As a Reader

As a reader I was able to travel through Marjane’s life as she experiences things such as her uncle’s death and going through puberty. You will travel back in time with Marjane as she thinks about the past to a time where Marjane was taught that the King was appointed by God as the leader of Iran. However, after the King fled for his life the very same teacher scolded her for saying that the King had been appointed by God, and asked where in the world did you get that Idea? Such things left her confused and lost. There were many contradictions is Marjane's life. Having grown up in a westernized society in which she did not have to wear a veil it was confusing to her to be told by the new government that all women now were required to wear veils to protect them from the advances of men. Such things led to a lot of trouble for Marjane as she went through life. Her parents had always encouraged her to develop an independent mind. The feeling of oppression eventually becomes too great and Marjane acts out against the social restraints that the new government has put upon her. Through thoughtful questioning of her parents Marjane learns of her family’s history. She learns that she is descended from the former Emperor who was deposed by the king. Her grandfather chose to follow the king and briefly served as Prime Minister until he decided to become a communist. This decision led to her Grandfather spending much of his time as a political prisoner. Such events molded her family to the point that her parents became actively rebellious and her uncle was willing to give his life to gain freedom.The first half of the novel portrays the recounting of the author's loss of naivety and faith. As a child, Marjane sees herself as a prophet in the line of Zarathustra, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Her imaginary friend is her vision of God as an old man with a long flowing beard. In these scenes from childhood, God encourages Marjane to become a prophet and to stand up for love and justice. As a child Marijane saw herself to be very religious and modern. Aspects such as revolution and the influence of her parents cultivate the characters identity to lead her to follow different pathways. Another key aspect of the story is how a theocracy turns a religious girl into a state of rebellion against school, society, family and country.
As Marjane begins to see the political and social realities of her world, the reader sees her slowly detaching from her faith. As she hears stories of political imprisonment and torture, she finds that God no longer gives her comfort. She basically begins to see life in a whole different perspective to the extent where the only thing she puts her faith into are the things that she physically hears and witnesses. The imprisonment and execution of her Uncle Anoosh causes a break in her faith and she describes herself as lost and alone in the universe. In the part of the novel that we see Anoosh come into role the reader can see it titled the "Sheep." This symbolizes the people as sheep or followers. Furthermore as the novels progresses you can now see a pattern how Marijane's believes and values are changing.In the beginning of the story we see the involvement of Marijane's mother in the Islamic revolution which results in her mother dying her hair. Therefore events as such made Marijane also want to pursue and follow her family's involvement. The actual year of the revolution the reader can see how Marijane becomes so involved that she puts her believe of her prophetic destiny aside and takes actions which show her interests in external events. In addition when the Rex Cinema burns down once again we see the rage in Marijane and how she is forbidden. That night the character doesnt get to talk to her god like figure friend which is the key cause of the characters lost of faith. Furthermore it was not intent for Marijane to be interested in such adult like situations but whenever she would like to do child like things such as playing Monopoly her parents where always too distracted by the outside world that cultivated her to participate and do the same. All, in all, changes and situations as such were the root cause of the overall character transformation of Marijane.  Marjane gained first hand experience of the death and destruction caused by war during the start of the Iranian and Iraq war. The war led to the death of her neighbor, and other fellow students. During this time the schools were passing out plastic keys to all the boys who were thirteen or older and telling them that if they died in the war that they would have a grand place in heaven waiting for them. So many young boys went off to battle and many plastic keys were buried with them. It is after her own city block was bombed that her parents decided to send her away. They sent her away not only to keep her safe but also so that she could be in a place where her free spirit and drive for knowledge could thrive, without the fear for her life or her mind.
In the end Persepolis is a great book that is very informative for it allows the reader to indulge down into the problem and to see more than what the media and government want you to know. Also Persopolis allows its readers to view life in a different perspective through the eyes of an individual who witnesses things first hand and along the path we are able to see the major changes the cultivate every individuals life.