Persepolis- Loss of Innocence

In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, the reader follows the story of Satrapi’s younger self growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran. Starting too early in life, Marjane was forced to mature much too quickly. Not only that, even before her teenage years, she lost her childhood innocence as she watched the war around her. Satrapi portrays her younger self as brave, smart, and most importantly, mature. In Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the theme of political hardship causing children to mature too quickly is proven by the settings of Marjane’s bedroom, living room, and the streets of Tehran. The events that occurred in Marjane’s bedroom caused her to mature quickly. For example, when she tells God to leave her alone and to go away it shows she is maturing because she is trying to make her own decisions and be independent. When Mr. Satrapi informs Marjane about social classes she loses some of her innocence because she starts to realize she can’t even be friends with who she wants. Finally, when Marjane was very young, she read books about the Revolution and she grew up from reading about the war and how it was affecting her own life. Marjane learned many things in her room, and grew up more and more from every detail she heard. Marjane learned about the effect of the war while in her living room, resulting in her maturing too fast. Marjane first learned of the war by overhearing her parents in the living room, sparking an interest for the subject at an age where war is a difficult concept to understand. In her living room, she heard Anoosh’s stories of how he was tortured, causing her to mature even more because she had never heard of anything so bizarre and horrifying before. Another event that took place in Marjane’s living room was when her parents told her she was going to Austria, causing her to mature enough to be able to live in another country without her parents. The living room in the Satrapi household was one of the many places to chip away at Marjane’s innocence and build up her maturity. Marjane witnessed and took part in many things on the streets of Tehran during a time of political hardship, causing her to mature. One thing Marjane witnessed was seeing two women fighting over food, which made her realize that the war was taking away people’s sanity. One of the many things Marjane took part in was a protest on Black Friday, which she later found out was very dangerous because many people were killed. Marjane also led a group of her friends down the streets with nails between their knuckles to attack a boy named Ramin, taking away not only her innocence, but her friends’ also. Being on the streets of Tehran had a large impact on Marjane, causing her to grow up too soon. To conclude, Marjane Satrapi had a hard childhood filled with war, politics, and a lot of maturing. Because of the settings of her bedroom, living room, and the streets of Tehran, Marjane lost her innocence and gained a more realistic view of the war. Even though Marjane was once an innocent little girl, the war and the political hardship her country was facing changed that in only a few years.