Persepolis Character Analysis

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Humor and Graphics: Persepolis and American Born Chinese
The role of humor and the use of graphics are similar in both a graphic memoir Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and a graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. Persepolis is a graphic memoir of a young girl named Marjane that grew up in Iran when the Islamic revolution was occurring. Satrapi throughout her graphic memoir novel is able to interpret her own personal struggles growing up in a world of tragedies and fitting in society. American Born Chinese is a graphic novel that contains three stories. The main character of the first story is Monkey King. Monkey King is a monkey god with fascinating powers but his problem is certainly being a monkey. Jing Chang is the main character of the second story. Jing Chang is a boy that is new in school and is the only Asian in his class. The main character of the third story is Danny an all American boy. Danny appears to live a normal life but there is a problem which is his immensely stereotypical cousin Chin-Kee. Yang throughout his graphic novel is able to interpret struggles such as: fitting in, culture, and assimilation. In both Persepolis and American Born Chinese the authors illustrate the difficulty of assimilation because of their Iranian and Asian culture in this case. By analyzing the role of humor and the use of graphics one could argue that humor and graphics are well illustrated in both Persepolis and American Born Chinese, which are also used similarly. This is significant because without the role of humor or the use of graphics both of these books would not have been a success.
In Persepoli, Satrapi turns to humor as a way of coping with her feelings that are bringing her down. The use of humor in Persepo...

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Persepolis and American Born Chinese both use humor effectively but they are in some way different. Persepolis humor is different from American Born Chinese because of how it is utilized as protecting reality from what seriously is happening. For example, the black and white gives the novel a more deliberate type of impression. If Persepolis would have been in color the serious humor and color would have not balanced out. On the other hand, American Born Chinese novel is in color. The humor here is distinct from that of Persepolis because it is utilized in a comical way that explains the discouraging details of an unacceptable person. American Born Chinese being in color makes the novel more humorous because of the art that is seen in it. It would not have been that much of a success if it were to be black and white because the humor and the colorlessness.

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