Emotional Reaction

A section in the memoir that really intrigued me and caught my attention was when Marjane Satrapi and her family started to find out about Iranian men being tortured. In the text it states, “They burned him with an iron. I never imagined that you could use that appliance for torture. In the end he was cut to pieces(51-52)”. This part of the book frightened me to know that innocent people were treated like beasts for no reason. It shocked me that at such a young age Marjane knew what was going on in her society. Her parents informed her of all these horrible events and actions that were going on around her. The context of this story is very unique and rare because it constantly shows gruesome events but the author always uses humor to lighten the text, making her readers not feel so hostile and fearful of what is going on. The events of the Islamic revolution really come as a surprise to me because I have never heard of it before. Persepolis gives a lot insight into the Islamic Revolution especially explaining how bad it got with people being tortured and the constant bombings that went on.

This part of the book that I chose shows how serious Marjane's life was. Her friend's conversations were not about barbies or school. Marjane's life was all about the revolution. The text says, “It's a good thing they didn't kill your father in prison(52)”. In this quote the author and her friend discuss her father not getting killed in prison. In my life I have never had to discuss any of these topic when I was ten years old. This book has showed me that there are many different ways of living. Marjane's childhood was completely different from mine causing me to see the purity and significance of the memoir, Persepolis.

Final Reflection

The memoir, Persepolis, has been interesting to read. The book bored me a little bit because at certain times I found myself losing interest and becoming very bored. There were a lot of events in the story where I did find myself very intrigued. Finding out how Iranians were treated and how much their lives were affected from the Islamic Revolution, really fascinated me. Although, I have had an good experience with reading this book it was not what I expected. I knew the book would be based on the Islamic Revolution but not as much as it actually is. I wish the reading would have been focused more on how Marjane felt as a Muslim girl but it is very revolution based and that's all. I do love how Marjane always expresses her feelings and views on her life. She always specifically details her emotions and others as well. Also, it was very smart and absorbing to see how Marjane Satrapi constantly used humor in her context while also showing a deep seriousness. Persepolis has been a little more different then any memoir's that have been read in my class. The memoir, Maus by Art Spiegelman describes the life of someone during the Holocaust. The book, Persepolis talks about the Islamic Revolution so the two books are similar but are kind of different in tones. Maus has a more serious and thoughtful tone while Persepolis has a more light and humorous tone while still stressing the severity of the events in the book. I am very happy that this book was my memoir choice because now I have insight to what my life will be like and how the Islamic Revolution affected people's lives.

Connections

A song that I feel connects to my memoir is, Eclipse(All Yours) by Metric. In this song there is a relationship that is being explained between a male and female showing that their love is strong and can't be broken. The song shows that opinions do not matter and that if your brave and stand up for what you want, love can be infinite. When I compare this song and the memoir, Persepolis, I see two people both fighting for something that they love and want to protect. In the book Marjane Satrapi is never really scared about the events that go on in her life, she just always has an opinion and answer for almost anything she is faced with. Marjane always wants to fight for what she believes in and always wants to be included, whether its in politics or demonstration rallies. The tones in the song and book both give off courage, hope, and bravery. Both of the people in these pieces show that they are not afraid to stand against society or be judged for their love choice or religion style. Although Marjane is in a younger stage of her life during the book, she is still a very fierce and opinionated person who wants to take action.

The song that I have chosen talks about love between a girl and a boy. This relationship relates to the one between Marjane and her country. She has a very deep love for Iran that will never be altered or changed no matter how much pain and grief it causes her family to live there. The love for her country will never be forgotten because she is constantly reminding people through her story that their lives were hard but worth it and that she learned a lot. Although Marjane leaves Iran, she still remembers it's significance and what a beautiful place it used to be. The strong and close meaning between Marjane and Iran cannot be broken resulting in the love of the relationship being infinite. In the song it says, “I'm not afraid.” That phrase definitely symbolizes Marjane and shows her overall dynamic throughout the book. I think the theme of both of these books are just conquering something that you may fear and feeling accomplished for having a strong belief in something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26GXgTC7FFIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26GXgTC7FFI

Title Significance

The title of this book is called, Persepolis. The literal meaning of the word , Persepolis is an ancient capital of Persia. It is the Greek name for the ancient city of Parsa. It was an Persian Empire founded by, Cyrus the Great. The city was known for it's wonderful soil, rivers, and riches. Persepolis was built on some of Persia's most beautiful mountain tops. Persepolis was very well-know for a beauteous place until Alexander the Great over through the empire and ruled the city as his own but with no mercy. He had taken away all their beautiful treasures and killed many of their people. Once Alexander had gotten tired of Persepolis, the city was mistreated by troops and a fire spread destroying all its beauty, resulting in the lost of it's popularity. The book is based on The Islamic Revolution that occurred in Iran(Persia).

Knowing the background of the title definitely gives me a clear understanding of why the book title is, Persepolis. During the time that Marjane grew up in Iran the Islamic Revolution took place. Before the war Marjane viewed her life as beautiful and free-spirited. Iran was a beautiful place where people loved to live and raise their families. The revolution turned Iran into a place that people feared and desperately tried to escape. The ancient empire of Persepolis has the exact same similarities as Iran during the revolution. I can see that Marjane Satrapi wanted to show the comparisons between the two places and show how a somewhat dictatorship destroyed a beautiful place that was once worshiped and praised by many people. She wanted to really show how Iranian lives were taken over just like what had happened to Persia. Her people had to suffer and go through life under extreme and harsh rules. The title is there to acknowledge and show how horrible people felt and how extreme their torture was. The title especially expresses Marjane's life and how she felt the Islamic Revolution was.

The significance of the title shows how deeply the revolution affected people's lives and how it would be taken lightly. Marjane chooses to shed light to their stories and to not let them be forgotten like Persia. It is shown through the title that living in the life of an Iranian during the revolution was not easy. The message this title sends is that life was reformed because of the events of the revolution. Marjane gives readers a loo through her own eyes of what she saw everyday and what her family went through.

Passage Analysis

“Suddenly,sirens started to wall...

...and my aunt did too.”

“I found myself with the newborn baby we had been celebrating in my arms.”

“Her mother had already abandoned her.”

“Since that day, I’ve had doubts about the so-called “maternal instincts”(107).


In this panel, there is a party taking place to celebrate the birth of Marjane's newborn cousin in the family. This celebration has to be held in secrecy because the Islamic Revolution is going on and there are a lot of things that are not permitted including parties and celebrations. This passage gives off significance by showing how severe the consequences of breaking rules were and how scared people were to suffer the outcomes. As soon as Marjane's aunt heard the sirens outside, she had abandoned her newborn infant. The tone of this passage shows just the basic instinct to survive. When the sirens went off, nothing mattered everyone just ran for their lives, a mother left her child. This also shows how people had such a desperate need to live and not to be caught because that was worse than death.

People had such a fear that their lives and families would be taken away from them at any moment. Obviously they were not able to live their lives freely and they had to constantly be fearful of how they acted. This shows the irony of how everyone was just celebrating this precious baby and then a minute later, the baby was completely forgotten about. This passage also shows how Marjane always has an opinion aboout things that go on around her. In the book she is always giving her point of view on situations. This passage gives insight to how a child during the Islamic Revolution had to think. The passage stresses the overall theme of the book which is, the of a adult and child during the Islamic Revolution.

Initial Impressions

My reading memoir of choice is, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I have chosen this book because I come from a Muslim background where there are sometimes many stereotypes and challenges that I know I will face so hearing some experiences from a different point of view would be nice. I am very interested in finding out more about the Islamic Revolution because I have never really read about it previously or know any background information on the topic. Also, I thought it would be interesting to find out how some Muslim countries go through life and how a Muslim girl feels in society, especially during that time. Knowing that this books has visual context makes me more interested in reading it because it can really show me how the author felt during the events in her life. Reading this book also scares me because there could possibly be a chance that Islamic life isn't exactly easy and that there could many hardships in my future. Also, I am worried about the book being too political because that does not interest me and I cant really keep up with it. But it does bring me excitement and curiosity to see how Muslims and Iranians were treated during the war. The author in this book seems like she is going to explain her life step by step through the revolution. The book seems like it focuses a lot on how the Islamic Revolution began and ended. I am worried that this book will be too emotional for me and make me scared of Islamic beliefs but it may be the complete opposite of that. I have very high hopes for what I will get out of this book and I am very excited to see the outcome.