Social classes are economic and cultural aspects of groups in the society,that usually determine an individuals status in society in terms of power. In Persepolis this term signifies key components of Marijane Satrapi daily life to extent where it creates diversity in everyday existence. One of Satrapi’s strengths is how she shows us the prevalence of social censorship to an extent in which she portrays how everyone is out to protect themselves. In pages 34 through 37 we witness the love scene between Mehri and Marijane's neighbor. Here we see the impact of social classes breaking apart the relationship between two individuals because of different social seeding. Just because Mehri was really a maid and not Marijane's sister the love of her life decided to turn his back on her. Yet what stood out most about the entire scene was on pg. 37 where you can see Marijane thoughts on the situation as she states "we were not in the same social class but at least we were in the same bed." This quotation as a reader grabbed my attention to give a understanding of the the main characters aspects and values of life as she sees it at such a young age. Furthermore I can relate to this scene in terms of understanding how social terms such as lower, middle, and upper class can make someone feel unwanted. When I recently visited my country Fiji I came to realize how life was much more difficult there compared to the U.S. Everything was based upon social structure, who you were and what you had. Yet this scenario just does not exist there but all around the world. Power is what makes people who they are and without it you are seen as nobody in the eye of the world. I think the authors main purpose of having this scene in her book was to signify how life was during that particular time period and also to show how inequality will always exist. This scene just makes the rest of the novel more interesting to read because as you read along you see how the violence continues and the people with the most power remain to stay on top. Furthermore it gives a sense of the main characters personality because at one point in the book Marijane expresses how she is ashamed of her father's Cadillac, which resembles the wealth in her family along with many other things.
i too wrote about this particular part in the book. of course there will always be social classes. a utopia is something that humans can never achieve because humans are flawed. the thing that gets me the most is how some cultures forbid an individual from rising about their social class. no matter how hard working, skilled, or intelligent that person is, they are condemned to live a limited life. probably worse than that is how the wealthy, no matter how selfish or arrogant, will always have power to support them despite never having earned their status.
ReplyDeletei enjoyed reading your post and i share your position on the matter.