Persepolis
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel about Marjane’s childhood during the Islamic Revolution. This book reveals that conflict occurs when people do not accept or appreciate the uniqueness of others. A lot of bad things happened to Marji and her family while in Iraq. Girls and women were forced to to wear the veil, and children were forced to go to single gender schools. Children had to live in fear that their fathers were going to be taken away from them. Lastly, some people had everything taken away from them.
Marji and all of her people were treated with unfair rules. According to Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi, it says, “We didn’t really like to wear the veil, especially when we didn’t understand why we had to.” This quote is an example of how women and girls during this time period had to wear something they did not want to, just because someone told them they had to. Also, if women refused to wear their veil, they would be punished Also according to the same story, “All bilingual schools must be shut down. They are symbols of capitalism, of decadence.” This quote shows how even boys and girls had to go to different schools because some people did not like them being in the same school together. Kids were forced to leave their friends and go to a whole new school with only people of the same gender They were forced to go to schools where no diversity was shown. This reveals that people were treated unfairly by people who did not like their uniqueness
Many children had to live in fear that their fathers were going to be taken away from them, because of what they stood up for. According to the story Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi, Marji’s mom said,, “I remember when I was a small girl. Every Time there was a knock at the door I thought they were coming to take my father to prison. And one time out of two it was really true.” This quote is important because it shows how Marji’s mother feared that her father was going to jail for sticking up for something he believed in. her mother was scared of simple knocking at the door, when sometimes, it could have been family or friends coming to visit. Also, according to the same story, it says, “I wish he were alive and in jail rather than dead and a hero.” This quote is also important because it shows how marji’s friend was also scared to lose her father, and unfortunately did. Her father was killed trying to protect his people from the other people that did not accept who they were. This reveals that not only little girls or boys, but whole families were scared that their father, husband, grandfather, or maybe their uncle was going to be taken away to jail or death.
In conclusion, the central idea of the graphic memoir Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is that conflict can, and will, occur when people do not accept or appreciate the uniqueness of others. In the story, Marji and her people had unfair rules forced on them just because they were different than others. All girls and women were forced to wear the veil, with no reason or explanation. Boys and girls were forced to separate and go to different schools without each other. Lastly, many families lived in fear that their husband or father was going to be taken away from them for standing up for themselves. Many people in many different countries were forced to live that same lifestyle because they were different. Some people even still live like that today. Marjane Satrapi was unfortunately one of those people, but she made it through that time, and was even able to share her story so that others could learn from it. Many people should have been able to learn to accept how unique others are, especially when they are different than us.
