Role Of War In Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis (page 142), is an eye-opening story that takes place in Tehran, Iran during the 1970’s and 80's. The protagonist in the story, MJ, is a young girl who grows in a country where she and the other women have to wear veils on her head and are treated differently than the boys in her country. The story starts and ends with a conflict between the communist and the fundamentalist. These two groups fight for different purposes. One for the religious law (fundamentalist), and the other for the right of the people(communist). Eventually, this self-inflicted problem in Iran leaves them vulnerable to attack from a different country. Once the war starts MJ and her family finally realize how bad the situation
is for their country and acknowledge that it is not going to be over anytime soon. MJ and her family are extremely rebellious and do not follow the words of the strict law. Instead, they follow their own beliefs that women and men should be equal and that being like western countries is not a bad thing. Every day they risk the chance of being killed due to their beliefs or the war itself. Most of the time the family believe it is worth the risk until (page 142) when MJ's friend dies. In the first two panels, MJ and her mom are walking through the aftermath of their neighborhood after an attack from Iraq. As MJ’s mother pulls her passed the destroyed buildings from the attack, MJ notices the bracelet that was given to her friend Neda. This has both a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning as MJ is just realizing a small picture of a big problem. She sees the bracelet at first but doesn't yet see any clues to whether her friend is dead or not. This is symbolic for seeing that her country is in a desperate stage but she does not see the big picture that it is really dying. The last two panels depict MJ finally sees both big pictures; her country and her friend are dead.
Through the wreckage, MJ sees the bracelet connected to something and realizes it is her friend. When she figures out her friend is dead she is frozen in her spot, speechless, not able to move because she is now starting to see her world and how dangerous it is. She has now seen her friend lying dead. As she feels her friend is dead she feels her country and home is dying. For a grown up this is a lot to take in, but when you're a young child it is really hard to respond to this. As MJ's response, she hides her thoughts of anger and suffering in her veil. This is very symbolic as the veil is to actually hide. The veil’s purpose from the Iranians is to make people the same and to take away a woman's attractiveness and in this case, instead of hiding her looks, MJ hides her anger and suffering. MJ is a very mature girl for her age, but her parents know that anyone that age isn’t capable of dealing with a problem this big. This is why MJ's parents plan to send her to Austria. They do this so she can get away from all the suffering and anger. In the final panel, there is nothing but darkness. This symbolizes the things that MJ has gone through. She hides in her veil to cry. This shows great emotion. The picture gives the depressed mood of the page. Without the picture, the page wouldn’t connect to the reader as much. MJ has heard about tragedies in her country and family but has not seen it first hand. It represents the darkness of her friend's death, her uncle's death, and her beloved countries death. MJ has now gone through so much for a young child. This is why her parents send her
to
Austria. They do not want to risk her life any longer.