Persepolis

 

Persepolis is a story that I found to be quite captivating, although initially, I had trouble associating with the narrative because of the differences in cultural and social backgrounds. However, while this may have been the case before, I came to the realization that there were a considerable number of similarities between Marjane and myself on several levels. I consequence was that I ended up conducting a closer reading of the entire book as well as the film in a bid to make sure that I learned more about this individual who, despite coming from a different culture and country from myself, displayed quite a number of similar characteristics and shared some of the experiences that I had encountered. Reading Persepolis has ensured that I am able to bring about a situation where I seek to relate events that have happened to others to those that have happened to me, and not dismissing them, as was previously the case. I believe that the choices that I made when it came to the telling of this story are based on my perspectives concerning my family, studying abroad, my difficulties with learning foreign languages, and my lack of knowledge concerning political matters.

One of the most fundamental aspects that I discovered concerning Persepolis is that it is a story that is heavily influenced by the family values of the author. This is to such an extent that it essentially seeks to show the way that Marjane lived in a manner through not only reduced the worry that her family had for her, but also as a means of promoting the legacy of members of her family who were deeply involved in the fight for more freedoms in a country that had a repressive government. In the book Persepolis, she states that “The revolution is like a bicycle… When the wheels don't turn, it falls” (Satrapi 4). However, I seem to have mostly taken the matter of family for granted when writing my analysis because I am an individual who is not as close to my family as Marjane is. Instead, I have often had difficulty with both of my parents, since my father was always often not at home when I was growing up since he was constantly working, while I have never had a good relationship with my mother, with whom I constantly fought over petty issues. Therefore, I have never known a close family relationship and never developed any, even with my extended family, as was the case with Marjane. I have often been kind of a loner, and believe that I am better off without any of my family members because they do not add any value to my life. A consequence is that when considering Persepolis in my bluebook, I did not concentrate too much on the subject of family since it is not one of the greatest priorities in my life.

However, I felt a deep connection with Marjane mainly because she, like myself ended up studying abroad. This is an individual who was sent abroad by her parents as a means of protecting her against the repressive regime that government her home country. Marjane portrays herself as an individual that was extremely rebellious, and this was to such an extent that she ended up in a situation where she was constantly getting into trouble with the religious police. Her rebellious nature became a serious problem for her to such an extent that her parents made the decision to send her to a French lycée in Vienna, Austria, where she would be able to be herself. This is a situation that I also found myself in, although under different circumstances. Because of the considerable trouble that I had with my parents, especially my mother, they made the decision to send me to boarding school at the age of 11. I went to boarding school in Switzerland and it was during this period that I ended up experiencing a foreign culture for the first time. Like Marjane, I had to cope with a new environment where almost everyone and everything seemed to be out of place for me. It was essentially a culture shock that I had to endure for several months until I became acclimatized to the new environment. I have come to the realization that in my writing, I have put most of my efforts on the parts of Persepolis where Marjane was abroad, and I believe that this decision was influenced by my own experiences in a foreign land.

Among the biggest problems that I encountered when studying abroad were the difficulties that I had with language. This was especially the case considering that the school was located near Geneva, which is a French speaking part of Switzerland. A result of this situation, as stated in the bluebook (Gao), was that I could not interact well with people outside the school. Instead, I often found myself in a situation where I remained in school or became a loner. I had no such problems with having interactions with my fellow students in the school because most of them also came from other parts of the world, which meant that we all had to make use of English for most of our interactions. I believe that these experiences may have had a profound influence on the way that I addressed Persepolis. I believe that Marjane’s life in Austria, a country which had nothing in common with her own, as well as the situation where she experienced language barriers in her first few months of living there, resonated well with me to such an extent that I sought to address this part of her life more. I find that the experiences that she had, while not completely similar to mine, since she ended up living on the streets for months, as depicted in the film (Satrapi and Paronnaud), still had an influence on me since I could picture myself in her shoes. I have come to find that living in a country where the culture and the language are completely different from one’s own can be an extremely difficult experience. However, like Marjane, whenever I talked to my parents, I often hid from them the difficulties that I was experiencing, instead telling them that everything was alright, so that they would not end up worrying about me.

Moreover, I seem to have almost completely avoided addressing the matter of politics in Persepolis. This is an area that is very prominent in both the book and the film, yet I ended up in a situation where I avoided the topic, instead focusing more on Marjane’s experiences abroad. The fact that I concentrated so much on this area is critical because it shows that I am an individual that has been raised in a culture where politics are not that important. In my home country, there is only a single political party, and this is one that is dominated by politicians who tend to seek only what is best for themselves. I was raised within an environment where I am completely influenced by the stereotype of a politician that is corrupt and self-seeking. Therefore, I ended up not placing a lot of emphasis on the considerable political content that can be found within Persepolis, and it was only following the intervention of a Russian friend that I came to the realization that it contained a lot of political themes that I had not considered before. A result is that I have come to realize that my bias against politicians should not apply to all members of this class, and I should be able to understand that there are differences between all of these individuals, with some being genuine while others are indeed corrupt. This realization ensured that I was better able to make sure that I took a more objective approach when it came to the analysis of Persepolis.

In conclusion, it is noteworthy to consider that my choices when telling Persepolis were heavily influenced by my own experiences and perspectives concerning life. I mostly applied my experiences in a boarding school abroad in the narrative, which resulted in a situation where I came to associate more with the period where Marjane was abroad. I have come to realize that Marjane and I share a considerable number of experiences in this part of our lives, and this is the reason why I wrote more about it.

Reference

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis I & Ii. Random House, 2008. Print.

Persepolis. 2007. Rigault, Xavier, Marc-Antoine Robert and Kathleen Kennedy.