Good People In Persepolis, The Book Of Job, And The Road

Good People
People naturally set role models for themselves, individuals who serve as a moral compass to others. So how does one go about finding a role model? People deemed “good” understand the emotions of others, are always in tact with their established morals, and are thoughtful of those around them. Empathy, selflessness, integrity, and respect are critical in establishing oneself as a good person. Characters in the texts Persepolis, the Book of Job, the Qur’an, and the Road present the necessary qualities of a good person.
Good people are sensitive and understanding towards the feelings of others. In order to connect with each other, people imagine themselves in the situations of others and try to understand what they are going through. Marji, from Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, tries to imagine the life of her grandfather by sitting in the bath tub for a long time: “I wanted to know what it felt like to be in a cell filled with water,” (Satrapi 25). She recently found out about her grandfather’s imprisonment that occurred during her mother’s childhood, and

wanted to understand the physical toll he endured for so long. She seeks empathy for her grandfather similarly to the way the school mourns the fallen soldiers of the Iranian war. Twice a day students gather, “They put on funeral marches and we had to beat our breasts,” (Satrapi 95). The physical self harm is a way to honor the dead and show empathy towards families undergoing the loss of a loved one.
The Qur’an stresses the same empathetic trait in a more direct manner. God reiterates the importance of empathy and kindness to his religious followers. In 4:8 of the Qur’an God tells people of faith, “[If] orphans or poor are present, feed them…and speak to them words of kindness and justice,” (64). Generosity is one way to recognize the struggles of those less fortunate and to show understanding. In this verse, God not only tells his people to give the orphans and poor food, but to also give them compassion. Of course, those who do not give compassion exclude themselves from the “good person” label.
Another way to be a good person is to be selfless and generous. People who are self-absorbed forget about those who are in need. In order to be truly selfless, people need to put others’ needs before their own. In Persepolis, Marji’s mother puts the needs of her friend’s family before her own family’s convenience when she says, “Our house is your house, the kids can sleep in Marji’s room,” (Satrapi 91). The needs of the friend’s family outweighs the inconvenience placed on Marji’s family in the eyes of Marji’s, selfless, mother. However, selflessness often comes at a greater cost than renting out a bedroom. In Uncle Anoosh’s case, his selflessness results in the inability to see his parents ever again: “But the Shah’s police were looking for me, I was not safe with my parents. So I decided to go into exile,” (Satrapi 57). Uncle Anoosh realizes that by staying with his parents he could cause great danger for the entire family and decides it is safer for everyone for him to leave. He selflessly sacrifices his connection to his family to save them from the violence of the Shah’s police. When they do find him, he is the only one to go to jail rather than his entire family.
In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, as a father and his son travel through an apocalyptic world their sense of selflessness becomes exposed. Though they live in a world of ruins, the father works to give his son the best possible quality of life by giving the son all he has. The father finds himself frequently sacrificing his meals or sleep so that his son can eat or rest: “[In] the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him,” (McCarthy 1). However, most people do not live in post-apocalyptic situations and have other means of showing selflessness. In today’s world, people show selflessness by volunteering their time to help those in need, donating clothes or other items, or just by doing a good deed and not expecting anything in return. These small actions have an immense impact on the person as a whole and develops his or her sense of selflessness.
The traits mentioned above are difficult to consistently embody so a good person must have integrity to maximize his or her selflessness without letting others take advantage of his or her kindness. Integrity focuses on the idea of staying true to oneself and one’s morals even when it seems as though no one is watching. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the boy tries to develop his own sense of morality in a world where there is none. He relies strictly on his father’s example of morality as shown in the exchange between the son and his father: “Do you think we should thank the people?...You know how to say thank you,” (McCarthy 218). Though no one is impacted by their gratitude, it allows the father to build a moral compass for the son and to teach him the true lesson of integrity. In a world where all humanity is lost but people remain, it is critical to establish integrity because in the end it is what makes them, not only good people, but human.
Integrity is a suit tailored to each individual’s beliefs and looks different on everyone. In order to be a good person, people must uphold the values they set for themselves, no matter what they may be. Job from The Book of Job is a person with great integrity; Job has been faithful to God his entire life, even in times of despair. God tests Job’s faith by ruining his land and killing his family, but in 13:15 Job responds with, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him,” (33). Job’s spiritual commitment to God never falters even when Job’s friends encourage him to turn his back on God. God recognizes Job’s loyalty and rewards Job though he knows Job was not faithful just to be rewarded. Deep down Job believed in God and he never cursed God even when there were plenty opportunities to do so. People with integrity, like Job, are good people because integrity is the hardest trait to uphold and is necessary in the toughest of times.
A good person is not only empathetic, selfless, and integrous; they are also respectful.

Respect can be achieved by putting in the necessary effort and by having the will to change behaviors. In the beginning of Persepolis, Marji begins to develop her own ideas which, in turn, leads to the development of disobedience and disrespect. She attends demonstrations and parties against her parent’s wishes, disobeying their direct orders. Throughout the rest of the book the readers watch Marji grow out of her teenage years and into a polite young woman with a great deal of respect for her grandmother. On the night before she leaves for Austria, she sleeps with her grandmother who tells her, “Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself,” (Satrapi 150). Marji’s embarrassment of her nationality is trumped by her respect for her grandmother at the end of the movie when Marji tells the cab driver she is from

Iran.
Respect towards everyone is crucial, even towards those who are unpleasant. A lack of respect is unsightly and often perceived as arrogance, as stated in 4:36 of the Qur’an, “Do good -- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need...For God loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious,” (66). God tells his people to “do good” and respect everyone prior to and after meeting the person. His people are expected to live respectfully by acting politely, fairly, and patiently. When paired with empathy, selflessness, and integrity, this type of lifestyle exposes the moral goodness of people and makes them a good role model for others.
War is frequently caused for reasons including discrimination, greediness, and the inability to make compromises. As a result, people are injured, tortured, and killed by those who have lost sight of their own morality. Empathy conquers discrimination, selflessness conquers greed, and respect conquers war with diplomatic relations. Good people possess these qualities and hold them together with a strong sense of integrity. If every world leader acted empathetically, selflessly, integrally, and respectfully, war would look quite differently and perhaps even become nonexistent.