Persepolis Research Paper

Personal Troubles and Public Issues in Persepolis Marjane Satrapi’s novel Persepolis is an in depth look at Marjane’s child hood in Iran. Throughout the novel Marji faces many public issues which directly relate to her personal troubles. While Marji was growing up she witnessed the relinquishment of the Shah’s regime, The Islamic revolution and the Iraq v Iran war. Her novel covers an eight year span, from the ages six to fourteen. Even though the novel begins when Marji is only six years old she was more politically aware then most modern day adolescents. Marji was extremely young during majority of the events throughout the novel but her age did not stop public issues from directly affecting herself and others around her. While reading Persepolis I was able to get an in depth look at how Iran not only was in war with surrounding Countries but also at war within its own borders.

When Persepolis first began Marji attended a coed non religious school. This was normal for Iran until the Cultural Revolution. The Iranian government ordered that bilingual schools be closed down because they were a
Marji’s had a maid named Mehri who Marji considered her older sister. Mehri fell in love with their neighbor Hossein and he began writing her letters but because Mehri was a peasant she couldn’t read or write. Marji began reading the letters to Mehri and writing responses since Mehri was not capable of doing so. This went on for six months until the news got back to Marji’s dad. Since Marji’s parents were Marxist they strongly believed in social classes. That meant they was no way Mehri and Hossein could be together because she was a peasant and she was not. Social class is a public issue that quickly turned into a personal trouble because Marji didn’t agree with her parents beliefs and also because she couldn’t stand seeing Mehri so emotionally