Some people regard graphic novels as inferior and juvenile forms of communication. However, in Persepolis, the graphic novel medium is effective for conveying Marjane Satrapi’s story. To help make the story more realistic, the author uses visual details. The graphic novel form helps to expresses emotions that are otherwise hard to communicate. In certain instances, the graphic novel conveys humor that gives the story its attention-grabbing quality. In addition, it gives an ceaseless reminder to the reader of the differences between the Muslim fundamentalists and the modernized people in Iran.
The visuals that the graphic novel form allows for help to make the story’s details less hazy. When she’s introducing her novel, Satrapi says, “This old and great civilization has been discussed mostly in connection with fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism…I know that this image is far from the truth. This is why writing Persepolis is so important to me.” The whole purpose of the book is to try to normalize Iranians. The graphic novel helps do this by featuring details that give the reader a vivid picture of Iranian culture. In a regular novel, writing these kinds
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Humans are complex creatures with many emotions, which are often hard to describe in just a few words. Sometimes, it is easier and more accurate to share emotions with pictures. The pointing fingers on pages 17, 19, and 45 are gestures rarely used with such exaggeration in real life, but in the comic book, these gestures help convey the atmosphere of the scene. In addition, in the first panel on page 25, the graphic novel form helps contrast Marji’s young smiling mother with her father, who has an expression of pain. Plus, at the bottom of page 70, the speech bubbles and graphics help convey the intensity of Marji’s anger towards her uncle’s death. Moreover, the comically exaggerated expressions of the characters add humor to the
In Marjane Satrapi’s memoir, Persepolis, the characteristics and qualities of revolution are portrayed through rhetorical devices such as visual text, similes, and pathos. Satrapi’s use of rhetorical devices enhances and supports her expression of the revolution in Iran. Persepolis was Marjane Satrapi’s way of allowing people to see how the revolution in Iran affected her family's lifestyle and her upbringing. This memoir also allows the readers to analyze how war changes the way of the people and government in a country.
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.
Persepolis is a inspirational story written by Marjane Satrapi in the perspective of a young girl’s life during a powerful, historical moment in Iran. The Islamic Revolution was a life-changing moment that impacted her view on the world around her and her innocence shaping her into the woman she is today. Not many people understand what it feels like to feel pain, hurt and abandonment as a child from major and minor things. The author writes this story and decides for it to be a graphic novel to allow the not only young readers, but also for those who do not understand what happens everyday in the world they live in. Satrapi uses all rhetorical stances, ethos, pathos, and logos to show problems, purpose and emotions.
Persepolis is a graphic novel depicting the life of author Marjane Satrapi’s life throughout the Islamic revolution, starting from her childhood. At one point in the story, the Shah of Iran has left the country, and Marjane’s parents think that they will have new freedoms. Later, however, the country is bombed and fundamentalists occupy the United States embassy. After these events, Marjane is ultimately forced to leave the country without her parents to live in Europe. This was foreshadowed in arguably the most significant panel in Persepolis, the 7th panel on page 43. It features Marjane and her parents, sitting in the family’s living room, the news on a television in the background. They are discussing the fact that the Shah recently left Iran to live in Egypt. Around the panel’s frame is a serpent-like creature. In this panel, Marjane Satrapi uses the frame, and contrasting facial expressions and dialogue to show that the Shah is not the only problem in Iran, foreshadowing the unexpected events of unrest that fill the rest of the story.
The story Persepolis uses the medium of graphic novel and the perspective of a child to convey her message. The events of Persepolis are very dark and in some
If I took the text and images as separate elements, I might not have realized the levels of emotional Satrapi portrays or the significance of the larger context of the Iranian Revolution. It is only after reading several graphic narratives that I have realized the multitude of elements that must be acknowledged and understood while reading such texts. This mixture of unique image and text creates a versatile platform that can be an expressive form of art for marginalized persons who feel that they are trapped by the normative literary cannon. As Michael Pagliaro argues in Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words?, graphic novels are useful as people from different backgrounds “can find their experiences authentically and respectfully portrayed” (35). I would further contend that people who occupy privileged positions can also, through graphic narratives, understand representations of marginalized persons who may appear separate or unlike them, as I was able to through Persepolis. Thus, graphic narratives foster a form of expression and understanding that is prime for working to debunk stereotypes, exploring authentic diversity in writing, and ultimately “writing against the
“Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return” is a graphic-novel as well as a memoir, which molds the life of Marjane Satrapi with the use of illustrations and words. In Marjane’s second book about herself, she is living in Austria and speaks about her education there as well as a social life. Marjane lives in Austria for a span of four years where she experiences a lot of hardships and calamities. In this span of four year, Marjane has trouble housing herself when the fam...
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” This quote by Helen Keller sums up the book Persepolis perfectly. Margi went through many hardships but in the end it strengthened her character and she was able to embrace the world in a better way. Margi is like a baby. The first time they try and take their first steps they topple over in a few seconds but each time they fall they learn and soon enough they are running as happily as can be. The events Margi experiences throughout the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi helps her be able to deal with life`s hardship in .
Persepolis presents the Islamic revolution in Iran through the point of view of Marjane. In the graphic novel, it highlights Marjane transformation to childhood to womanhood during the war. Marjane is forced to grow and experience things she doesn’t understand. Satrapi uses humor to cope with the revolution, religion and political turmoil. It is used deeply in the novel to appeal readers but it also offers a lightness to harsh realities of war and persecution.
When writing any sort of narrative, be it novel or poem, fiction or non-fiction, scholarly or frivolous, an author must take into account the most effective manner in which to effectively convey the message to their audience. Choosing the wrong form, or method of speaking to the reader, could lead to a drastic misunderstanding of the meaning within an author’s content, or what precisely the author wants to say (Baldick 69). Even though there are quite a bit fewer words in a graphic novel than in the average novel, an author can convey just as much content and meaning through their images as they could through 60,000 words. In order to do that though, their usage of form must be thoughtfully considered and controlled. Marjane Satrapi, author of the graphic memoir The Complete Persepolis, took great pains in the creation of her panels in order to reinforce and emphasize her narrative, much like a novelist utilizes punctuation and paragraph breaks. Through her portrayal of darkness and lightness, Satrapi demonstrates that literary content influences, and is primary to, the form.
In the graphic novel, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, Satrapi’s childhood was highly impacted by American culture. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of American culture on Satrapi’s view of the Iranian Revolution.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of an oppressive regime on the child Marjane Satrapi as depicted the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.
“Persepolis” is a memoir written by Marjane Satrapi in the form of a graphic novel. The book is about her childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution which took place during the 1980’s. These were particularly turbulent times in the history of the country and had a major impact on the day to day life of its citizens. During this time period in Iran, a theocratic form of government came into power after the Shah was overthrown. At first, Marjane like her compatriots rejoiced over the new government, as they felt that it represented the real representatives of the people of Iran instead of a royal ruler propped up by western powers. Through the novel, Marjane comes across as a curious and independent child, who is confused by the political upheaval and the mixed messages a child would get from what she saw around her. She describes the horrific incidents in the day to day life of her family, neighbors, and friends with childlike innocence but
Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis, makes important strides toward altering how Western audiences perceive Iranian women. Satrapi endeavors to display the intersection of the lives of some Westerners with her life as an Iranian, who spent some time in the West. Satrapi, dissatisfied with representations she saw of Iranian women in France, decided to challenge them. In her words, “From the time I came to France in 1994, I was always telling stories about life in Iran to my friends. We’d see pieces about Iran on television, but they didn’t represent my experience at all. I had to keep saying, ‘No, it’s not like that there.’ I’ve been justifying why it isn’t negative to be an Iranian for almost twenty years. How strange when it isn’t something I did or chose to be?” (Satrapi, “Why I Wrote Persepolis” 10). In acknowledging both Eastern and Western feminism, Satrapi’s novel humanizes the female Iranian perspective in a way that can easily digested by Western audiences.
Persepolis, a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, is not a run-of-the-mill comic book. It is written with purpose. Satrapi wrote and illustrated this book to show Americans that their perspective of her home country, Iran, is askew. She believes Americans are too focused on the “fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism” (Satrapi ii), of the nation and that they forget to notice the normality and humanness of it. Since these two perspectives have vast differences, Satrapi wants to change their minds. Thus, it is crucial that she effectively communicate this humanness of Iran to the literary audience in America. Since the literary devices in a work are needed to correctly convey a message, she found it necessary to include these and manipulate them in her favor. Satrapi uses the innocence of a child along with morals in her pictures and a relation of cultures to effectively communicate her message. It is necessary to examine how she manipulates such literary devices in order to gain a full understanding of the text.