Persepolis Research Paper

The Impact of Revolution Violence on Children Revolutions often leave a tremendous impact on the people residing within the country; violence --being one of the major components typically involved (in revolutions)-- takes a grand toll on the citizens in the country. In the graphic novel, Persepolis, the author, Marjane Satrapi, writes about her experiences as a child growing up during the Iranian Revolution. For children, violence is usually not a topic favorable for constant exposure due to the negative influences --such as change in actions/behavior, instillment of fear, and desensitization of violence-- resulting from such a subject. The graphic novel, Persepolis, delves into the life of a young girl named Marji and her experiences with everyday scenes of violence in the Iranian revolution to substantiate that living with violence can leave lasting negative effects in the mind of a child. Violence influences children in various manners, often times the actions of children turn violent due to this influence. In the text, Marji suggests to her friends, “The one who loses will be tortured” (53). Within this quote, Marji is seen incorporating violence into her life after hearing of the government’s torture. Due to the new ideas crossing Marji’s mind, Marji goes through an internal

Whilst waiting for her [Marji’s] father to return, Marji thinks to herself, “I thought that my father was dead, that they shot him” (30). As seen in the quote, Marji is thrown into the dismay that something may have happened to her father due to the often occurrence of violence in her community. Often times, children should not be waiting in fear that their parents/loved ones may not come home. On the other hand, Marji lives with the knowledge that an event of that nature could happen regularly. As a result, it is blatantly seen how exposure to violence influences children