Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis Stereotypes

Myth Destroyer

Unlike what most Westerners believe, Iran is not full of citizens that commit terrorists acts, fundamentalism, and support corrupted governments of Iran’s past. Marji combats these stereotypes by showing the outsiders that Iranian citizens are just like westerners. Marjane Satrapi is a well off adolescent who is born into the time during when the Iranian Revolution took place. Her parents do not favor the regime, and she soon adopts these views as her own and rebells against them. Marjane shows that not all Iranians support the Regime and its effects, Marji writes the book Persepolis to give Westerners a chance to see what life was like and not everything in Iran is like what the myths have told us. Marjane challenges

the myths of Iran in Persepolis by showing readers that Iranian citizens are just like Westerners and many times make their own choices and are sympathetic to westerner even though everyone does not have democratic rights.
Marjane starts to chip away these myths by showing that Iranian people are effected by corrupted governments and are not given democratic choice.

In one instance, she adores her uncle when she learns that he was against the regime and was arrested because of it. He told her his story, then fled and was held captive: "That was my last meeting with my beloved Annosh" (Satrapi 70). Marjane shows that people often stood up towards their power-hungry governments, and are fighting for their rights at what ever the cost. Her uncle was on of the unlucky opposers who was arrested and then killed. Showing that Iranian citizens do not have the power to chose what kind of government they live under is important to prove that Iranians do not support their corrupted goverment. By doing this, Marji can eliminate the myth that Iranians like they way that their government controls them, which helps show Westerners that Iran is not like the false myths that they have

heard.
Another way that the Persepolis author destroys the lies about Iran is by showing the reader that Iranians care about equal human rights.

A common myth set by westerners is that Iranian's don't care about women's rights because they are forced to wear veils and are considered lower than men in Iran. However, Marjane disagrees: “In no time, the way people dressed became an ideological sign. There were two kinds of women. The fundamentalist women and the modern women. You showed your opposition to the regime by letting a few strands of hair show” (75). Marjane shows that citizens of Iran are care about the rights of the women. The way you dressed was a great and easy way to show opposition to unequal women’s rights. The women that wore the veil over their head believed that all hair should be covered while the ladies with some hair showing oppose the rule and the regime that set it. And unlike what most believe, the women that are coving their entire body are not forced to do so, they make the choice. On top of that, the veil was forced to be put on women because of the religion that most citizens followed in Iran. The largest setback of this dangerous false myth is Westerners believe that Iran is not civilized and modern because they do not believe in giving women the choice of wearing the veil. Showing that women have preferences and only wear the veil for religious purposes destroys myths that there are no women's rights in

Iran.
Another way that Marji destroys Western myths about Iran is by showing that most Iranians are sympathetic towards Westerners. Marji’s family never wished bad things onto people and felt sympathy towards people that are effected by terrorism. One day, Marjane’s father said, “Oh shit! They’ve occupied the U.S embassy. The fundamentalist students have taken the Americans hostage!!” (72). Right away Marjane shows that Iranians felt bad for the United States with this hostage situation aimed against them. Her father uses profanity to express his disapproval towards the act against the U.S. Showing that most Iranians do to support terrorism and feel sympathy towards those who have been effected by it proves that the myth about Iranians all being terrorists is simply not true. This myth is especially harmful towards Iranians. After September 11th, Americans have been on edge in terms of acts of terrorism and it is extremely important to show that Iranian citizens to not support these acts and often oppose them.
Marjane Satrapi uses her book Persepolis to destroy myth about Iran that are not true. In order for Iran and the United States to become allies, harmful myths about Iran must be terminated. On top of this, the myths are harmful towards Iranian citizens credibility through out the world, demeaning their credibility and trustworthiness. In order for Iran to get its credibility back, these horrible lies must be annihilated. Marjane’s goal was just that when she sat down to write the book Persepolis.