Comparison Of The Complete Persepolis And On Tyranny

2217 Words5 Pages

Both Marjane Satrapi’s “The Complete Persepolis” (a book that describes the author’s experiences during the Iranian revolution) and Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny, Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” (a framework providing important lessons in maintaining a free government) are excellent pieces of literature that teach us important lessons of modern-day politics, that in their own ways accentuate the importance of freedom and democracy. Because of how each piece of literature is structured, it may be said that the stories presented within “The Complete Persepolis” may follow some of the lessons proposed in Snyder’s “On Tyranny”. Connecting these two pieces of literature, Snyder would be relatively appreciative of how the Iranians demonstrated opposition to the republic and its policies. Seeing the Iranians’ …show more content…

This idea may be seen in Snyder’s lesson on “being aware of the one-party state”, where Snyder warns not of political threats from external powers, but from threats within the U.S.’s own political system. Expanding on Thomas Jefferson’s idea of eternal vigilance, Snyder explains: “We see ourselves as a city on the hill, a stronghold of democracy, looking out for threats that come from abroad. But the sense of the saying was entirely different: that human nature is such that American democracy must be defended from Americans who would exploit its freedoms to bring about its end” (Snyder, “On Tyranny, Lessons from the Twentieth Century”, 18). From these statements, Snyder highlights the importance of not only protecting against foreign threats to the U.S. but also being wary of threats from within, as they too can be detrimental to the nation as a whole, having the power to “bring America’s

More about Comparison Of The Complete Persepolis And On Tyranny

Open Document