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Lit Circle Final Project – “The Complete Persepolis”

Persepolis by Nabila Malikzada

One-Pager Paragraph:

“The Complete Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel about Marjane’s life growing up with religious issues. To begin with, Marjane is forced to wear a veil at a young age when going to school, one reason is because of Islam growing in Iran. Furthermore, over the years in Iran, it would be necessary to wear a veil outside of your home if you are a woman. As a result of this, women who did not follow this rule would end up being punished by being arrested and abused to set the women “straight”, in Marjane’s words, “They could detain me for hours, or for days. I could be whipped. In short, anything could happen to me. It was a time for action.” (Satrapi, 138) In addition, this would cause Marjane to struggle with her identity and herself, she began questioning herself every time she set foot outside of the house, therefore, she always had thoughts such as, “Are my trousers long enough? Is my veil in place? Can my makeup be seen? Are they going to whip me?” (Satrapi, 305.) On the other hand, Islam in Iran had made it so that no sorts of entertainment were allowed, martyrs were praised for this way of thinking and considered to be near the level of Allah. Specifically, they interpreted the Quran, saying that all entertainment was bad when it only says the dirty kinds are harem. Due to the entertainment ban, the guardians of the revolution would go through all means to enforce this rule, Marjane stated that, “we partied almost every night… But even in our homes, they didn’t leave us alone.” (Satrapi 309) Nonetheless, Marjane was not fond of Islam, she always had freedom given to her by her family and this huge change for her was not something she could get used to. As a result of these things, Marjane moved away from Iran to find happiness. To end off, Marjane’s early life was controlled by religion and ended up causing struggles and troubles for herself.

Azar

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