1. PERSEPOLIS ANALYSIS

2. The Loss of Innocence in Coming of Age  Persepolis is largely a story about a young woman coming of age, and for Marji, this process is punctuated by incidents that gradually chip away her innocence. Her father acknowledges this process when he tells Marji in “The Water Cell” that he thinks she is old enough to understand certain things. Young Marji innocently believes the Shah was chosen by God because that is the story her teacher told her. When her father tells her the truth, it is a watershed moment for Marji in her coming of age. She not only learns the harsh reality of geopolitics in the Middle East, but she also must contemplate the power dynamics that would cause her teacher to “lie” to her about this. This incident chips away at Marji’s innocence and teaches her to think more critically going forward. The same process plays out over and over again. Her mother’s run-in with men who threaten to rape her shows Marji just how cruel and opportunistic people can be. Uncle Anoush’s execution teaches Marji that her heroes are fallible. Each one of these incidents erodes Marji’s innocence and pushes her forward on her path to independence. Though Marji’s coming of age is perhaps more challenging than most, her story suggests that the loss of innocence is a painful but necessary experience on the path to adulthood.

3. The Cannibalizing Nature of the Iranian Regime  A theme that comes up time and again in Persepolis is the way the Iranian regime’s tactics for staying in power cannibalizes its own society. The regime depends upon its citizens for survival, yet it feeds off of and destroys them at the same time. In order to keep tabs on its citizens, the regime relies upon information from the general populace. The Guardians of the Revolution police the streets. Neighbors spy on neighbors for any signs of forbidden behavior. In other words, the regime turns Iranians against other Iranians in order to maintain its control over the population. The regime’s tactics have a terribly destructive effect on individuals and society as a whole. The same is true of the regime’s conduct in the war with Iraq. It knows that Iran’s much larger population can outlast a war of attrition against the much less populous Iraq. So, the regime launches a propaganda campaign, aimed at the poor and uneducated, to encourage Iranians to join the military. It stays in the fight by sending wave after wave of young Iranians to die on the battlefield. As Marji shrewdly observes, the regime also uses the cover of the war and the nationalism the war helps to stir up in order to shore up support and crack down on its detractors. The awful cannibalizing nature of the Iranian regime is best summed up in a bit of the regime’s own propaganda that makes several appearances in the story: in order to die as a martyr, one must inject their own blood into society’s veins.

4. Moral Compromise as a Means of Survival  The characters in Persepolis must often compromise their values in order to survive. It is notable that the characters in the story whom Marji thinks of as true heroes are the ones who risk or give their lives for their ideals. Iranians who protest the Shah’s regime are physically attacked and even massacred. Siamek and Moshen endure years of torture in the Shah’s prisons because of their activism. Anoush is exiled from his homeland and later imprisoned and killed for fighting for his ideals. These incidents teach Marji that holding powerful ideals can be dangerous. But it is her parents that drive the point home. Marji wants to go to the protest and participate in the movement she believes in, but her parents won’t allow her. They make it clear that her safety is more important. The countless Iranians who flee the country they love is another indication that survival is more important than fighting for what you love. Taji believes fiercely in women’s rights, but she frequently chastises Marji for speaking up and not keeping her head down. The message is crystal clear: ideals are good, but safety is more important. Sometimes one must compromise one’s values to stay alive.

5. Historical Context  Persepolis is set in Iran and follows a period of social and political tensions starting with the 1979 Iranian Revolution, to life under the new Islamic Republic, to the Iran-Iraq War.  The 1979 Revolution aimed to overthrow the Shah, who aligned with America and attempted to modernise the country.  Discontent with the Shah and his use of violence to achieve his aims, protests and demonstrations intensified into a revolution.  Marji grew up witnessing many of these violent acts. The Revolution was eventually successful and the Shah fled Iran. Iran became an Islamic republic in April 1979. The Iran-Iraq war also started in September 1980. Since Iran was already undergoing major political and social changes within the country, the war took a heavy toll on its population.  We often see this through Marji’s anger, fear and trauma during this period. But for the new government, the war was an opportunity to strengthen their authority, impose repressive laws and fuel nationalism across the population.

6. MOTIFS  CLASS  FUNDEMANTALISM VS. MODERNISM  LIES

7. CLASS  The issue of class is everywhere in Persepolis. Right from the start, six- year-old Marji perceives the unfairness inherent in the strict class structure of Iranian society. Marji claims to want to be a prophet because her father owns a Cadillac and the maid eats in the other room. Indeed, the Iranian Revolution begins as a leftist movement, and activists like Uncle Anoush identified the class divide as the country’s greatest problem. Mehri’s story illustrates just how deeply uncrossable class lines are in Iran. It is also partly Ebi’s desire to remain in a privileged class that keeps the family in Iran. The losers in the various regime changes that Iran undergoes in the 20th century experience extreme class shifts, and it is often perceived as a humiliating experience. Marji’s grandfather goes from royalty to poverty, and her grandmother does her best to pretend they are not destitute. The issue of class thus influences and provides much of the context for nearly all the events in the book, large and small.

8. Fundamentalism vs. Modernism  Once the Iranian Revolution becomes an Islamic and cultural revolution, cultural issues come to define and divide Iranians. The Iranian regime clearly sees their revolution as a war with the modern values of secularism, liberalism, and materialism. Likewise, secular Iranians feel that their values and way of life are under siege. Marji lays out the divide explicitly by explaining each camp’s attire. The fundamentalists express their values through the veil requirement for women and beards for men. Modernist women signal their disapproval of the regime by showing little hair, and modernist men shave their beards. Once Marji explains how to identify fundamentalists and modernists, the divide is easy to see in the book’s illustrations. It provides important context in understanding various characters’ motivations and actions, just as it provides context for people in Iran. Iranians know who they need to be careful around, who they can trust, and who is a member of their camp.

9. Lies  Lies, dishonesty, secrecy, and distrust play a major role in Marji’s story. The most harmless of these are the many white lies that people tell their children in order to protect them. Laly’s mother tells her that her father is “on a trip” to protect her from the terrible truth that he is suffering in prison. Similarly, Marji’s parents at first tell Marji that Uncle Anoush went back to Moscow when he was actually captured by the regime. When Iran’s Islamic Republic is established, lies, dishonesty, and secrecy become a constant fact of life. Marji is encouraged to lie about how much she prays and to hide her liberal views. Indeed, Marji learns to lie to anyone who looks like they might be a fundamentalist. In a way, Iranians like the Satrapis are in a war of lies with the regime. The regime is constantly lying to the people. Ebi knows he cannot trust Iranian news reports and gets his news from the BBC. The regime lies to the poor and uneducated to entice them to enlist in the military and lies about the people they execute. In order to survive the onslaught of deception and oppression, Iranians like the Satrapis must learn to lie in order to survive

10. SYMBOLS  GOD  THE VEIL  The Henchmen of the Regime

11. GOD  Marji’s personal God who comes to talk with her at night symbolizes her feeling of belonging, her faith, and her innocence. Marji is deeply religious and spiritual as a young girl. Her faith in herself and her place in the world is symbolized by God’s warm embrace. She feels whole, safe, and at home. She feels in control, even to the point of being able to “control” God, calling on him and sending him away at will. But as Marji learns more about the world, her relationship with God weakens. On a night when she needs him the most, God does not come. This represents the first crack in her faith and suggests that the more Marji learns of the horrors of the world, the more estranged she becomes from God. As Marji’s interest in the secular world increases, her interest in God, and thus her faith and innocence, decreases. She becomes interested in the Revolution, ignores God, and talks of being a prophet. This shows that Marji’s relationship with God is tied to a sense of safety. When Marji feels in control, she doesn’t need God. But when the moral ambiguity of the Revolution and the complexity of Laly’s situation becomes overwhelming, Marji wants to feel safe and retreats into God’s warm embrace. Marji’s final break with God comes after Uncle Anoush’s execution. She screams at God and tells him never to come back, and he is absent for the rest of the book. God’s absence symbolizes the loss of Marji’s innocent belief that all will be well. Her loss of innocence has resulted in her loss of faith and sense of belonging.

12. THE VEIL  The Iranian regime’s requirement that women wear the veil is a powerful symbol of oppression, division, and isolation. It is notable that Satrapi begins her novel with a discussion about the veil even though the veil requirement is not chronologically the first thing that happens to Marji in the story. This signals that the veil has a wide-ranging significance that goes beyond the practical. Practically speaking, the veil has the immediate effect of separating women from men and relegating women to second-class citizens. The veil also serves to represent the extent to which someone supports the regime, with fundamentalists wearing it to the letter of the law and modernists showing some hair as a form of protest. A metaphorical veil has thus been lowered to separate Iranians from one another and make unity impossible. The veil also symbolizes the regime’s repression of the individual. It not only represents this repression by literally covering up individual traits, but it also facilitates the regime’s repression by signaling who the regime’s true supporters are. Finally, the veil symbolizes Iran’s withdrawal and isolation from the international community. On their trip to Europe, the Satrapis see a news report that contains an image of Iran being slowly covered by a pall of darkness. It looks a bit like a veil descending over the country and represents the way Iran is growing “darker” and turning its back on the West. Though in the opening pages of the book Marji and her classmates treat the veil as a meaningless plaything, Marji comes to associate the veil with division, oppression, and isolation.

13. THE HENCHMAN OF THE REGIME  The way Satrapi draws the bearded henchmen of the Iranian regime suggests these faces are symbols as much as they are real people. The drawing of each bearded, fundamentalist man is nearly identical. The face is either angry or self-righteously pious. The angry faces that pepper Satrapi’s graphic novel thus symbolize the brutal patriarchy under which Marji lives. The way the drawings are crafted also suggest a darkening and a flattening of Iranian society. Nothing distinguishes one face from another, symbolizing the way the Iranian regime seeks to stamp out individuality. The people of Iran don the veil, long dark clothing, and cover their faces with beards. This creates a sort of “flattening” effect. As the regime’s power spreads, the feeling of a flattening darkness spreads as well.

14. Character List  Marji Satrapi  Uncle Anoush  Ebi Satrapi  Taji Satrapi  Marji’s Grandmother  Mehri  God  The Shah  Marji’s Grandfather  Moshen Shakiba  Siamek Jari  Mali  Mali’s Husband  Reza Shah  Pardisse

15. MARJI SATRAPI  A young Iranian girl and the narrator and protagonist. Marji is highly intelligent, perceptive, and sensitive. She is confident and brave, and she speaks her mind, often to her damage. Marji comes of age during Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979. As the health of Iranian society deteriorates, so does Marji’s mental and emotional health. Her sense of independence and justice makes the society in which she grew up especially challenging.

16. UNCLE ANOUSH  Marji’s uncle on her father’s side. Uncle Anoush and Marji are similar in many ways, especially in their sense of justice and their idealism, and they establish a special connection as soon as they meet. Anoush represents the idealism of the Revolution and the optimism of the Revolution’s earliest days. Likewise, his death represents the disappointment so many Iranians felt watching the Islamic regime rise to power.

17. EBI SATRAPI  Marji’s father. Ebi Satrapi is a successful professional of Iran’s upper- middle class. He believes in democracy and hates the Islamic regime. His family’s privilege keeps the Satrapis safe, and his practicality keeps his idealism in check. Ebi makes the decision to stay in Iran rather than emigrate to the United States because he fears losing his social status and building a life from scratch while having to work menial jobs.

18. TAJI SATRAPI  Marji’s mother. Taji is the daughter of a former Iranian prince. She is fiercely independent yet also extremely practical and generous. She is the disciplinarian in the family and often has to encourage Marji to think more about her safety. Taji loves her daughter deeply and constantly worries about how living under the Islamic regime is affecting Marji.

19. MARJI’S GRANDMOTHER  Marji’s grandmother on her mother’s side. Marji’s grandmother is kind, stoic, and wise. She dotes on Marji and passes her wisdom on to her. Marji’s grandmother represents the endurance of the long- suffering Iranian people. Though Reza Shah’s coup took everything from her family, she holds fast to her dignity and teaches Marji how to do the same.

20. MEHRI  The Satrapi’s live-in maid. Mehri is uneducated and comes from a family that was too poor to care for her. She is a simple person who falls in love with the next-door neighbor despite never meeting him in person. Her story represents the strict class divide in Iran and the way class resentment leads to the Revolution.

21. THE SHAH  The Shah of Iran. The Shah is as venal, proud, and cruel as he is undeserving of his position as ruler. His ouster sets in motion an eventual coup by Iran’s religious fanatics.

22. MARJI’S GRANDFATHER  Marji’s grandfather on her mother’s side. Marji’s grandfather is agreeable and easygoing. Even when everything he owns is confiscated by Reza Shah and he is imprisoned, he takes his misfortunes in stride.

23. Moshen Shakiba  Ebi’s friend and a member of the communist resistance movement against the Shah. Moshen endures imprisonment and vicious torture at the hands of the Shah’s government only to be assassinated by the new regime.

24. Siamek Jari  A writer in the communist resistance movement and Ebi’s friend. Siamek is imprisoned and tortured by the Shah’s regime and later released. He manages to escape persecution by the new regime by fleeing the country.

25. MALI  A friend of the Satrapis and a refugee from the south of Iran. Mali’s pride is injured when she overhears a pair of Iranian women criticizing refugees.

26. MALI’S HUSBAND  The husband of Mali. Mali’s husband cares mostly about his wealth, which he has lost due to the war with Iraq.

27. REZA SHAH  The Shah’s father. Reza Shah is an uneducated man whom the British government supports in a successful coup.

28. PARDISSE  A schoolmate of Marji’s. Pardisse’s father is a fighter pilot who is killed in the war. Pardisse is proud of her father and gives a moving presentation about him in front of the class.

29. THEMES  Gender roles.  Cultural identity and belonging.  Coming of age.  Family and social dynamics.  Social injustice.  Rebellion, independence and freedom.  War, heroism, and nationalism.