Persepolis Rhetorical Analysis

We are told of the injustice that is present around the world everyday. How the government suppresses its people to deny them rights that Americans see as a birthright. It also forces people to question basic human feelings and rituals. Marjane Satrapi depicts this injustice and oppression in her book Persepolis. Living in an unjust society forces people to rethink basic fundamentals such as forgiveness, as seen on pages 53 and 46 of Persepolis.
Satrapi’s use of speech bubbles instead of voice overs gives us a true impression of Margi’s thoughts and understanding of forgiveness. When Marji finds out a classmate’s father was involved in the Savak, (secret police force created by the Iranian government under the rule of the Shah) she wants to

physically hurt him with nails she places in between her fingers. Her mother, when she finds out, teaches Marji her first lesson in forgiveness.

This is seen on page 46 in the far left panel in the middle row. Satrapi does not place any voice overs in this panel to show Marji’s understanding of the lesson. She is absorbing her mother’s words that she then applies in the next panel. She believes she is doing the right thing and she is confident that everyone can be forgiven, so there is no need to explain or justify her actions, which are the main use of voice over. This lack of voice over is seen later, but leaving one with a different feeling and understanding of Marji’s feelings. In the far right panel in the middle row on page 53, there isn’t any voice overs, just like before. This time though, we do not get the impression of understanding and confidence. The lack of voice overs gives us an impression of confusion. Her mother screams that the government and the torturers could never be forgiven on the page befor. Now she is confused and frustrated because her mother has lied to her. Her mother earlier had told her that everyone deserves forgiveness and know her mother is

contradicting her earlier statement. Voice overs aren’t placed because Marji is utterly confused and has no idea of what to think. This is because of the unjust society they live in. People like torturers and a suppressive government make others rethink forgiveness. To a young girl, who is just learning to forgive, it is very confusing. Satrapi just using speech bubbles helps give us the impression of Marji’s feelings, emotions, thoughts, and understanding.
Foreground gives us another great depiction of Marji’s confidence and confusion.

After Mahrji forgives her classmate, she looks in the mirror on the bottom left panel on page 46. Her reflection is the foreground, since it is the main focus. She doesn't appear to be confident or proud in what she did, but not dissapointed. She is assuring herself that she must forgive. The mirror is reflecting her inner feelings. How she feels about herself for forgiving someone. Not powerful or diabolical, but at ease. She is realizing that it is hard to forgive, but it is the right thing to do. Especially because her classmate wasn’t the member of the Savak, it was his father. This thought is later contradicted on page 53. Again Maji is looking in the mirror on the far left panel in the middle row on page 53. On the page before, her mother screamed that torturers should be massacred (as referenced before). So she is back to thinking about her classmate and puts devil horns on her head. She feels powerful and malevolent. Because she forgives, she now thinks she will have more power over the person she forgave or in this case, her classmate. The mirror is again reflecting her inner feelings. The next panel over, she turns away from the mirror in tears. The mirror no longer reflecting her inner image because the feelings have changed and appeared on her face in the form of tears. She doesn't understand why she feels this way. Why does she feel powerful? Is this how she is supposed to feel? The

suppressive society she lives in makes it hard to forgive someone easily. The foreground through the mirrors really show us how Marji feels after forgiving someone and how it confuses her.
One of the most common, but most powerful graphic technique in Persepolis is graphic weight. On these two pages, the graphic weight is very subtle, but very powerful. As Maji is forgiving her classmate on page 46 in the middle panel in the middle row, the background color of the panel is white. It leaves a bright, warm feeling. The reader leaves with the impression that forgiveness is safe. Everyone deserves to be forgiven and it makes you feel good and satisfied. Later in the book, when Marji learns about torture and how it is sometimes dangerous to forgive there is a different feeling. On page 53 in the bottom left hand panel, Satrapi chooses to make the background black. This darkness means that forgiveness isn’t as safe as we once thought it was. Marji no longer gets a good feeling when she forgives, she feels malevolent and diabolical. This confuses her and leaves her disoriented and sad. A simple thing like forgives, that seems safe, is now dangerous and confusing. An unjust society is at the biggest fault here for this sad and confusing state of mind Marji is in. There really shouldn’t be confusion over forgiveness, but yet in Iran during the 1980s, there was. Satrapi’s use of graphic weight bring homes the confusion of forgiveness in Iran and other unjust societies around the world.
Forgiveness, a basic human feeling, is rethinked when people live in unjust, suppresive society. Marjane Satrapi is teaching us how injustice can affect the little things. Not just forgiveness, but it changes how teens rebel or what it means to feel safe and secure. Either with your family or in your home. Injustice changes everything, not just government or laws.