Community Created in Night and Persepolis through Marginalization and Ethos

“One can forgive but one should never forget.” - Marjane Satrapi. A memoir is a collection of unique memories that one may never forget. They tell the story of a person’s life and grasp experiences that may be wonderful or absolutely terrifying. In Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi narrates her childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and illustrates the devastating effects it had on her life. Similarly, Elie Wiesel narrates his horrifying journey as a Jew who endured the unimaginable cruelty of the Holocaust in his novel: Night. Although these memoirs are narrated in different time periods and locations, the authors are both marginalized because of their race and must battle traditional group barriers with their community. Through ethos and marginalization, Satrapi and Wiesel demonstrate that community can be created during times of political and cultural struggle, ultimately illustrating that humans overcome traditional group barriers by including themselves with members of other marginalized groups.

Marginalization occurs when communities are prevented from participating fully in the economic, social, and political life of their society, and is a major cause for the difficult experiences the narrators must overcome. In Persepolis, the veil plays a large role in Marji’s life because it becomes a requirement for Iranian women to wear in public, marginalizing them from other women. Marji and her friends are unsure of the veil and do not understand why they need to wear it, (Satrapi 3). She says, “We found ourselves veiled and separated from our friends,” (Satrapi 4). The veil is a symbol of uniformity because the women cannot be told apart from one another. It erases their individuality and ...

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...marginalized. While Satrapi was marginalized by the veil and Wiesel by the golden star, they both faced political and cultural struggle as innocent children, which creates community among readers. Both authors were able to bring a new window back into our world through their memoirs, in which we learn that “one can forgive but one should never forget.”

Works Cited

Mark M. Anderson. "The Child Victim as Witness to the Holocaust: An American Story?" Jewish Social Studies 14.1 (2007): 1-22. Project MUSE. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. .

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. Paris: Pantheon Books, 2003. Print.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.

Worth, Jennifer. “Unveiling: Persepolis as Embodied Performance.” Theatre Research International, 32 (2007): 143-160. Cambridge Journals Online. Web. 31 Mar 2014. .