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Persepolis (graphic novel)
Encyclopedia
Persepolis is a French-language
autobiographical
comic by Marjane Satrapi
depicting her childhood up to her early adult years in Iran
during and after the Islamic revolution. The title is a reference to the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, Persepolis
.
Drawn in black and white, the comic found great popularity following its release, and was translated into several languages. The English edition combines the first two French books and was translated by Blake Ferris and Satrapi's husband, Mattias Ripa. The French editions of Persepolis 3 and Persepolis 4 were combined into a single volume, Persepolis 2 for the United States
market. In the U.S., the Persepolis series is published by Pantheon Books
.
In 2007, an animated film adaptation
of the comic was created, with author Satrapi co-directing with French comic artist Vincent Paronnaud
. The film utilized the same style of the comic, although there are a handful of scenes in the present day that are shown in color, while the rest of the flashback events are illustrated in black and white, as in the novel. The film opened in various countries to critical acclaim and received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature at the US Academy Awards
.
, Austria
and her return to Iran where Satrapi attended college, married, and later divorced before moving to France
, where she now lives. Hence, the series is not only a memoir
, but a Bildungsroman
.
Awards won by Persepolis 2 include the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Scenario
in Angoulême
, France
, for its script and in Vitoria, Spain, for its commitment against totalitarianism. It has been translated into English
, Spanish
, Portuguese
, Italian
, Greek
, Swedish
and other language
s, and has sold 150,000 copies.
Section 2 (The Bicycle): After a brief talk with her friends, in which she learns that revolutions are like bicycles (if they're not in motion, they will stop working) she starts to read about revolutionaries such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. This sparks her interest in fighting against men with power. Because of the constant misdeeds being committed by those who are in charge of the Iranian Police forces she decides that she wants to become a revolutionary like Che Guevara. Her parents, unwilling to allow their daughter to be put in danger, do not let her go to the protests. She is very upset at this stage of her life.
Section 3 (The Water Cell): Although her parents protested every day, Marjane decided that she supported the king because he was chosen by God Himself (which was told to her by her teacher). Her dad tells her a story about how the king was really chosen, and it had nothing to do with God. After the first king was chosen, it was simply passed down from father to son. She is, of course, very excited to hear this. Her grandfather became the king's prime minister because he was well educated, but he was mistreated to the point of becoming a communist. She then learned from her mother that her grandfather was sent to prison. It was there that he lived the rest of his life under pain of torture. Marjane felt awful after hearing this and attempted to reconstruct one of her grandfather's tortures, being partially submerged in water for hours at a time, by staying in the tub for several hours.
Section 4 (Persepolis): Marjane's grandmother comes into town to visit and tells Marjane about the hardships and poverty of years past. She told of how she boiled water and pretended to be cooking to hide their poverty from the neighbors. They had no money because the Shah's father took everything they owned. Marjane then learned that although the father of the Shah was brutal, his son was ten times worse. It was because of this that her grandfather was forced to stay in prison.
Marjane's father does not come home from taking pictures of the riot on time and after a few hours they start to get scared. Marjane is sure that her father has been shot, but just as she is losing hope her father walks through the door with a full report of the day's events. The crowd saw a man's body being carried out of the hospital, and moments later the protesters lifted him up on their shoulders and marched him through town as a martyr. It turns out that the man had died of cancer, but when the crowd hears this they continued to honor him and protest the king, although now they are joined by the man's widow.
Section 5 (The Letter): Marjane goes to a book signing of her favorite author, who she refers to as "a local Charles Dickens" he writes about children who are forced into labor at an early age. Marjane starts to think about it, and realizes that that is the reason that she is embarrassed about her father driving a Cadillac.
Section 6 (The Party) Marjane is becoming more aware of her political surroundings. She tells of the downfall of the shah and of how her parents had been protesting his reign like most Iranians. After the celebration the transition to a new government is further illustrated by Marjane as she tells of tearing the shah's photograph from her textbook and of how her friends treated the children of secret service members. Her mother lectures her on how she should be more forgiving. This makes her feel a need to apologize for her harsh actions.
Section 7 (The Heroes) Marjane tells of the release of the political prisoners after the fall of the shah. Her family knew two of the men released, Siamak Jari and Mohsen Shakiba. They arrive at her house and regale them with stories of their imprisonment. Marjane's parents forget to spare her this unfortunate story. The freed political prisoners tell of how they were tortured and of how their friends were killed. Laly, the daughter of Siamak, is very proud of her father. She makes Marjane feel bad by touting this fact in front of Marjane whenever she gets a chance.
Section 8 (Moscow) Still upset by how her father is no hero she makes up stories to help make her feel better. One day her parents tell her of her uncle Anoosh. He is a communist revolutionary and a hero in Marjane's eyes. He comes to visit and he tells her his story. He informs her of his uncle Fereydon and how he was killed by the shah. He tells her of how he himself went to the U.S.S.R. and married. After he divorced his wife, he tried to re-enter Iran, but was caught and imprisoned for nine years. This revelation makes Marjane proud to be related to Anoosh.
Section 9 (The Sheep) Marjane is under pressure from her family because she repeats fake statistics that she hear from the television. The creation of an Islamic Republic forced some of her friends leave Iran. A large portion of her family left the country shortly thereafter. Reports came in that Mohsen was killed by the new regime. As these similar stories come in, she is told by her parents that Anoosh has gone back to Moscow. Later on she learns that he was imprisoned. She is allowed to see him right before they execute him. With the death of her uncle, Marjane loses all the the faith she once had. The section ends with the beginning of the War.
Section 10 (The Trip) Marjane sees on the Television that the universities are being closed down by the new regime. The Ministry of Education states that the school books are decadent and need to be revised. This affects Marjane because it denies her her dream of exploring science. form Later her mother is insulted by the guardians of the regime. She is sick and lies in bed for days. The new rules changes their neighbors' outlooks on the religious ideals.
Section 2 (Tyrol): Marjane starts the section with complaining about Lucia waking her up every morning at 6:30 with her hair dryer. A little after that, Marjane starts to make friends at school when she gets the highest grade on a math test. She also becomes very popular for her unflattering portraits of teachers. Later, she is introduced to people who become her friends. They talk about what they are going to do during their Christmas break, which makes Marjane feel left out because she doesn't celebrate Christmas and the Iranian New Year isn't until March. She goes back to her room and tells Lucia how she feels. Lucia offers to take her to her home town over the holiday to meet her parents. She went to the evening mass and had dinner with them.
Section 3 (Pasta): The next break, Marjane listens to her friends' plans for winter break and comes up with her own excuse for what she is going to do: read. She spends her break reading and eating pasta. One evening she makes a big potful of spaghetti and goes down to eat it in the public TV room at her boarding house. One of the nuns tells her off for eating out of a pot, and then insults her for being Iranian. Marjane talks back to the nun, and ends up getting kicked out of the boarding house. She says goodbye to Lucia and leaves. Marjane's friend Julie invites her to stay in her house with her and her mother.
Section 4 (The Pill): Marjane starts living with Julie and is disturbed by how disrespectful she is to her mother, whom Marjane respects. Marjane and Julie have a talk before bed, and Julie tells Marjane about her sexual endeavors (condoms, etc.), which Marjane is shocked by because people in her country were never open about sex and related topics. Marjane states "I was shocked. In my country even when you had sex before marriage, you hid it." Julie's mother goes on a business trip, and Julie has a party, but it is not what Marjane expects. Instead of eating and dancing, people were just lying around and smoking. Later that night, she hears Julie and her boyfriend having sex, and is appalled. Marjane would later call this her first step towards assimilating herself into Western culture.
Section 5 (The Vegetable): Marjane discusses her changing physical appearance. She talks about how her eyes and hands seem to have gotten bigger. She starts cutting her own hair, and even selling haircuts to the hall monitors at her school. Her friends, who think the hall monitors are conformists, are displeased. Marjane's friends begin to get into drug use, and Marjane pretends to participate, but doesn't. She begins to feel like she is betraying her Iranian heritage. Finally, she overhears some people in a cafe talking about how she's making her past up, and defends her culture, then feels like she has redeemed herself.
Section 6 (The Horse): Julie leaves Vienna, and Marjane starts staying in a communal apartment with eight homosexual men. Her mother surprises her by calling to say she is coming to visit, and arrives soon after. Marjane spends time with her mother and, because her apartment is only hers for a limited amount of time, finds a new place to stay, a room in the house of Frau Dr. Heller.
Section 7 (Hide and Seek): Marjane starts having trouble with Frau Dr. Heller, about the doctor's untidy dog. Marjane's boyfriend Enrique invites her to a party, and, although it's not what she expects, she has fun. She meets Enrique's friend Ingrid, and, when she wakes up in the morning with Enrique not next to her, jumps to the conclusion that he is in love with Ingrid, but, later that day, he reveals to Marjane that he is, in fact, gay. Marjane is feeling confused, and has a long talk with her physics teacher. She decides that she wants a physical relationship, and, after failing miserably with the boy she likes, begins getting farther and farther into drugs. She soon meets Markus, a student at her school, and falls in love with him, but their relationship is frowned upon by both Markus's mother and Frau Dr. Heller. Marjane procures some drugs for Markus, and gains a reputation as a drug dealer. Marjane feels ashamed and believes that she betrayed her country and her mother by not being the best she could be.
Section 8 (The Croissant): Marjane is having trouble on her exams, so she calls and asks her mother to pray for her. In need of money, she ends up getting a job at a cafe. When the school year starts, she gets subtly told off by the principal for drug dealing. She stops, but ends up taking more and more of them herself, so much so that her boyfriend Markus begins to get fed up and it begins affecting her health. She begins to get involved with some of Markus's friends, and with protesting the new Austrian president, who Markus's friends tell her is a Nazi. Marjane prepares to go away to spend her birthday with a friend, and is distressed by Markus's nonchalant reaction. However, she ends up missing her train, and goes to Markus's house to celebrate her birthday with him, but discovers him cheating on her.
Section 9 (The Veil): Marjane falls apart over her breakup with Markus, and, when she is accused of stealing Frau Dr. Heller's brooch, gets fed up and leaves. She spends the day on a park bench, and reflects upon how cruel Markus was to her. She soon discovers that she has nowhere to go and ends up living on the street for over two months, where she contracts severe bronchitis and ends up in the hospital. When she recovers, she remembers her mother telling her that a friend in Vienna that Marjane stayed with when she first got there owes her some money. She goes to pick it up, and discovers that her parents have been desperately trying to contact her for the two months she spent on the streets. She arranges with her parents to go back to Iran.
included the first part in its "Best Comics of 2003" list. Andrew Arnold of TIME described the Persepolis as "sometimes funny and sometimes sad but always sincere and revealing." Kristin Anderson of The Oxonian Review of Books of Balliol College, University of Oxford
said "While Persepolis’ feistiness and creativity pay tribute as much to Satrapi herself as to contemporary Iran, if her aim is to humanise her homeland, this amiable, sardonic and very candid memoir couldn’t do a better job."
In a critical article published in the academic journal Comparative American Studies titled 'Reading Azar Nafisi in Tehran', University of Tehran
literature professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi
points out that in Persepolis representation is regularly interwoven with other aims and projections, which militate against accuracy. He states that the book and movie are the works of one who has 'Westernized' her outlook. He goes on to say that Satrapi, like Azar Nafisi, constantly confirms what orientalist representations have regularly claimed: the backwardness and inferiority of Muslims and Islam. The works, he states, have produced gross misrepresentations of Iranian society and Islam and quotes and references are used which are inaccurate, misleading, or even wholly invented.
Persepolis has been adapted into an animated film
, by Sony Pictures Classics
. The film is voiced by Catherine Deneuve
, Chiara Mastroianni
, Danielle Darrieux
and Simon Abkarian
, among others. It debuted at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
, where it won the Jury Prize. The film drew complaints from the Iranian government even before its debut at the festival. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 2007 for best animated feature.
This revised edition is only ten pages long, and recounts the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on June 12.
The authors have used the original drawings by Satrapi, and only changed the text. They have, however, inserted one new drawing, by letting Marjane tell her parents to stop reading the newspaper but instead turn their attention to the internet and Twitter
.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
autobiographical
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
comic by Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...
depicting her childhood up to her early adult years in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
during and after the Islamic revolution. The title is a reference to the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, Persepolis
Persepolis
Perspolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire . Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid...
.
Drawn in black and white, the comic found great popularity following its release, and was translated into several languages. The English edition combines the first two French books and was translated by Blake Ferris and Satrapi's husband, Mattias Ripa. The French editions of Persepolis 3 and Persepolis 4 were combined into a single volume, Persepolis 2 for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
market. In the U.S., the Persepolis series is published by Pantheon Books
Pantheon Books
Pantheon Books is an American imprint with editorial independence that is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.The current editor-in-chief at Pantheon Books is Dan Frank.-Overview:...
.
In 2007, an animated film adaptation
Persepolis (film)
Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story...
of the comic was created, with author Satrapi co-directing with French comic artist Vincent Paronnaud
Vincent Paronnaud
Pascal Stadler , a.k.a. Winshluss, is a French comics artist and filmmaker. He is best known for cowriting and codirecting with Marjane Satrapi the highly acclaimed animated film Persepolis , for which they received numerous awards including the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as well...
. The film utilized the same style of the comic, although there are a handful of scenes in the present day that are shown in color, while the rest of the flashback events are illustrated in black and white, as in the novel. The film opened in various countries to critical acclaim and received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature at the US Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
.
Background
Persepolis details Satrapi's life during the war between Iran and Iraq. Persepolis depicts Satrapi's childhood in Iran, and Persepolis 2 depicts her high school years in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and her return to Iran where Satrapi attended college, married, and later divorced before moving to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where she now lives. Hence, the series is not only a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
, but a Bildungsroman
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
.
Awards won by Persepolis 2 include the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Scenario
Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Scenario
This Prize for Scenario is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.As is the customary practice in Wikipedia for listing awards such as Oscar results, the winner of the award for that year is listed first, the others listed below are the nominees.-1990s:* 1993:...
in Angoulême
Angoulême
-Main sights:In place of its ancient fortifications, Angoulême is encircled by boulevards above the old city walls, known as the Remparts, from which fine views may be obtained in all directions. Within the town the streets are often narrow. Apart from the cathedral and the hôtel de ville, the...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, for its script and in Vitoria, Spain, for its commitment against totalitarianism. It has been translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
and other language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s, and has sold 150,000 copies.
: The Story of A Childhood
Section 1 (The Veil):The first section sets the tone for the rest of the book. It shows Marjane during her childhood and also about the background of her family.Section 2 (The Bicycle): After a brief talk with her friends, in which she learns that revolutions are like bicycles (if they're not in motion, they will stop working) she starts to read about revolutionaries such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. This sparks her interest in fighting against men with power. Because of the constant misdeeds being committed by those who are in charge of the Iranian Police forces she decides that she wants to become a revolutionary like Che Guevara. Her parents, unwilling to allow their daughter to be put in danger, do not let her go to the protests. She is very upset at this stage of her life.
Section 3 (The Water Cell): Although her parents protested every day, Marjane decided that she supported the king because he was chosen by God Himself (which was told to her by her teacher). Her dad tells her a story about how the king was really chosen, and it had nothing to do with God. After the first king was chosen, it was simply passed down from father to son. She is, of course, very excited to hear this. Her grandfather became the king's prime minister because he was well educated, but he was mistreated to the point of becoming a communist. She then learned from her mother that her grandfather was sent to prison. It was there that he lived the rest of his life under pain of torture. Marjane felt awful after hearing this and attempted to reconstruct one of her grandfather's tortures, being partially submerged in water for hours at a time, by staying in the tub for several hours.
Section 4 (Persepolis): Marjane's grandmother comes into town to visit and tells Marjane about the hardships and poverty of years past. She told of how she boiled water and pretended to be cooking to hide their poverty from the neighbors. They had no money because the Shah's father took everything they owned. Marjane then learned that although the father of the Shah was brutal, his son was ten times worse. It was because of this that her grandfather was forced to stay in prison.
Marjane's father does not come home from taking pictures of the riot on time and after a few hours they start to get scared. Marjane is sure that her father has been shot, but just as she is losing hope her father walks through the door with a full report of the day's events. The crowd saw a man's body being carried out of the hospital, and moments later the protesters lifted him up on their shoulders and marched him through town as a martyr. It turns out that the man had died of cancer, but when the crowd hears this they continued to honor him and protest the king, although now they are joined by the man's widow.
Section 5 (The Letter): Marjane goes to a book signing of her favorite author, who she refers to as "a local Charles Dickens" he writes about children who are forced into labor at an early age. Marjane starts to think about it, and realizes that that is the reason that she is embarrassed about her father driving a Cadillac.
Section 6 (The Party) Marjane is becoming more aware of her political surroundings. She tells of the downfall of the shah and of how her parents had been protesting his reign like most Iranians. After the celebration the transition to a new government is further illustrated by Marjane as she tells of tearing the shah's photograph from her textbook and of how her friends treated the children of secret service members. Her mother lectures her on how she should be more forgiving. This makes her feel a need to apologize for her harsh actions.
Section 7 (The Heroes) Marjane tells of the release of the political prisoners after the fall of the shah. Her family knew two of the men released, Siamak Jari and Mohsen Shakiba. They arrive at her house and regale them with stories of their imprisonment. Marjane's parents forget to spare her this unfortunate story. The freed political prisoners tell of how they were tortured and of how their friends were killed. Laly, the daughter of Siamak, is very proud of her father. She makes Marjane feel bad by touting this fact in front of Marjane whenever she gets a chance.
Section 8 (Moscow) Still upset by how her father is no hero she makes up stories to help make her feel better. One day her parents tell her of her uncle Anoosh. He is a communist revolutionary and a hero in Marjane's eyes. He comes to visit and he tells her his story. He informs her of his uncle Fereydon and how he was killed by the shah. He tells her of how he himself went to the U.S.S.R. and married. After he divorced his wife, he tried to re-enter Iran, but was caught and imprisoned for nine years. This revelation makes Marjane proud to be related to Anoosh.
Section 9 (The Sheep) Marjane is under pressure from her family because she repeats fake statistics that she hear from the television. The creation of an Islamic Republic forced some of her friends leave Iran. A large portion of her family left the country shortly thereafter. Reports came in that Mohsen was killed by the new regime. As these similar stories come in, she is told by her parents that Anoosh has gone back to Moscow. Later on she learns that he was imprisoned. She is allowed to see him right before they execute him. With the death of her uncle, Marjane loses all the the faith she once had. The section ends with the beginning of the War.
Section 10 (The Trip) Marjane sees on the Television that the universities are being closed down by the new regime. The Ministry of Education states that the school books are decadent and need to be revised. This affects Marjane because it denies her her dream of exploring science. form Later her mother is insulted by the guardians of the regime. She is sick and lies in bed for days. The new rules changes their neighbors' outlooks on the religious ideals.
2: The Story of a Return
Section 1 (The Soup): Marjane has just arrived in Vienna. She starts at a boarding house run by nuns and wondering what her room mate, Lucia, will be like. She then says why she was at the boarding house and not with her mother's friend, ZoZo. She then tells what happened at Zozo's house. She didn't seem to like Marjane much and there was a lot of fighting between Zozo and her husband. Plus, her daughter, Shirin, isn't like Marjane remembers her and Marjane doesn't like the new Shirin. When she arrives at the boarding house, a nun shows her around. She then experiences the freedom she now has by going shopping for her own food. When she returns, she meets her roommate. Lucia speaks German so Marjane doesn't understand her until they were eating some soup and they found a way to communicate by writing out what they meant as pictures. The section ended by both girls watching a movie in the TV room and Marjane leaves.Section 2 (Tyrol): Marjane starts the section with complaining about Lucia waking her up every morning at 6:30 with her hair dryer. A little after that, Marjane starts to make friends at school when she gets the highest grade on a math test. She also becomes very popular for her unflattering portraits of teachers. Later, she is introduced to people who become her friends. They talk about what they are going to do during their Christmas break, which makes Marjane feel left out because she doesn't celebrate Christmas and the Iranian New Year isn't until March. She goes back to her room and tells Lucia how she feels. Lucia offers to take her to her home town over the holiday to meet her parents. She went to the evening mass and had dinner with them.
Section 3 (Pasta): The next break, Marjane listens to her friends' plans for winter break and comes up with her own excuse for what she is going to do: read. She spends her break reading and eating pasta. One evening she makes a big potful of spaghetti and goes down to eat it in the public TV room at her boarding house. One of the nuns tells her off for eating out of a pot, and then insults her for being Iranian. Marjane talks back to the nun, and ends up getting kicked out of the boarding house. She says goodbye to Lucia and leaves. Marjane's friend Julie invites her to stay in her house with her and her mother.
Section 4 (The Pill): Marjane starts living with Julie and is disturbed by how disrespectful she is to her mother, whom Marjane respects. Marjane and Julie have a talk before bed, and Julie tells Marjane about her sexual endeavors (condoms, etc.), which Marjane is shocked by because people in her country were never open about sex and related topics. Marjane states "I was shocked. In my country even when you had sex before marriage, you hid it." Julie's mother goes on a business trip, and Julie has a party, but it is not what Marjane expects. Instead of eating and dancing, people were just lying around and smoking. Later that night, she hears Julie and her boyfriend having sex, and is appalled. Marjane would later call this her first step towards assimilating herself into Western culture.
Section 5 (The Vegetable): Marjane discusses her changing physical appearance. She talks about how her eyes and hands seem to have gotten bigger. She starts cutting her own hair, and even selling haircuts to the hall monitors at her school. Her friends, who think the hall monitors are conformists, are displeased. Marjane's friends begin to get into drug use, and Marjane pretends to participate, but doesn't. She begins to feel like she is betraying her Iranian heritage. Finally, she overhears some people in a cafe talking about how she's making her past up, and defends her culture, then feels like she has redeemed herself.
Section 6 (The Horse): Julie leaves Vienna, and Marjane starts staying in a communal apartment with eight homosexual men. Her mother surprises her by calling to say she is coming to visit, and arrives soon after. Marjane spends time with her mother and, because her apartment is only hers for a limited amount of time, finds a new place to stay, a room in the house of Frau Dr. Heller.
Section 7 (Hide and Seek): Marjane starts having trouble with Frau Dr. Heller, about the doctor's untidy dog. Marjane's boyfriend Enrique invites her to a party, and, although it's not what she expects, she has fun. She meets Enrique's friend Ingrid, and, when she wakes up in the morning with Enrique not next to her, jumps to the conclusion that he is in love with Ingrid, but, later that day, he reveals to Marjane that he is, in fact, gay. Marjane is feeling confused, and has a long talk with her physics teacher. She decides that she wants a physical relationship, and, after failing miserably with the boy she likes, begins getting farther and farther into drugs. She soon meets Markus, a student at her school, and falls in love with him, but their relationship is frowned upon by both Markus's mother and Frau Dr. Heller. Marjane procures some drugs for Markus, and gains a reputation as a drug dealer. Marjane feels ashamed and believes that she betrayed her country and her mother by not being the best she could be.
Section 8 (The Croissant): Marjane is having trouble on her exams, so she calls and asks her mother to pray for her. In need of money, she ends up getting a job at a cafe. When the school year starts, she gets subtly told off by the principal for drug dealing. She stops, but ends up taking more and more of them herself, so much so that her boyfriend Markus begins to get fed up and it begins affecting her health. She begins to get involved with some of Markus's friends, and with protesting the new Austrian president, who Markus's friends tell her is a Nazi. Marjane prepares to go away to spend her birthday with a friend, and is distressed by Markus's nonchalant reaction. However, she ends up missing her train, and goes to Markus's house to celebrate her birthday with him, but discovers him cheating on her.
Section 9 (The Veil): Marjane falls apart over her breakup with Markus, and, when she is accused of stealing Frau Dr. Heller's brooch, gets fed up and leaves. She spends the day on a park bench, and reflects upon how cruel Markus was to her. She soon discovers that she has nowhere to go and ends up living on the street for over two months, where she contracts severe bronchitis and ends up in the hospital. When she recovers, she remembers her mother telling her that a friend in Vienna that Marjane stayed with when she first got there owes her some money. She goes to pick it up, and discovers that her parents have been desperately trying to contact her for the two months she spent on the streets. She arranges with her parents to go back to Iran.
Character list
- Marjane (main character): Marjane is a strong girl, who follows in her parents' foot steps. Even though Marjane's view of the world changes as she grows, from a small little girl to a full grown woman, her feelings on life remain the same and has always been a fighter. She strongly believes in fighting for what you believe in. Sometimes her actions seem rebellious, and they get her into trouble, but this doesn't change her feelings or ambitions.
- Mrs. Satrapi or Taji (Marjane's mother): Taji is a passionate woman, who is upset with the way things are going in Iran, including the elimination of personal freedoms, and violent attacks on innocent people. She actively takes part in her local government by attending many protests.
- Mr. Satrapi or Ebi (Marjane's father): He also takes part in many political protests with Taji. He takes photographs of riots, which was illegal and very dangerous, if you got caught.
- Marjane's Grandmother: Marjane's Grandmother develops a close relationship with Marjane. She helps comfort Marjane when her father doesn't return from a riot. She enjoys telling Marjane stories of her past, and Marjane's Grandfather.
- Uncle Anoosh: He is a hero in Marjane's eyes. He went to the U.S.S.R. to get married; later he got a divorce. He was imprisoned for nine years after an attempt to re-enter Iran. Anoosh is seen as a hero in Marjane's eyes and develops a close relationship with her right before he is executed.
- Julie: A friend of Marjane who takes her in when she is kicked out of the boarding school in Vienna. Unlike the main character, Marjane, Julie is very open about her sexual encounters and experiences. Julie represents Western society, carrying with her every aspect of it.
- Kia: One of Marjane's childhood friends who eventually left for America.
- Siamak and Mohsen: Two friends of Marjane's family who are freed political prisoners. Both were beaten and tortured in prison. They are known as heroes.
- Mehridia: The maid of Marjane's house. She became friends with Marjane during her childhood. She had a secret relationship with the neighbor boy. She was illiterate, so she had Marjane write love letters to the neighbor boy for her.
Reception
The comics were generally well-received in Western countries following its release. For example, TIMETime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
included the first part in its "Best Comics of 2003" list. Andrew Arnold of TIME described the Persepolis as "sometimes funny and sometimes sad but always sincere and revealing." Kristin Anderson of The Oxonian Review of Books of Balliol College, University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
said "While Persepolis’ feistiness and creativity pay tribute as much to Satrapi herself as to contemporary Iran, if her aim is to humanise her homeland, this amiable, sardonic and very candid memoir couldn’t do a better job."
In a critical article published in the academic journal Comparative American Studies titled 'Reading Azar Nafisi in Tehran', University of Tehran
University of Tehran
The University of Tehran , also known as Tehran University and UT, is Iran's oldest university. Located in Tehran, the university is among the most prestigious in the country, and is consistently selected as the first choice of many applicants in the annual nationwide entrance exam for top Iranian...
literature professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi
Seyed Mohammad Marandi
Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a graduate of Birmingham University and associate professor of English Literature at University of Tehran, is the founder and director of the Institute for North American and European Studies...
points out that in Persepolis representation is regularly interwoven with other aims and projections, which militate against accuracy. He states that the book and movie are the works of one who has 'Westernized' her outlook. He goes on to say that Satrapi, like Azar Nafisi, constantly confirms what orientalist representations have regularly claimed: the backwardness and inferiority of Muslims and Islam. The works, he states, have produced gross misrepresentations of Iranian society and Islam and quotes and references are used which are inaccurate, misleading, or even wholly invented.
Film
Persepolis has been adapted into an animated film
Persepolis (film)
Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story...
, by Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics is an art-house film division of Sony Pictures Entertainment founded in December 1991 that distributes, produces and acquires specialty films from the United States and around the world. Its co-presidents are Michael Barker and Tom Bernard...
. The film is voiced by Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
, Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Charlotte Mastroianni is a French actress and singer.-Biography:Mastroianni was born in Paris, the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. Her elder half-brother is Christian Vadim; her elder half-sister is Barbara Mastroianni.She had relationships with the actors Benicio...
, Danielle Darrieux
Danielle Darrieux
Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux is a French actress and singer, who has appeared in more than 110 films since 1931. She is one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career is among the longest in film history....
and Simon Abkarian
Simon Abkarian
Simon Abkarian is a French-Armenian actor.Born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise, of Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. He moved to Los Angeles, where he joined an Armenian theater company managed by Gerald Papazian. He returned to France in 1985, settling in Paris...
, among others. It debuted at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
, where it won the Jury Prize. The film drew complaints from the Iranian government even before its debut at the festival. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 2007 for best animated feature.
Persepolis 2.0
With Satrapi’s permission, an updated version has been created, combining her illustrations with new text about Iran’s 2009 presidential election. This work, called Persepolis 2.0 is published online, at Spread Persepolis. The authors are two Iranian-born artists who live in Shanghai and who give their names only as Payman and Sina.This revised edition is only ten pages long, and recounts the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on June 12.
The authors have used the original drawings by Satrapi, and only changed the text. They have, however, inserted one new drawing, by letting Marjane tell her parents to stop reading the newspaper but instead turn their attention to the internet and Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
.