The renowned children’s book author Hans Christian Andersen said, “Just living is not enough,” said the butterfly, “one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower”. This quote represents Marji’s life and the absence of a ‘normal’ childhood. The lack of democracy and freedom in Persepolis disrupted Marji’s faith, family and political views. Having a fundamentalist government in Iran forced children to believe in one religion and practice.
Marji says, ‘I was born with religion. At the age of six I was already sure that I was the last prophet… But as a family we were very modern and avant-garde.’ (6). As a child, Marji is taught to believe that the prophet was chosen by God and she wanted to spread his words. In a democracy, the constitution says there is freedom of religion to believe or not believe in a God. Marji is never granted this right in Iran and had to suffer to find her true beliefs. It was hard for Marji to discover and develop her beliefs because she had to pretend to be someone she was not.
As Marji gets older she starts to realize partly from her parents that just because she was always taught to believe in one practice, there are other things to explore and believe in. Marji’s earning to want to find her personal self and what she believes in is a reflection of what democracy represents. Marji says “I wanted to be an educated, liberated women… my great dream went up in smoke’ (72,73). As Marji’s dream of going to a university went up in smoke, so did the country after many failed attempts of democracy.
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The country was in a war and many people revolted against the different governments. Iran had tried democracy many times and after each try, the county broke into a fundamentalist government leaving the county vulnerable to attacks. While the people in Iran were revolting against the government, rules changed. For example, in a democracy people have the freedom to express themselves and freedom of speech, but in Iran, there were rules on what individuals were and were not allowed to wear and what they were permitted to say and learn about the government. Marji shows her rebellion against the government by going to demonstrations, smoking, and wearing punk clothes.
Throughout Marjis childhood she and her family suffered because of the fundamentalist government and regime. Marji parents say to her “Don’t forget who you are and where you came from” (152). Marji was constantly going back and forth on whether or not she believed in the Shah and God or if she believed in what her parents did. In Marji’s homelife her parent’s ideas were more like a democracy, they privately believed in Marji’s right to have ideas that contrasted with the Iranian government and allowed her to express those thoughts.
However, they taught her to publically agree with the government and to respond to questions as if it seemed like they were following the rules such as praying and not throwing parties. Marjiane shows her wanting of living a democratic lifestyle by using emotion in the telling of how she lost her uncle and friends due to the fundamentalist government. By the end of the novel Marji’s family has to send away there only child in hopes she will be safe and grow up having a better education.
