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4 thoughts on “Satrapi, Marjane – Persepolis”
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Our English class was focusing on graphic novels. When we were supposed to bring one, I chose to bring Persepolis. This novel has a unique story that makes people want to read it. If you are expecting a SWEET PINKY ROMANS story, this is probably not a right book for you. It is about a religious war and a Muslim kid’s childhood. This character faced a lot of hard times and situations. Her dream/goal was to become the last prophet and to reach her goal, she communicated with God every night.
This novel contains a big story line with several topics. It is black and white and there are lots of writings than other graphic novels. When a teacher tells you comic books do not help you in English, say “Persepolis helps!” There are advanced vocabularies and long sentences. If you are searching for a novel with pictures, this is it. The time gaps between panels are very big but the descriptions are detailed. Therefore, there’s basically no problem in understanding the plot. The perspective is always on the audiences’ eye level, so you will feel more comfortable than other graphic novels.
I like this graphic novel because it contains a unique story line with both fiction and non-fiction. It is based on 1st person narrative so it was easier for me to understand the story and what was happening. The drawing were not my style but still it wasn’t bad. I think it might be hard to understand for non and start of teenagers, there are many religious vocabularies. I strongly recommend this graphic novel for teenagers about 14~16.
When we were learning graphic novel in our English class, Ms Karla made photo copies of this book and taught us about this book. I found out that this is such an interesting book so I bought the whole book. This is a great graphic novel, and its about an Iranian Muslin girl called Marja’s everyday life in rIran revolution. This girl lives in Iran , and theres a revolution in Iran that forced women to wear veil. Marja’s dream life is to become a prophet, and she faced many conflicts during the awful revolution.
I think the pictures in this graphic novel are pretty good and interesting, the pictures clearly showed the feeling of the character and what they are thinking and talking. Anyway, I will say this is an interesting book and I will give it a five.
Persepolis 1, The Story Of A Childhood Book Review
A big revolution is about to happen and demonstrations are going on here and there. The war between Iran and Iraq is only getting worst and new laws are being created. What will be the fate of the remaining Iranians who haven’t fled the country yet? PERSEPOLIS 1,The Story Of A Childhood by Marjane Satrapi who is both the writer and artist of this graphic novel. This graphic novel shows how the main character Marji Satrapi who was a child to Mr and Mrs Satrapi had to deal with the current situation of her country Iran. She was just a child when the Iranian revolution was going on and she didn’t have much understanding on the history of Iran or the cause of the revolution so most of the time she had to question everyone including her grandma. Right before the revolution, Marji was a child who was so interested in becoming a prophet but along came the revolution and Marji was transformed into a different child who had no interest whatsoever in becoming a prophet rather she wanted to become a demonstrator. Due to the situation in Iran some new laws were made, all the females had to put on a veil, boys and girls had to go to different schools, now Marji has to learn to adjust to these new laws.
The characters in this graphic novel were both adults and children and this combination of characters made this book look quite realistic because the main character is a child and every child needs a parent and older people to surround them and also children needs kids of their age to play around with and this graphic novel provided just that. The setting of this graphic novel is the best thing about this book. This book has the setting of 1979 in Iran. 1979 was when the Iranian revolution began and also there was hostage crisis going on. The setting has full connection with this book because this whole book is talking about the Iranian revolution from a child’s side of view. In short, the main fact about this book is that it is real. This graphic novel is a means by which Marjane Satrapi the author of this book used to show how she as a child felt during the Iranian revolution. The artwork and illustration of PERSEPOLIS 1, is really impressive and quite thoughtful, it looks like a child’s drawing and it is all in black and white. This artistic style is quite different from other graphic novels. The dialogues in this book are also part of the nice features of this book because they are relevant and also there are no inappropriate conversations between the characters and no uses of swear words unlike other graphic novels. Different themes can be obtained from this graphic novel like: 1. Good relationship between parents and their child or children, this theme shows how close Marji and her parents are. 2. Nothing good comes out from war; this theme means that the only thing war can produce is casualties and depression. 3. Transformation due to situation, this theme refers more to how Marji lost her interest in becoming a prophet due to the revolutionary situation.
One of the problems with this graphic novel is the font. The font of this graphic novel is really small and this makes it quite difficult for the readers to read some sentences especially at night or with a dim light, it could cause strain to the eyes also some images in some parts of this book are a bit confusing like the part were Marji’s mother collapsed on her fathers arm, this part is confusing because in the previous parts the author didn’t say or mention anything about the mother being sick or tired and then all of a sudden she just collapses into her husbands arms in the next part. Although the drawing style of this book is unique, it is still a bit too childish and the coloring also being just black and white is just too plane maybe addition of other brighter colors would be nicer.
Even though this graphic novel is written from a child’s perspective, it wouldn’t be appealing for children because of the coloring and the font specifically and also it has a war setting and children don’t really like war books. This book would be appealing to teenagers and adults because they have better understanding on the Iranian revolution and teenagers love books that involve war and action.
This graphic novel can be considered a Literature because literatures have lasting artistic merits and they are published base on a particular subject and they are also realistic and have a permanent impact on history. This PERSEPOLIS 1, The Story Of A Childhood have all of the above mentioned features, the artwork of this book is quite unique and lasting, it is published based on the Iranian revolution and it also has an impact on the Iran history.
Imagine what would it be like to live in a war-tormented country, to live in a society where it is dangerous to even express your opinion, to struggle to be yourself when the environment forces you to change; the worst thing is, you have to face all of these when you are still a child. These are the problems that the main character, Marja, have to face in this graphic novel. Persepolis 1,The Story Of A Childhood is both written and illustrated by Marjane Satrapi. The story of this graphic novel is about Marja’s life from a child to a teenager. However, unlike a normal child, she has to face the Iranian revolution. Having a family of political activists, Marja is impacted greatly. One of the themes of the book is the conflict between Modernity and Fundamentalism. Marja’s family is very modern, they are adapted to the western style of life and belief; Marja likes Jean jacket, and her family believe in gender equality and liberal education. In contrast, the social environment they live in is very traditional. Women are forced to wear veils and people are punished for not following the ‘traditional way’. These two worldviews completely contradict each other, causing serious conflicts.
The good thing about this graphic novel is its plot and also its illustrations and the use of voiceovers. The most intriguing point of the plot is the fact that it combines humor and drama. For example, near the end of the book, Marja gets herself in trouble with the guardian of the revolution because she is not dressed accordingly. She successfully rescues herself by forcing herself to cry and pretend that her strict parents would punish her severely if she doesn’t return immediately. Her dramatic description that contradicts her real family brings humor to the audiences. However, it makes the reader think about the danger and threat that a teenager would face in the Iranian revolution. The art form in this book adds to the story. The illustrations, instead of being realistic, are very cartoon like. This helps the author creates abstract expressions and imageries easily. For example, at a point where lots of people died, the author used a panel and drew similar heads, which are lined up in a symmetrical and pattern like way. This really leaves a strong impression to the audiences. Also, because the illustrations are not as realistic, the book isn’t as bloody There is lots of illustration that depicts people being punished in cruel ways, and by making it less disturbing, the audiences can focus on the plot instead of feeling disturbed by the bloody images. Voiceovers contribute to the impact on the audiences also. At a point in the book, the character actually talks directly to the audiences about the political situation, which made that part of the graphic novel very intriguing and powerful.
The bad thing about this book is the font size. Because the plot line and setting are somewhat complicated, the author had to use word to be more specific. However, there is limited space within the book. The fonts are intentionally made small, but this made the book complicated for the readers to read.
I would recommend this book to older audiences, because this book is based on a real life story, the political conflicts within the book are real too, and to really understand the book, some historical references might be needed. Also, older readers would be able to understand that the inner struggle that Marja is going through while she is growing up. I would not recommend this book to people who does not prefer graphic novel with heavy text, due to its font size and its complicated plot.
This piece is literature. According to Merriam Webster, literature is defined as ‘ writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest’ (“Literature.” Merriam-Webster.com). This graphic novel includes heavy text, has a theme. It somewhat do express ideas of ‘permanent or universal interest’; because it includes a piece of history, even more, it expresses one’s experience through this piece of history. These are valuable information to the future generations.
Bibliography:
“Literature.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.