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Consequences of social identity theory
The consequences of social identity theory
The consequences of social identity theory
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During our class discussions, the issue of identity in Marjane Satrapi’s novel, Persepolis (2004), became a contentious issue. The question was asked whether Persepolis might be understood to being in-dialogue with western ways of seeing and did the effects of modernization influence the identity of Marjane’s protagonist in Persepolis. How does the novel involve the issue of identity? I will extend the argument and, through the exploration of Marji’s changing ideologies, I will attempt to prove that Marji is caught between the traditional eastern culture and western modernization.
A major venue for identity formation is an individual’s homeland or nation. At the outset of the novel, Marji’s identity is ascribed to her because of her nationality and ethnicity. Being in an Islamic country, Marji adheres to her Islamic values and traditions. At an early age of six, the formation of her identity leans towards her Islamic religious values and traditions. Marji is convinced that she “was the prophet” (p. 6). Her words that she “was [a] prophet” (p. 6) demonstrates that Marji’s imagination and intelligence conceive thoughts that are very pertinent to her religious beliefs. At this early age, Marji’s relationship with religious thoughts and values are clearly defined. However, Marji’s thoughts and beliefs are not pinned to a static foundation. In her book A Reader’s Guide to Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis (2010), Heather Lee Schroeder writes “Satrapi lived through the civil and political unrest during the 1970’s and early 1980’s. Before the revolution, she attended a western style French school” (p. 41), which was a non-religious and westernized school. Marji is very well acquainted with the western or modern values, of freedom, liberty, ...
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...ered is that Marji’s character totally acts on her own free-will. She is a play-thing of the forces of influence which has deeply penetrated her young mind. Her culture determinations are mostly influenced by the environment that she is exposed to. As a result, Marji’s moral control is guided by her free will. Of course, I will not deny that Marji’s desire for a better and free life underpins her moral controls. I do not wish to belittle her efforts for a life of freedom, liberties, and equality. However, I wish to draw attention to the fact that Marji’s identification with, either, the eastern or western cultural values are guided by her thought tendencies and her necessities. She is easily moulded or repelled by the environment she is exposed to. Because Marji has the experience of, both, eastern and western cultural values, she is caught in-between these values.
Persepolis Argumentative Essay In the memoir “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi we learn the effects the revolution had on the Satrapi’s family. To summarize, Marji grew up around the Islamic War. This caused her to become very curious about why people act a certain way or do things. In the story, she is constantly learning from what’s right and wrong.
Orientalism is a way of viewing the world as divided into two unequal halves: the Occident and the Orient. Occidental means Western Hemisphere, and Oriental means Eastern Hemisphere. These ideas of orientalism are challenged in Satrapi's Persepolis. A book about a young girl Marji who lived in Iran in the 1980’s, and therefore is placed in the beginning years of political and religious turmoil in Iran. Satrapi Juxtaposes the western view of Iran to Iran by showing similarities between America and Iran through Marji’s youth and adventures throughout the book.
In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis, Satrapi states that her goal in writing the book was to dispel many of the hasty generalizations made by the western world about Iran, a principal sentiment being that the country is little more than a nation founded by fundamentalists and home to terrorists and extremists. To combat the misconception, Satrapi enlists the assistance examples of barriers and dissent towards the new conservative regime in Iran from her adolescence. By employing events from her childhood in Iran Satrapi rattles the foundation of the myths and false beliefs assumed by the occident. Satrapi writes that the initial waves of conservative fundamentalism in Iran were met with unified national dissent. To support this claim she employs both personal and familial examples of dissent felt towards the emerging reactionary regime. Satrapi successfully challenges the stereotypes, but limits as to the extent to which she succeeds in doing so could be brought up. A limit one might place on the historical accuracy of her writing is that it cannot truly be taken as historically accurate as a first-person narrative from a child’s perspective, which although persuasive, is biased.
This is much bigger than just Marji life it’s the entire lifestyle in Iran. Marji explores the transition with references to torture to human rights when she shows it being done in society through media and images. In the novel, the author could be visible the struggles that the main character Marji in socialism is true between the world of Iran’s such as the social classes, Morality, freedom and
Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis introduces the Islamic veil as an attempt by the Iranian government to control women. Islamic radicals promised safety and security for those who abided by their rules. Rebels who refused to wear the headscarf were threatened with beating, rape or death. These modern women who fought against religious oppression met the minimal requirements of the government rules to safely live in the hostile environment. Through being forced to wear the veil, the control of the Islamic government drives its people to a rebellion.
When it comes to culture, different views can cause major conflicts, and these said conflicts occur in the novel Persepolis. The book is a memoir about Marjane Satrapi, also known as Marji, growing up in Iran under the Shah’s rule and the Islamic rule. Even with the many different cultures in Iran, she stuck up for what she believed in and rebelled against the things she thought were wrong. In Persepolis, Marjane’s growth is affected by various aspects of culture including religion, government, and social organization.
With many magazines and newspapers being shut down, authors are speaking out against the government and the censorship it has established (Iran par. 5). As intellectuals are finding flaws and contradictions in the belief systems the government uses, the religious leaders grow more and more threatened and frightened of losing their power (Iran par. 5). In an attempt to outwit government officials, writers and artist will portray their intended message through a vague symbol or metaphor, as to not seem suspicious (Iran par. 9). The suffocation of intellectualism affects Marji’s life when all of the universities are shut down, the reasoning being that "The educational system and what is written in school books, at all levels, are decadent. Everything needs to be revised to ensure that our children are not led astray from the true path of Islam" (Satrapi 73). The government is trying to eliminate the skepticism floating about in more educated groups of people by teaching the next generation Islamic ideals. This indoctrination will ensure the survival of an Islamic
Throughout Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi shows the honoring of martyrs; someone who dies at the hands of another for their religion. In ancient religious wars such as the Crusades, dying a martyr was the best thing a boy could do. In reality, they die as pawns of the government. In the “Key to Paradise” passage of Satrapi’s Persepolis, the author symbolizes heaven with a key to show how the government victimizes those of lower economic status.
There are many different influences in the world today; a big one that most people in the world face is religion. Religion is an influence that people first encounter during their childhood. They grow and learn to have faith. People’s perspective on religion is affected by their culture, their family and the events they witness during childhood. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is the story of a young girl growing up in Iran, during the Islamic Revolution, and the war with Iraq. Throughout the novel religion develops along with the plot, in good and bad ways. In the story Marji loses her faith and it changes who she is, religion also changed her lifestyle by the government putting religion into the law. Religion is a topic that people label as
Marjane Satrapi in her memoir, “The Complete Persepolis” enlightens readers with the reality of living in Iran, as she tells her journey through her life of becoming a woman during the Islamic Revolution. Iran similar to other countries has made different prescribed roles for their women and men based on their cultures religious and traditional set of laws. Society to them was a depiction of what their people were expected to look, and act like when in public. When trying to understand the importance of gender along with their roles in society, it’s crucial to acknowledge outside factors, for instance things like culture and social class. The characters throughout her memoir illustrate how their
Persepolis 2: The Story of Return is anchored around how Marji is affected by the social injustice that occurred during the Islamic Revolution. Growing up as “a westerner in Iran and an Iranian in the West,” (Satrapi 274) changes and molds her into the young woman she is at the end of her journey. In this second chapter of Satrapis life she moves away from the comfort of Iran and finds a life in Vienna. Marji desires to find her purpose and identity during her brief time here and faces many battles with language barriers, people and herself. Marjis past from Iran haunts her and instills the idea that she needs to make something of herself while in Austria. Finding that Austria took her down a darker path where the light was scarcer and the
Even in our present time we can see how culture principles and characteristic drive can cause conflict. Within a society, an individual does not exist. If an individual does exist, then they are no longer a part of the society causing rebellion. In I and Thou, Buber explains that the self becomes either more disconnected or more unified through its relationships to others. The film Persepolis is an adaption to Marjane Satrapi’s The Complete Persepolis coming-of-age graphic memoir. It involves a young Muslim girl name Marjane as she comes of age within the environment of the Iranian Revolution. The film explores the actualization of Marjane through allegory to show how she must construct her identity within a foundation of westernization, religion, and gender.
It is seen all through Persepolis that Marji’s cultural surroundings affect the traits she grew into. We see the effects of Marji’s culture early on in her life, starting with her religion. As a young child, she wanted to be a prophet, proclaiming, “I wanted to be justice, love and the wrath of god all in one” (Satrapi 9). Marji’s cultural background is rooted in her religion and the beliefs school have pushed into her. Along with her beliefs that God dictates life, part of what she is “supposed” to do is become a prophet. From consistent praying, schooling, and what her country has believed for many years, Marji’s psychological traits have repeatedly been reinforced through the many facets of her life. Due to the culture that she has grown
This is made apparent in Chapter One, where Marji informs us that from the age of six, she’s been convinced that she was the last prophet. Additionally, Marji also displays her activist spirit that she, no doubt, inherited from her parents. Marji’s responsive nature allowed her to recognize the injustice that took place in the world that she lived in and even more importantly use that insight to deliver a book which captures all of the discrimination, class conflict, violence, uncertainty, oppression, rebellion, and religious struggles of that time. Although, the entire book is based on her recollection of life in Iran, Satrapi is effective at subtly introducing historical facts. For instance, there is a moment when she envisions talking with the prophet that had come before her, and they question a woman being a prophet, this internal conversation was representative of the limitations placed on Iranian women. During the book she eludes to the fact that women were treated as second class citizens and men disrespected them at will if they were not fully covered as expected by the Islamic
In Persepolis,author Marjane Satrapi, Marji as a character, expects readers thoroughlyanalyze her detailed images combined with text that are meant to describe the events in her lifeas a young girl during, and after the Iranian revolution. In doing so, a deeper meaning amongstthe images can be found. The panel in the bottom right corner of page 24 shows Marji’s motheras a child and her mother visiting her father while he was in a very empty and dark prison cell,illuminated only by a single bulb, crawling with spiders. Marji’s mother was excited to see herfather and asked to ride on his back, and her mother objected because she knew her husband wastired, and suffering in pain. The panel in the top left corner of page 25 shows Marji’s mother,again as a child, riding on her father’s back anyway, because he granted her request even thoughhe knew the pain it would bring him.As a young man, Marji’s grandfather was a prince because his father was theoverthrown emperor, and the father of the shah was out to get him.