oh graphic novels...

Persepolis is a graphic novel/memoir of Marjane Satrapi when she was 10-14 living through the Islamic Revolution, in Iran. Satrapi does a wonderful job of telling non bias, and veritable history as well as making you fall in love with the characters all at the same time. Besides her story she also gives an introduction of Iran, and interesting facts such as Iran came from “Aryana Vaejo” which means “the origin of the Aryans.” They were semi-nomads who founded the first Iranian empire in the seventh century. (Later destroyed by Cyrus the great) Iran was wealthy because of this and its geographical location it was constantly invaded but able to uphold. During her graphic novel she is able to personally tell you about the Islamic revolution.

Before the revolution there were 2,500 years of a monarchy before it was overthrown by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Iran. The king at the time was Marji’s great grandfather who was over thrown in 1925 and her grandfather was a prince who would have ruled. That helped start the Islamic revolution and westernization of Iran. Since Reza Pahlavi wasn’t an educated man Marji’s grandfather became the prime minister, although he later became a communist. This put him in danger and he was often sent to jail putting his family Marji’s mom and grandmother in poverty. Marji is ecstatic about this and the fact that she comes from royalty.

There were many protests and disagreements with Reza Shah the people revolted against him. Black Friday was supposed to be a peaceful protest but when Reza Shah allowed the military to get involved and use force, they did. Many of the people who died were seen as martyrs. These deaths still didn’t stop the people from going against Reza Shah, after that he still had many assassination attempts. Soon after Reza Shah was put into exile to Egypt and not the United States of America who were only interested in oil. The British also wanted Iran’s oil but when the prime minister nationalized the oil, Britain then set an embargo against Iran.

For a while Marji was upset that her parents only protested, and not even that often. She started making up stories about her family and that her father was in prison because of this or that. When she soon learns about her Uncle who had been in prison and recently got out, he lives with them for a while and she grows very fond of him. He then has to go to prison again without saying goodbye to her. She is very hurt, but when he asks her to visit him she becomes very excited.

Since Britain and Iran were not allies at the time Britain and the CIA were clandestine together long enough to form a coup against the prime minister Mossadeq. This allowed the power of Iran to go to the Shah the son of Reza Shah. The same thing soon happened people were upset with the Shah sending death threats, and he was soon exiled into the United States. Ayatollah Khomeini was then welcomed back into Iran after being exiled out of Iran for opposing the Shah’s rules. Ayatollah Khomeini became the first Prime Minister and he helped lead Iran through the Islamic Revolution, which started in 1979. By 1980 people were forced to wear the veil even in schools which used to be secular. This soon progressed to self expression people had to be cautious of what they wore especially proletariats, and could no longer be decadent in what they wore. This directly effected Marji because of her love for the punk scene

Marji was fortunate enough to flee Iran to go to Vienna, Austria to live with her mom’s best friend. Marji is shocked, excited, and sad to go, sadly the book ends here.

Before she flees she sees her mom fainted in her dad’s arms, she later finds out she fainted due to stress. Her mom’s best friend turns out to be 80 years old. There are pros and cons to this, it is easy to sneak things by, but she also has to tend to her. She tries telling her parents that she doesn’t feel secure as a child, and that she also needs to be aided to. There are things Marji likes about her freedom and then doesn’t, the punk scene is everything Marji imagined it to be. She gets to go out, she has all this freedom and she loves how cool the kids are. Her parents don’t listen to her doubts all they do is tell her sarcastic jokes about how if she hasn’t died yet she’ll live forever. Marji starts to feel neglected, and like an orphan.

She soonly becomes legal orphan in Vienna when her mom’s best friend dies. She decided not to tell her parents only decrease the phone calls and letters, and decided to live with one of her friends who lives with her older brother. Just like her first cigarette she initiates herself to being even more of a grown up now.

The kids there love her, and think she’s cool, and are amazed with what she’s gone through. After 9/11 though she becomes embarrassed and every time someone asks her nationality she mumbles different races. She’s been Italian to Mexican. This is sad because even things with the friend she’s living with things start to feud. She’s disappointed with herself for not staying true to herself, but she finds escape in a different friend. She leaves the friend she’s living with, and leaves with her other to go to Italy. Where she finds her parents…