfectly linear. Flashing back and forth between Tehran pre- and post-revolution—as well as before she is even born—Satrapi employs a semi-chronological structure. This allows for greater flexibility in storytelling and a richer, more vibrant depiction of the forces influential to Satrapi’s upbringing.
Coming-of-age tales often revolve around the loss of innocence. As the Iranian Revolution is an intrinsic part of the narrative, Satrapi’s loss of innocence is easily identifiable. Moreover, her loss of innocence symbolizes the loss of innocence many Iranians experience once it became clear that the country post-revolution will adhere to fundamentalist Islamic beliefs rather than socialist and communist ideals. For Satrapi, this loss of innocence quickly turns into disillusionment: in her country, in the revolution, in her family, and in her own power. Satrapi is, in many ways, a typical rebellious teenager, but she also lives under fundamentalist rule, which heightens her sense of alienation from society.
Satrapi’s style as a visual artist underscores this process of disillusionment. The illustration style gives a childlike simplicity to violent events that Satrapi witnesses or hears about. This choice mirrors Satrapi’s initial naivete but becomes increasingly incongruous as events progress. Though the style shelters readers from the detail and gore that a photograph would provide, the juxtaposition of Satrapi’s whimsical, imaginative illustrations with the horrors of war is itself meant to jar, inviting readers to consider what it means for a child to grow up in such an environment.
Family Resistance and Heroism
Satrapi learns about her family’s political involvement and activism at a young age. Their stories of resistance and heroism are a great source of pride for her and motivate her to want to be heroic, too. Even when Satrapi’s family members prove reluctant to provide her with details due to her young age, it does little to dampen her enthusiasm. Rather, it merely allows room for Satrapi to imagine these events—especially in the first half of the book.
In particular, the young Satrapi sees her grandfather and Uncle Anoosh as role models who withstood torture and imprisonment. For example, when Satrapi tries to stay in a bath for as long as possible, she does so to understand the torturous conditions her grandfather endured. She sees this as her duty, especially when Uncle Anoosh tells her, “I tell you all this because it’s important that you know. Our family memory must not be lost. Even if it’s not easy for you, even if you do not understand it all” (60). Likewise, Satrapi engages in dangerous activities such as attending political demonstrations on “Black Friday” to emulate her family heroes.
Satrapi’s parents, while not imprisoned or tortured the same way Uncle Anoosh was, resist on a smaller level. They attend daily demonstrations in Tehran that Satrapi’s father photographs. When alcohol, dancing, and music are outlawed, her parents still throw and attend parties, which they hide from their neighbors. In speaking out and resisting oppression where they can, they show a form of everyday heroism. Their love for Satrapi, however, keeps them from risking it all and putting themselves directly in harm’s way.
Persepolis especially questions what constitutes heroism or resistance for Iranian women. In addition to the above forms of resistance, Satrapi’s mother displays a radical, if perhaps quieter, form of rebellion in how she cares for others. Despite what gossiping neighbors say in the grocery store, she does not shun her friend Mali when her house is destroyed. She also sends Satrapi to Austria for her own safety despite how painful it is for her to do so. This subtle resistance is heroic because it allows Satrapi to survive and eventually preserve her family’s story for posterity.
Putting One’s Faith in Religion or Political Ideology
At the beginning of the text, Satrapi admits that, as a young child, she was convinced she would become a prophet. This admission, as idealistic as it is, conveys Satrapi’s desire to feel empowered and to help those around her. Her childhood “conversations” with God demonstrate her need to feel as though there is a higher power or something in which she can have faith, in order to feel in control.
Satrapi’s belief in God does not originate with her family. Between their ties to communism and Marxism and their wealth and education, her parents place their faith in political ideologies. They even go so far as to put their bodies on the line during demonstrations. In her desire for order, Satrapi reads books to better understand what her parents are saying.
However, faith in religion and politics alike is tested when the Islamic regime takes over. Satrapi stops believing in God after her uncle’s execution; she is unable to come to terms with a God who would allow such horrific tragedies to occur. Moreover, the education she has received makes her skeptical of the form of religion she now finds herself confronted with: Islamic fundamentalism. Ultimately, she realizes that neither religion nor political ideology alone can cure the world’s ills. Although political ideals fueled the revolution, they could not stop fundamentalists from taking over Iran. This places Satrapi at a crossroads, and she feels jaded, unsure of what to believe. Punk rock, heavy metal, and Western influences fill the vacuum but do not offer a clear path forward.
Satrapi’s sense of self is tied to what she believes. At the end of Persepolis, the one thing she appears to believe more than anything has nothing to do with religion or political philosophy but with the love her parents have for her. This is evidenced when they send her abroad for school despite how much it pains them. Their love is the one constant force in her life. Even when she tries to rebel against it or turn away, she always knows her family loves her, and in the end, this is where she places her faith.
Joy in Wartime
Despite the often dark, tragic, and complicated subject matter of this memoir, Satrapi takes every opportunity to draw attention to moments of humor, levity, dreaminess, and joy. This can be partially attributed to the mission with which she opens the book—to challenge the idea that all Iranians are fundamentalists or extremists with a well-rounded picture of her and her family’s life in Tehran during a turbulent time.
At the beginning of the book, much of the happiness Satrapi experiences is due to her lack of understanding of how the world around her works. This happiness gradually diminishes as she gets older and learns more about the true political situation in Iran, as well as the ramifications for the people around her. However, happiness itself does not disappear. Satrapi’s parents try to cultivate small moments of delight for her as they see the war cast a shadow on her life and schooling—especially when she is forced to wear the veil in public. When they smuggle Western items she covets—like a denim jacket and rock’n’roll posters—back into Iran, they do it to make her happy. Satrapi finds solace in heavy metal and punk rock, which are the antithesis of the fundamentalist regime in power (likely adding to their appeal).
Satrapi’s ability to create a realistic and nuanced portrait of her childhood is therefore not merely about asking the outside world to shift its image of Iran. It also gets at a larger truth: Even in the darkest times, there is still some light. Without this, her story would feel hopeless and two-dimensional. Moments like the dance party make this explicit: “In spite of all the dangers, the parties went on. ‘Without them it would not be psychologically bearable,’ some said. ‘Without parties, we might as well bury ourselves now,’ added the others” (106). Amid war and violence in the streets, and despite the dangers to party attendees, the need to dance and feel alive makes itself felt.
Satrapi’s determination to showcase both the beautiful and the ugly sides of her childhood also allows the reader to experience the true depth of her losses—for instance, when Uncle Anoosh is executed, or when her parents send her away to Austria. Without knowing the joy and laughter they shared, the reader would not grasp the full emotional significance of these moments.
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