To learn how to navigate life in an oppressive society is an important skill to know because there are many people around the world who live in these societies. One place where we can learn these skills is in novels and movies. The graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi focuses on the story of a girl that lives in the post revolutionary culture of Iran. She struggles to adapt and be happy in her society. Her story can teach us many lessons. When looking at her story, one can argue that Marjane, is a young girl who develops a rebellious nature towards the oppressive Iranian culture in order to survive.
The first aspect of Marjane’s rebelion is her dress code. She is rebellious because she doesn’t conform to the dress code that she is required to follow. One example we see in the text is on page 132 where she gets stopped by the guardians of the Revolution of the women’s branch. They stop her because they arrest women who are improperly veiled. During the arrest, they point out how she was wearing punk shoes, a jean jacket and a Michael Jackson badge, asking her if she is not ashamed to wear jeans like these. Marjane gets away by deceiving them. Another example is on page 138 when Marjane asks her mom to buy some jeans and espadrilles after what happened. At the store she also decides to buy rings which are also prohibited. All these examples show many things. First, it shows that Marjane shows interest in international culture, music and other societies. Maybe Marjane is privately educating herself on these different topics of different cultures. The lesson that we can take from Marjane is that when we live in an oppressive system, we can privately look for information and educate ourselves. Marjane is not afraid to think differently.Secondly, she is not afraid to think differently. Finally, we can see that marjane is wise because she can deceive the guardians of the revolution and gets what she wants.
The second aspect of Marjane’s rebelion is the places she goes. She goes to demonstrations and to parties. On page 38, there is a demonstration that the people in the revolution have organized. People protest against the Shah. Marjane is not old enough to go to the protest and her parents do not want her to go. However, she secretly goes to the protest with her maid to support the demonstration because she says that she “finally understood the reasons for the revolution” (38). She goes also parties. On page 102, we see that Marjane attends her first party. Her mom supports her rebellion and helps her because she wants to see her happy. When she goes to the party she says that “not only did my mom let me go she also knitted me a sweater full of holes and made me a necklace with chains and nails punk rock was in” (102). These two examples show how supportive her family is towards her rebellion. She needed the support of her family to be able to rebel. It shows the importance of family, their support and the effect they have on you. It also shows that, if we don’t have the support of the family of the family we might not go as far in life. It shows that her rebellion was possible because she had people who helped her and that maybe if she was alone, she will not succeed.
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The last aspect of Marjane’s rebellion is not being afraid to stand up against authorities and to speak out. We see that one example in the book when she physically defends herself by hitting the principle when she tries to take off Marjane’s bracelets. Knowing that wearing jewelry is against the rules but still choosing to wear it then later defending herself shows that she doesn’t fear the wrath of the authority. It shows she’s willing to stand up for herself and others when caught in trouble. She is quoted saying ‘’With all the jewelry you steal from us, you must be making a pile of money’’ page 143. Another example is when she stood up to her teacher for lying to the class about not having political prisoners.
Stated, ‘’my uncle was imprisoned by the Shah’s regime, but it was the islamic regime that ordered his execution.’’ She goes on how they’ve gone from 3000 prisoners to 300,000 under the Shah’s regime. What these two examples teach us is that she is not to stand up for the truth, even if it means standing alone. The teacher was noticeably upset however Marjane was applauded by her class for doing so. What we can learn from this is that we should always stand up for what we know is right. Even if that means going against the people in charge.
Finally I would recommend this book to kids of this generation who are shy and hesitant to stand up for what they believe in. The book will teach them three valuable lessons. First, they will learn how to look for information and educate themselves. Secondly, they can learn that support groups are important in life. Lastly, they will how to stand up to authority. These are the three things that helped Marjane navigate her way through the oppressive post revolutionary culture. Marjane’s story matters because it shows that kids and ordinary people can make a big change in society.
