Character Description

    As I continued to read Persepolis, I found it interesting to learn Marjane’s brave heart in spit of being a young girl.  As son as the Iranian Revolution came to an end, Iran, a Country that was so dear to Marjane’s mind, heart and body, was invaded by Iraq.  This invasion by the Iraqis pretty much intimidated Marjane subconsciously.  Though she was young, she had an unshakable desire to go and defend her Country from the invaders.  “ I wanted to fight”, she said. Tragic events like this remind people different events that happened in the past, and this particular event reminded Marjane the first time when her Country was attacked by the Arabs, as she firmly indicated. “The second invasion in 1400 years”, she said surprisingly, “ ..my blood was boiling. I was ready to defend my Country against these Arabs who kept attacking us” (79). This shows her seemingly determination in tackling this aggressive attack on her beloved Country. I guess the only thing that precluded her from fulfilling her desire to fight against the Iraqis was the fact that she was too young to do anything about this drastic situation.  

    At one time, I think she realized her helpless position, and she turned to her father, perhaps to see what he could do on behalf of her since she knew that her father was once in the military service and that he was an engineer, and a specialist.  She asked her father, ‘Are you going to war? Are you going to fight?” (81). She was so disappointed by the answer she got from her father. She was expecting him to proudly say yes, I'm going to war and fight. But he said the opposite of that! That devastated her and may be incapacitated her hope to fight against the attackers. This inflicted her a feeling that perhaps her father was not a patriotic man who loves his country as she previously thought. Fortunately, this immediately changed as soon as they heard a glad tiding news from the BBC Radio that, “140 Iranian bombers attacked Iraq…” (84). Young Marjane saw how her father was re-inspired by that news, and how jubilant he was to hear it. This overpowered and erased her previously wrong idea towards her father. As she hugged her father, she said to herself, “I was all wrong about dad. He loved his country as much as I did” (84). I seem to have admired her sense of compassion towards her Country. In addition, not I did understand from Marjane and her character the sort of dauntless heart she had, but I also discerned from her personal traits how patriotic, and a nationalist she was.

    One special scene that I could relate to, which I come across as I was reading Persepolis, is the Chapter that pertains to the supermarkets entitled, "The Jewels".  Here, it shows how mess and ugly things could be like when a war or a simple revolt against a certain regime or political group starts in a previously peaceful country. Nothing is more depressing to see a supermarket with empty shelf. I reminisced back in the 1993 when I was in Ethiopia. Even though the event that I was witnessing may somewhat not be similar to that of Marjane’s time, I still see and remember how hideous things were. There was a regime change in Ethiopia at the time, and most people were in a state of confusion and frustration.  No one was sure what was going to happen. All of a sudden things have changed from normal to worse. During the shot period of transition, there was chaos everywhere and it felt as though people were revolting against a brutal dictator who was coercing the masses to submit to his unlawful will. Whatever the case, there were no soldiers around, and no one was there to keep the law and order in tact. As a result of this disorder and mess, people were running around in fear of what is going to happen to them next. This dreadful state turned things into something else. The worst happened to the markets where food was suppose to be bought. Some supermarkets were also closed, others where looted completely, and still some others were only there with nothing but empty shelf’s with broken doors and windows. The scenes of those market centers were depressingly ugly. In the next few days, people were starving and nothing was as normal as it was only days before that tragic change came into being. I can still see in the back of my mind how people were fighting against one another for a small piece of food that was still available in some areas, just as Marjane depicted Persepolis the same kind of situation in "The Jewels" Chapter.

    I think one of the mean reasons why Marjane added this scene in Persepolis is to provide the reader a window of opportunity where he or she could easily see the effects of chaos, mess and disorder as a result of an attack, and war within a country. It was a way of creating a spectacular connection between the reader's mind and that of the book. Connections of this sort are most reasonably essential and indispensable for any book in order to give the reader a sense of reminiscence; a pleasure that keeps the him or her not to feel bored but rather to enjoy what his or her mind is reading. I believe this is why Marjane had to include, among others, this particular scene in her book. It’s an easy way to inspire and attract more audiences. At least it brought in front of me something that I could vividly see and relate to, which eventually made me shake my head wholeheartedly.

In Response to Persepolis

I started reading Persepolis, a book by Marjane Satrapi. So far, I've enjoyed reading it as well analyzing its sarcastically comic images. It’s a small book with only 153 pages. In spite of its size though, the book contains lots of information about the author’s  previous years of life when she was just a young child, and the people of Iran revolted against the Shah regime at the time, and the consequences that people had experienced as a result of the Iranian Revolution of the 1979. Even though I haven’t finish or read the whole book, what really grabs my attention about the portion I read is Satrapi’s claim to have known herself as a prophet. She indicated that she was the last prophet (6). And this is when she was only six years old. 

To better help myself understand on Satrapi’s claim, I explored the situation and read the book a bit further, but I found no significantly convincing evidence from her side on this issue apart from that she had emphasized her prophetic imagination to be from God. And what is more? Just like other prophets that came before her, she said she received a revelation with three simple rules. These rules were: “to Behave well, to Speak well, and to Act well” (7). What a good way to convey a message to an audience. Marjane Satrapi had been a caring and compassionate since her childhood, she was especially so to her parents including her grandmother who was suffering from a pain because of her age. With age, comes pain, and the more one gets old the more pain that comes with it.

As I kept reading Persepolis, I concluded that perhaps Satrapi's perspective on being a prophet was because of her compassion towards others, like her grandmother whom she ones promised to heal her illness and her suffering once she grow up. Satrapi was, without doubt, a charismatic child. She was not like other children at her age who might have been naturally obsessed playing with themselves. Instead, she was curious to know what was happening around her, and even though Satrapi was only a kid, still she has had the inclination to participate the demonstrations that were aimed to topple the dictatorial regime at the time. She started by asking her father questions on the King of Iran at the time, and how he came to be. She thought the King was  a chosen King by God as this was a subject taught in her school. This was; however,  a falsified information. 

Fortunately, Satrapi’s father was able to redress  this misleading information given to her by her own school. She learn from her father’s experience and discourse that the King was simply there as a tool of interest. And illiterate King he was! Chosen as a King and installed by Great Britain. In a way, this was why the Iranian Revolution of 1979 was started because illiterate rulers tend to be dictatorial. Thus, they’re bond to cause more harm and destruction to those whom they claim to be their rulers, the people.