Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Satrapi, M. (2004). Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon.

The main character in Persepolis is Marjane who lives with her parents and grandmother in Tehran. Marjane is the narrator of her life in this story which deals with her upbringing during the war between Iraq and Iran. She learns to live with a life full of political repression and learns at a very young age what her country is facing during the Islamic Revolution. She wanted to be a prophet, but would tell her parents she wanted to be a doctor. She even talked to God at night.  

In 1979 Marjane attended a French non- religious school where both genders were together. In 1980 when Marjane was 10 years old it became obligatory to wear the veil at school. Marjane did not like the veil because she did not understand why she had to wear it, also in 1980 all bilingual schools were closed down because they were symbols of capitalism. One night she hears her parents talking about how 400 people died at the Rex Cinema when it burned down. The people knew that the Shah was responsible for the fire. Marjane wanted to demonstrate but her parents did not allow it. Marjane parents demonstrated every day. Marjane said she loved the king because he was chosen by god. Her father told her the true story of how he was chosen. Her grandmother told her that the Shah’s father took everything from them. She also tells Marjane that the son of the Shah is worse than his father.

Towards the end of the story, after a dispute with her principal about her jewelry, Marjane gets expelled for accidentally knocking her down on the floor. Marjane told the teacher off at another school she had been transferred to, therefore, a phone call was made to her parents. Marjane parents decided to send her to Europe because they thought it would be better if she left Iran and hitting a principal did not helped her case as no other school would accept her. On the eve of her departure her grandmother came to spend the night and she advised Marjane not to have hatred toward anyone. The next day, her parents took her to the airport. Marjane feared that she will never live with her parents again. As her parents walked away at the airport, Marjane turned to see them for the last time. She sees her mother fainting in her father arms who was crying.

As I read the novel, I learned it dealt with moral uncertainty. In the beginning of the book, Marjane said “As for me, I love the king, He was chosen by god.” Her father asked her who told her that and Marjane replied that her teacher told her so. Then, the same teacher that told her that the Shah was chosen by god told the students to tear out all the photos of the Shah from their books. Marjane told another girl that the teacher said that the Shah was chosen by god and the teacher screamed at her and tells her that she shouldn’t say things like that and reprimands her by sending her to stand in the corner. This is an example of moral uncertainty as the same teacher that told her that the Shah was chosen by god then tells her students to tear out all the photos of him, and when Marjane said the same thing the teacher gets upset and contradicts herself. Another example of moral uncertainty can be identified when Marjane would talk to god for comfort. The only place she felt safe was in the arms of her friend god but after her Uncle’s execution, she told god “Shut up! Get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again!” This is another example of moral uncertainty because after her uncle’s death she was uncertain of the fact that god can give her comfort anymore.

Another theme that caught my attention was that class differences also existed even though a country was experiencing war. Marjane is from a wealthy family, her father drives a Cadillac, and they have a maid. Mehri, Marjane’s maid and Hossein, her neighbor could not get married because this love was not possible due to the different social classes the maid and the neighbor belong to.

As I read this novel, I was thinking of how great it could be if history teachers could get their hands on this novel. I will recommend it to my colleagues at school so they can teach students about political repression and the war between Iraq and Iran. Students could also learn about how hard and scary it was to live during the Islamic Revolution as the story is told through the eyes of a teenager just like them. 

Perhaps students ages 12 through 16 may enjoy learning from reading this novel. As I recall the conclusion of this novel, I made a connection of the ending to one of Havighurst’s Theory of Development Tasks in which he discusses that adolescents undergo changing relationships with parents. Since teenage hood is a time of gaining independence, pulling away from parents and from their authority is not usual. In this case, Marjane’s parents have always lived with her and have helped her deal with life’s tragedies and it will be hard for her to be away from her parents as she leaves her home behind as she travels to Europe for her safety and benefit. Once you read this book, perhaps you could also enjoy reading Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi. This wonderful comic strip format novel consists of 153 pages.