Persepolis Illustrates a Different Iran
Persepolis: The Story
of a Childhood
By Marjane Satrapi
Pantheon
When Americans think of Iran, images of men with beards, women in chadors, and phrases such as religious fundamentalism and extremism come to mind. These impressions don’t leave much room for images of head-banging teenagers who have a natural inclination to rebel and question the society that surrounds them.
Marjane Satrapi corrects these misguided notions of Iran and illustrates a country that is complex, contradictory, and conflict-ridden in her memoir Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. Told from the perspective of a child narrator, her experiences are written in a frank, unfiltered, truthful manner that is not corrupted by overt sentimentality or conclusive morals. Her illustrations, which inevitably draw comparisons to Joe Sacco and Art Spiegelman, match her narration in their purposeful simplicity.
Satrapi, who grew up during the Iran-Iraq war and the Islamic Revolution, was born to avant-garde, Marxist parents who actively demonstrated against the unpopular Shah’s regime. Satrapi follows in her outspoken parents’ footsteps, although at first their causes aren’t the same. Even at a young age, Satrapi is painfully aware of the most local inequities, like how the family maid (who was sold to the family at the age of eight), eats alone while the family dines together.
Convinced she’s the next prophet at the age of six, Satrapi explains, “Every night I had a big discussion with God.” However, her relationship with God changes as Iranians demonstrate against the Shah, whose administration is considered a puppet regime of the U.S. government. Swept up by the romance of revolutionaries like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Satrapi begs her parents to let her demonstrate alongside them in the street. After she is told by her father, “It is very dangerous. They shoot people!”, Satrapi cries in bed and asks, “God, where are you?” She writes, “That night he didn’t come.”
Satrapi becomes even more lost and orders God out of her life after the execution of her Uncle Anoosh. The handsome Anoosh, whom Satrapi meets after he is released from prison following the overthrow of the Shah, quickly bonds with his inquisitive niece who shares his interest in Marxism. Many changes happen while Anoosh is living with the Satrapis; a family friend is murdered by the new Islamic regime, a boy Satrapi has a crush on flees with his family to the U.S., and the sister of a fellow activist and friend was killed as well.
Iran’s dire situation becomes painfully clear to young Satrapi once she finds out that Anoosh has been arrested. The only visitor allowed before his execution, Satrapi hugs her uncle, and is told, “You are the little girl I always wanted to have.” Accompanied by an illustration of a newspaper featuring Anoosh’s picture and the headline, “Russian Spy Executed,” Satrapi explains, “That was my last meeting with my beloved Anoosh...”
Mourning her uncle, Satrapi once again cries in bed while God pokes his head in the frame and asks, “Marji, what seems to be the problem?” In a fit of anger, Satrapi replies, “Shut up, you! Get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again!” On the next page, Satrapi illustrates herself as floating in outer space while someone yells, “Marji, run to the basement! We’re being bombed!” She unnecessarily narrates, “It was the beginning of the war.”
Iran becomes more unstable, but the Satrapi family deals with the situation as best they can. While Satrapi and her peers are forced to wear chadors in school, and beat their breasts as part of a religious ceremony, they also make fun of the Islamic regime’s visible symbols at every opportunity. Instead of obediently knitting winter hoods for Iranian soldiers, Satrapi and her friends wear them as masks and make funny faces at each other. And rather than properly decorating their classroom for the anniversary of the Islamic revolution, the girls toilet paper the room.
And thanks to her hip mother, Satrapi attends her first party wearing “a sweater full of holes and ... a necklace with chains and nails. Punk rock was in.” The Satrapi family holds their own gatherings complete with illicit alcohol and dancing. However, they have to hang black curtains to prevent their neighbors from reporting them to the police. In another effort to give their daughter as much of a normal life as is possible while living in a war zone, the Satrapis smuggle in a Kim Wilde poster, a Michael Jackson button, a denim jacket, and the latest model of Nike sneakers into Iran after vacationing in Turkey.
However, the situation becomes too much to bear for the Satrapis after their Jewish neighbors, the Baba-Levys, are killed during a bombing of their affluent neighborhood. While her mother is pulling her away from the Baba-Levy’s destroyed home, Satrapi notices her friend Neda’s turquoise bracelet, which she received on her fourteenth birthday and never went without. “The bracelet was still attached to ... I don’t know what ... No scream in the world could have relieved my suffering and my anger,” writes Satrapi.
Satrapi acts out in school, noting, “After the death of Neda Baba-Levy, my life took a new turn. In 1984, I was fourteen and a rebel. Nothing scared me anymore.” During an argument regarding her illegal jewelry, Satrapi hits her school’s principal and is expelled. Her parents decide that she should finish her education in Europe, and soon Satrapi realizes that her mother and father aren’t coming with her.
And that’s where Satrapi ends the book, with her mother fainting at the airport, allowing for a sequel which Satrapi is currently writing. Although it is difficult leaving Satrapi at such a critical point — the classic cliffhanger — it is reassuring to know that more of her compelling story will be told.