World Lit

Persepolis has many themes flowing throughout it but I want to focus on one, how war affects the youth. In the book, we follow Marjane throughout her childhood, adolescent years, and her young adult life but I concentrated on the younger years and the experiences she had, such as losing loved ones during the time of war.  Since this book begins with Marjane at the young age of 10, the author uses comic strip images to emphasize the innocence of the children. By using these simple drawings, it constantly reminds the reader that the narrator is only a child. Reading the short texts and following the drawings put me in Marjane’s shoes. Right away, the reader is informed that the Islamic Revolution has just begun. Marjane now has to get used to a lot of changes, which can be hard for young children. One example of a big change is when Marjane’s old school, a French non-religious school, is shut down and the boys and girls are at separate schools. Her classmates are now forced to wear a black veil at school. “We didn’t really like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to” (3).  If the text wasn’t enough to show the children’s obliviousness, the drawings demonstrate Marjane and her classmates playing with the veils. Some children were even playing jump rope with the veils. Her parents are very active with the revolution, and she wants to be included in the protesting. They refuse because she is too young and it is not safe but her father does tell her the history of the revolution and her grandfather. She begins to read books to learn about war and revolutions and feed her curiosity. She even goes to a protest with her maid and her parents are furious when they find out. They are so upset because it is such a dangerous time for children and they want to protect her. Marjane isn’t aware of all the dangers and that she can easily be hurt, tortured, or even killed but her parents are aware. They are just trying to look out for their daughter but she doesn’t understand until she is older. Then, Marjane’s uncle comes to visit her family. She becomes fascinated with her Uncle Anoosh because he was a hero of the Revolution. She becomes very close with her uncle during his short stay at her house. But, as the story progresses, Marjane begins losing loved ones. She finds out that her Uncle Anoosh had been arrested. He can only have one visitor, and he chooses her. They say goodbyes and he was executed the next day. She had grown close to her uncle so it was very difficult when he died. Her friend left for the United States, and a neighborhood family was killed in a bombing. She lost faith in God and feels empty inside. “No scream in the world could have relieved my suffering and my anger” (142). Marjane represents all the children that go through feelings of depression during a hard time such as war. Living through a war, revolution, and losses of loved ones, would take a toll on anyone, especially a young girl. Her childhood ends as she is sent away to Austria. Her parents are devastated to have to send her to live by herself in another country but they know she will be safe there and they won’t have to constantly worry about something bad happening to their child. It pains them to do this, but they are doing it out of love. “We feel it’s better for you to be far way and happy than close by and miserable. Judging by the situation here, you’ll be better of somewhere else” (149).